Stranraer. Probably better known as a ferry port and a link to Northern Island rather than a true holiday destination, but me, Hubby and The Dog were heading up there in the Van for a 3 day break.
Well, just me and The Dog actually. Hubby was nipping over to Belfast to connect with some old work colleagues for a couple of days. Initially we had thought about taking The Van too, but it was very expensive for less than 48 hours, so we decided to base ourselves in Stranraer while Hubby went over as a foot passenger. In the meantime The Dog and I would check out Stranraer and the surrounding area.
So we got up early, packed our last bits and headed off, picking up the northbound M6 on a day which hadn’t really decided what it wanted to be – bright and sunny or showery. Big puffy clouds were all around us, but the sun shone in between them.
We then spent a little time debating whether to have breakfast en route – actually I don’t know why we even bothered to debate, it was a no brainer. We did our usual, pulling off the M6 and heading into the village of Shap to our favourite little cafe when we headed north, for a Full English Breakfast. It’s now a ritual, a pilgrimage. And as usual, they didn’t disappoint and even The Dog got a sausage, neatly cut up and served in a dish………
https://theabbeykitchen.co.uk/
We were soon back on the road, suitably replenished, abandoning the M6 for the more relaxed A6 which runs parallel. It’s like a mini geography lesson with the M6, A6 and the West Coast Mainline railway line criss crossing each other as they meander up the Eden Valley. We drove through little villages, through Penrith before coming up to Carlisle. The Sat Nag wanted to take us through the city centre, but not fancying that, we jumped back on the M6 briefly until Gretna Green, where as we hopped over the border into Scotland, we turned left onto the A75 and headed west.
You think you’re nearly there at this point, but we had another 2 hours and nearly 100 miles to go, all on the same A road. I wanted to check out the town of Annan as a few years ago, on a solo trip, I nearly visited it and regretted not doing it. People had said it was a nice town. So we peeled off, following a road into town, wondering why motorists were all turning right into a housing estate. We quickly found out – the road was closed for roadworks further down so we had to turn tail and followed the road through a new build estate, most of the front gardens devoid of any greenery and lavishly paved or gravelled to plonk a car on. So we had a tour of Annan’s housing estates before being burped onto a rather handsome High Street, full of dark sandstone buildings with bustling shops. It had a certain charm about it. I had it in my head that Annan had a pleasant harbour area, but the road we took ended in a low industrial park, full of fish processing plants and other industry. There was a car park and notice board, so I think we could of walked along the river, but it wasn’t floating our boat today. We nosed our way back to the High Street, pausing whether to park up and have a wander. We weren’t in the mood of just wandering around shops, so we decided to drive on – we turned left across a very pretty bridge over the river and was immediately out of Annan. We picked up the A75 again and headed west.
The fluffy clouds of the morning were now getting together and looking rather menacing. As we were bypassing Dumfries, the heavens opened and we were lashed with heavy rain, so much so that we had to employ the double wash wipe to see. The roads soon became a river as the drains struggled to cope. This was aquaplaning territory. Then, as if someone had turned a tap, it stopped. It went on like this for a while. Sun-angry clouds-deluge-sun. There were parts where it hadn’t even rained and the road was dry and at one point, it was raining on us, but the field next door was in brilliant sunshine. Just one of those days.
The countryside was getting prettier and more undulating as we headed further in. This area of Scotland is very much overlooked and in my mind, a hidden gem. The further west you go, mountains start to rear up and the road hugs the Luce Bay for a while. There’s the Galloway Forest Park, a large area of forest It’s is quite stunning and even more so, in the sunshine with the spectacularly stormy clouds as a backdrop.
We stopped briefly at a roadside cafe and deli place looking for something for tea later, but nothing appealed so we headed to Newton Stewart, a small town just off the A75. We’ve been to this town before as our eldest daughter lived in a nearby village for a few months during her university gap year. We drove into town and managed to park up on the High Street. We decided to have a stretch of the legs, find that elusive something for tea and generally have a nose. So we pottered around, looking in shops, chatting with the friendly locals and got a few provisions. We only had an hour parking, which was enough – it had been a long journey and we just wanted to get to Stranraer and put our feet up!
Our campsite was just off the main road as we entered Stranraer, but before we drove in, we had a bit of a recce primarily for me to figure out if it was worth the walk into town tomorrow with The Dog.
You get it into your head that port towns are just full of ferry terminals, tatty harbours and industrial units, the town down on its heels, but we found a thriving and rather large High Street and handsome buildings. Another road closure thwarted our intended route so another unscheduled tour of the town’s outer edges. There were some quite lovely houses, but mainly long terraces of the traditional Scottish single storey cottage with pitched windows in their roofs in this part of town. Of course, as in most British towns, some pen pushing bureaucrat had given permission for a competition to design the ugliest building possible, plonk it somewhere totally inappropriate and then totally fail to maintain it, ensuring it becomes a real blot of the landscape. Words just fail me. And here it was, an awful block of flats sat in amongst some really nice buildings. I think the council members back in the 1960’s were definitely sniffing something when they passed the plans for these monstrosities, under the pretence of architectural utopia. We averted our eyes until we dropped down onto the shoreline.
Stranraer nestles in bay of Loch Ryan and as we drove along the road, parallel to the sea wall, we looked out towards the mouth of the Loch where it joins the sea. The tide was in as the water lapped the sea wall. In the distance, down the side of the Loch, were the twin ferry terminals of Cairnryan, serving Northern Ireland’s Belfast and Larne ports. No wonder the A75 is chocker with lorries, vans, juggernauts and cars with two ferry companies disgorging vehicles on a regular basis.. We decided to go and check in so had to do a U turn to get back. Here, modern bungalows hugged the road, with fantastic views over the sea wall of the Loch and beyond. Personally I would have an upside down house here – bedrooms on the ground floor and a huge picture window upstairs to make the most of the view, but everyone seemed content with their bungalows. We weaved through an abundance of these properties (was it another pen pushing trend?) before we drove down a narrow lane and found the Aird Donald campsite.
We checked in and chose our spot, perhaps not the best as it was close to the loos and washing facilities, but we had neighbours and wouldn’t be Billy No Mates over in the adjoining field. It was quite a nice campsite, with nice facilities and pleasant surroundings. We set up quickly to make the most of the sun, but to our dismay, cloud barrelled in and promptly rained on us. Still we had our awning and we sat outside for awhile until it got a bit too cool. The Dog had a wander and a sniff around the campsite and with 10pm approaching, we prepared for bed. Hubby had an early start – up at 5am to get a taxi and his Belfast ferry – but with it being the longest day and further north, it wasn’t really getting dark. So we blacked out The Van as best we could though The Dog joined us on the bed and pinned us into not so comfortable positions (she was not for moving and actually she does keep you warm) and settled down. Tomorrow would start slow and we would go for a wander somewhere, but there was no rush to make decisions. Weary from our travels, we snuggled down for a good nights sleep.
apathtosomewhere 