In summary, Dumfries & Galloways is located in the South West of Scotland, and is an area that often gets overlooked by travellers. Slowly people are starting to explore it more since the SWC300 (South West Coast 300) route is becoming more well-known.
There are plenty of beaches along the coast, we particularly liked some of the ones we stopped off at along the Rhinns of Galloway. The Rhinns is a thin peninsula that runs for approximately 25 miles down to the Mull of Galloway, Scotland’s most southerly point and lighthouse. On this peninsula is the picturesque little town and harbour of Portpatrick, somewhere we could have easily spent a few days had time allowed.
Another lovely peninsula that we explored was the Machar peninsula, where you can spent time exploring in and around Wigtown and the Isle of Whithorn. The beautiful and vast Luce Bay sits in between both of these peninsulas.
For those who love nature, wilderness, hiking and star gazing, you are spoilt for choice within the huge area of Galloway Forest Park. During the course of a few separate visits, we managed to cover some of the highlights of this wonderful area.
Coming from Glasgow, and depending where in Dumfries & Galloway you area heading to, it will take you between one and a half to two and a half hours to get there. The closest point is around Loch Doon in the north of the Galloway Forest Park. This took us around one and a half hours to reach, heading out towards the Ayrshire coast and then inland to Dalmellington. From Dalmellington it is a short drive into the park.
On the above trip, we chose to stay at Craigmalloch Camping and Outdoor Activity Centre at the south end of the loch right by the beach. When we visited, this campsite and activity centre was still fairly new. The people running it were very friendly and went out of their way to accommodate us when they were actually already full. You can read more about the campsite and our stay (and view more photos) in our blog by clicking here.
Loch Doon is great for canoeing (we brought our own Intex inflatable canoe with us) and access to the water is very easy from the beach at Craigmalloch. The Carrick Forest Drive starts pretty much next to the campsite, however it was closed when we were there, and remains closed for 2021. We have no idea if or when it will open again to vehicles, however it is open to walkers and cyclists.
Our second and third trips to the area were to a fantastic and friendly campsite that we discovered at Balloch O Dee. This is near Newton Stewart and south of the Forest Park, which is easily accessed by car just a few miles from the campsite. To get there from Glasgow takes us around two hours. The campsite has loads of space, an electric hook-up field for campervans and motorhomes, some stunning and quirky accommodation such as the Roundhouse (where we stayed on our first visit), great facilities including fire pits (firewood is always available to buy on site to save taking your own) & picnic benches, and lovely touches like fresh flowers in the loos and feeding stations for the birds. They also have three friendly dogs (lovely wee Loulou became a regular visitor to our tent during our second stay). We would highly recommend staying here to have easy access to both the Galloway Forest Park and the coastal areas.
As we have already written a blog of our trip to Loch Doon, we will concentrate the rest of this page on our trips and explorations from Balloch O Dee…
Having visited the super-chilled and friendly Balloch O Dee on a couple of occasions, we have experienced their cosy and romantically candle-lit Roundhouse accommodation (in Autumn), with its fabulous roaring log fire, and also camping in our new Bell Tent complete with stove (in Spring).
A “hot tent” is something that Paul had been after buying for quite some time, and I must admit that having a stove inside the tent made it very cosy! We bought the Robens Klondike Grande and a Winnerwell Stove. The tent has been used a couple of times now and we have found that it stands up well to high winds (40 mph) since purchasing proper storm pegs to replace the flimsy ones that came with it. However, it has not stood up well to the rain that accompanied the high winds, so the company have sent us some waterproofing spray for it, which will hopefully solve that issue.
During our two stays at Balloch O Dee, we managed to see a lot of the Galloway Forest Park and do a few short walks. We have been to each of the visitor centres – Kirroughtree, Clatteringshaws and Glentrool. To do short(ish) walks from the visitor centres, we found Kirroughtree to be the best. The visitor centre also has several mountain biking trails of varying difficulty and is one of the well known 7Stanes mountain bike venues.
For scenery, we found the Glentrool area (and the view from/near Bruce’s Stone overlooking Loch Trool) to be the most stunning. Lots of people rave about the Raiders Road Forest Drive, but we found that although it was nice, we much preferred the Three Lochs Forest Drive near Aberfoyle. If you’re a hillwalker, then the highest hill in Southern Scotland, Merrick, can be accessed from the same car park as the aforementioned Bruce’s Stone.
As far as wildlife goes, we saw the red deer and wild goats in the park (there is a specific area in the park where you can easily see them) – keep a lookout for the signs and parking areas as you drive along the A712 (The Queens Way). If you keep a special lookout, you may also be lucky enough to see a red squirrel or a golden eagle.
Due to the lack of pollution, the park is also well-known for being a great place to stargaze and to see the Milky Way. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed in this, partly due to cloud cover, partly due to finding it difficult to stay awake until late.
Previously, we mentioned driving along the coast, in particular the Rhinns and Machar peninsulas. During our Spring stay, we spent one day exploring the Rhinns, one day exploring the Machar and one day exploring the area between Newton Stewart and Kircudbright. Each are worth spending some time in, and each had different things to offer us.
On the Rhinns, we would recommend:
- A walk on the beach at Sandhead
- Follow the short “Artwork Trail” in Drummore (this is a really pretty town and worth a stop and a stroll round even if you’re not interested in the suggested walk)
- Have a walk along the trails at the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse, and go for a coffee in the Gallie Craig Coffee House enjoying it’s stunning views
- Call in at Port Logan on the west side of the peninsula before visiting the famous Logan Botanic Gardens (entrance fee applies)
- Visit the picturesque small town of Portpatrick, with it colourful house and pretty harbour. Take a short (or long) walk along part of the Southern Upland Way, on the clifftop paths, before enjoying a drink or a meal on the outside terrace of one of the pubs overlooking the harbour.
On the Machar, we would recommend:
- Spend a little while in the pretty town of Wigtown, Scotland’s national “book town”, and if you’re an avid reader then have a browse in some of the town’s many bookstores
- Take the short walk from the centre of Wigtown to the Martyrs’ Stake, with views over Wigtown Bay and the Galloway Hills, or for keen birdwatchers, head out to the nearby bird hide which overlooks the Wigtown Bay Local Nature Reserve
- Take the short walk of around one mile each way (gorgeous in May with the bluebells!) to St Ninian’s Cave near Whithorn – look out for the road signs to St Ninian’s Cave, which take you to the car park from where you start the walk. The bluebells and rapeseed fields around here, and other areas on the Machar peninsula, are stunning in May!
- Stop for a look around the town of Whithorn, or at least the main street, to see the pastel painted buildings, many of which are listed, and learn about the town’s history by visiting the Whithorn Story Visitor Centre
- Continue on from Whithorn to the Isle of Whithorn (which isn’t really an island) – have a stroll around the harbour and visit the ruins of St Ninian’s Chapel
From Newton Stewart to Kircudbright, we would recommend:
- Spend some time exploring and soaking up the atmosphere in the “Artists town” of Kircudbright
- Have a walk along Dhoon Beach (about a mile from Borgue) at low tide and see what’s left of the wreck of the “Monreith”
- Head to Carstramon Woods to follow some of the trails, particularly in May when the woods are carpeted in bluebells (we spent ages there!)
Sometime in the future we hope to drive the full SWC300 route, although in addition to the places mentioned here, we have done much of it on other overnight or day trips from home. As you may agree, there is so much to see just within this section, that it is worth spending a few days exploring this area alone, so we would recommend at least a week to do the whole route.
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