DAY 117 - PORT WILLIAM TO ISLE OF WHITHORN

DAY 117

TUESDAY 14 MARCH, 2017

PORT WILLIAM TO ISLE OF WHITHORN

17 MILES 7 HOURS

MORRIS, BILL AND PHIL

DISTANCE WALKED SO FAR 1527 MILES

Our accommodation for this trip was at the Monreith Arms Hotel in Port William. The rooms were en suite, clean and sizeable. In general this hotel has seen better days and the furnishings and decoration are best described as ‘tired’. However on a positive note the staff was very friendly and helpful and food in the restaurant was good and reasonably priced. Breakfasts were excellent with a good, well cooked selection. Opposite the hotel lies Maxwell Park named after the Maxwell family who in the 18^th century were founders of Port William and built the harbour for the benefit of their tenant farmers. Gavin Maxwell the most famous member of the family wrote the bestselling book ‘Ring of Bright Water’ about his life with his pet otter.

It was a lovely sunny morning when we set off from the hotel walking out of town from the harbour past the bronze statue of the ‘Man looking out to sea’. We walked at the sea edge along the pebbly beach round Barsalloch Point and on to Monreith. Unfortunately the beach along this stretch is littered with all sort of rubbish, mostly plastic, and is without doubt the worst we have seen on all our coast walks. Just passed Monreith we had a short scramble over some rocks then another beach walk. After crossing a small stream which flows out to sea we made our way up a marked path to the cliff top path which we followed to the ‘Otter ‘ sculpture on the high point above St Medans golf course. We walked round the edge of the golf course passed Point of Lag to Back Bay then made our way up the hillside to the cliff tops. On the cliff tops we followed a faint track for four miles to Port of Counan where we moved inland and made our way down through some woodland to join the path from Kidsdale to St Ninians cave. After a visit to the cave we left the beach using a well worn path back to the cliff tops where we joined another track which we followed to the caravan site at Burrow Head. The path continued round the point passed Devil’s Bridge, Broom Point and on to the finish of the days walk at Isle of Whithorn.

Summary; A really nice walk. Some parts were easy; some of the sea edge pebbly beaches were difficult.

Highs; Great weather again. Obvious paths most of the way. Some great views.

Lows; The dirty litter strewn beaches on most of this walk.

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