So today's trip is basically an extract from our first time doing the South West Coastal 300 and we visited a small town I absolutely love, Castle Douglas.
For those that don’t know, The South West Coastal 300 is a relatively new route taking in the rolling hills and coastline of the stunning south-west of Scotland. Its a loop so you can start and finish wherever suits and has so many wee places to drop off to and then join back up, it is a great drive with relatively quiet roads. The route covers many areas of historical significance with a particular nod to the top Scots poet, Rabbie Burns. An old school Scottish Eminem. and passing through towns such as Dumfries Stranraer and Aye. I had a number of hire customers do this loop and all of them have been super enthusiastic about it.
We had wanted to do a few things, first, visit Drumlanrig Castle, pop into Castle Douglas for a trip down memory lane and finally have a night camping in the Dark skies area of the Galloway. A meteor shower was forecast over the next few nights and this was a great chance to sit and watch the stars uninterrupted. But first up was up Drumlanrig Castle, Gardens and Adventure Playground.
Drumlanrig Castle (aka ‘ The Pink Palace’ due to its distinctive red sandstone) is one of the finest examples of 17th Century Renaissance architecture in Scotland. It houses some of the internationally acclaimed Buccleuch Art Collections, including Rembrandt’s An Old Woman Reading. You can take a guided tour of the castle which will give you an in-depth history of over 600 years of the Douglas family as well as a detailed tour of the fabulous artwork. The first Duke of Queensbury, William Douglas, had the castle built on the site of an ancient Douglas stronghold overlooking the Nith Valley back in 1679 which is all amazing….however….it was closed the day we turned up. I blame the Co-Pilot obviously.
Now for the Garden outside, which we did manage to duke into. Breathtakingly beautiful, lovingly tended plants and shrubs. It's huge, actually, the whole place is huge and you could easily find yourself happily lost.
The Stableyard houses a visitors centre, children’s activity room, snack bar and gift shops. You can also hire a bike here at Riks Bike Shed to explore the trails surrounding the castle. There are 3 trails, aimed at different levels of experience. You can also simply walk around them as we did. I have to be honest the mountain bike trails looked amazing fun, I think this would be a great day hire.
From here it’s onto Castle Douglas, or CD as the locals call it. Castle Douglas is like many small regional towns, a busy high Street with your traditional Butcher, Baker, florist, greengrocer, the full deck. It was always famous for its quality small independent shops. The pubs are full at night with everyone from all walks of life and the patter fantastic. I always based myself here.
Lorna had a wander around the shops whilst I went to the Imperial Hotel for a coffee and see some old faces. Dave the owner is always around and takes time to chat with everyone in the place. He’s the ideal host and creates a great atmosphere. The staff are incredibly accommodating and nothing is ever a chore. The hotel is favoured by Golfers who visit the area. If you Golf you will know the courses down here are good, in particular Southerness.
We are heading to Carlos on the High Street. The finest fillet steak I have ever tasted and it still stands. Its been maybe 10 years since I was in CD. His steak and pasta still the same, cooked to absolute perfection. Lorna loved it.
Our spot for tonight was to be the Galloway forest park: 300 square miles of the first UK international Dark Sky Park and only the fourth in the world. The park is worth highlighting. It covers over 300 mi.² and has three visitors centres within. Each with a variety of walks and trails for various abilities. One to highlight would be the walk up to ‘Bruce's stone’ which has a great view over Loch Trool or if you’re feeling more energetic I would go for the scramble up to Murray monument beside the Queen’s way for amazing forest and hills views and the Grey Mare’s trail waterfall. The park is also well known for its world-class mountain biking for the even more adventurous.
We’ve had an eye on it for a while and with the forecast of clear skies and a bit of action, we had the perfect excuse.
Once into the park, we found ourselves on the ‘Raiders Road’ Forrest drive. That was top fun and gives you a real wilderness feel. It was now down to the Co-Pilot finding the perfect spot. We have the set up of the Campervan down to fine art. The Co-Pilot kicks into action sorting the bags and I turn the seats and quite literally raise the roof! She’s then pouring the wine whilst I get the fire roaring and the tunes on. Tonight it has to be Spiritualized.
A million stars later and it’s early to bed. We plan to get up and watch sunrise beside Clatteringshaws Loch. The vans are super comfortable and with the heating, there is never a need to feel cold. That said, once we are up, we are up and its usually early starts. Coffee in hand we hung around whilst it warmed up then went on one of the many woodland walks. At that time the wildlife is still hanging around and we catch Red Kites and some very spooked deer.
Breakfast was taken down in another favourite town of mine, Kircudbright. Again, a great place full of real interest and fantastic locals. Perhaps a blog about here another time - we are keeping an eye of the Festival of Light.
Thank you, CD , a real find again.
Credit to our friend Abha Paulina @ap_78_glasgow for use of his pictures of the Castle. His are far better than ours. Cheers Abha
