We set off for Murray's Monument, which is by the side of The Queens Drive, the road from Newton Stewart to New Galloway. The monument is set on a hill and is a short steep climb up from the car park. The views from the top are fabulous but today the weather was cloudy and damp. We then took a path behind the monument which joined a track up to the Black Loch. It was really pretty in spite of the weather.
Yet again the path we wanted was closed due to harvesting, so we tried an alternate route. This led us to stepping stones across Tonderghie Burn, but the burn was flowing so high we couldn't cross :(
Then it started raining, so we turned back. We decided to take a different (very muddy) path that led to the edge of the Wild Goat Park - there were some young kids - cute! The path then led us down to Grey Mare's Tail waterfall which was in full flow! Then back to the van for lunch and hot choccie!
We headed back via the pet shop in Newton Stewart for dog food, and revisited Isle of Whithorn, a historic fishing village we hadn't been to for over 10 years. There are now a couple of memorials to the crew (7) of the Solway Harvester which sank in storms off the coast of the Isle of Man in January 2000.
One is made up of a large mound of small rocks (about 4 feet high and 6 across) many of which have messages painted on by friends and family in memory of those lost. It seems other folk have since added their own rocks for their loved ones. It was very moving and I had a quiet moment thinking of Dad.
We watched the sunset and then headed back to the cottage for our last night in Scotland for this holiday.
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