Dumfries and Galloway 2023: Days 1-4

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Day 1: Old St Mungo’s and the Water of Milk

Old St Mungo’s Church

This was a circular walk of about 8km along quiet roads and tracks between the parallel waters of the River Annan and the Water of Milk. It started at a ruined church – St Mungo’s, named after Glasgow’s very own patron saint, and passed another ruin, Millbank House. The section along the Annandale Way was notable for a) deep mud and b) a herd of scary cows which wouldn’t let us past and then followed us for a considerable distance before heading into a field to join their pals. I’m not sure they should have been loose, but we survived their attentions!

Old St Mungo’s and the Water of Milk

Day 2: John’s cycle ride

On the second day we went to Castle Douglas for lunch with some of my cousins and spent the afternoon with them. So no walk, but John went for a cycle in the morning. I loved the name Quhytewoollen Farm. White woollen – because of sheep farming? Perhaps Mr Tootlepedal will know. There is a Quhytewoollen Hill, but it’s not the one in the image which I think is Burnswark.

Quhytewoollen Farm

Day 3: Forest of Ae

Fun fact: the village of Ae holds the record for having the shortest name in the UK and the only one without any consonants! From here we walked a 9km loop along the Water of Ae and through the forest. An interesting bench illustrated the village’s history – it was created in 1947 as part of the post-war drive to rebuild timber reserves.

Ae Forest Walk

The weather just about held up during the walk, but John went out for a cycle later and got caught in a shower. He was rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow though.

Double rainbow near Lockerbie

Days 4: Eskrigg

On our fourth day we visited fellow blogger Mr Tootlepedal and his wife in nearby Langholm, a delightful outing which I wrote about at the time in Glasgow Gallivanting: September 2023. On our way back to our cottage we stopped off for a walk round Eskrigg Nature Reserve where, amongst other things, we were enthralled by the red squirrels putting on a show for us.

Red squirrels at Eskrigg

Linking this post to Jo’s Monday Walk, with another post to follow about our final two days very soon.

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34 Comments »

  1. Here at last, Anabel- sorry! Love the bench, and the squirrels of course. Those cows look quite determined in that narrow space. A bit unnerving. Many thanks for the share. Have a good week xx

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  2. Love all the photos and the interesting facts. Maybe the cows needed milking! The carved bench looks a good place to rest the legs and to learnt history about the place. The rainbow brought you a pot of gold as you saw the cutest red squirrels ever..fab photos!

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  3. Wonderful photos. Loving the squirrels and the rainbows. We saw a double rainbow driving back from Stirling a few days ago but sadly I was driving so couldn’t get a photo. Never seen a double rainbow before that, was something else! 😀

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  4. What a fab bench! Thanks for including it. I have been to Castle Douglas – we visited a lovely garden there and also saw loads of red squirrels. Dumfries and Galloway is a delightful region.

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  11. The one picture of the red squirrel eating a nut on a tree stump could be in a magazine. These are great pics all around and what a beautiful walk, even with the cows. They are inquisitive and would just stop and smell you like a dog does. This happened to me when I was a kid. My neighbour lived on a farm and told me not to worry. If they were geese? Different story.

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  14. I like the shot of the Millbank House window, it looks very atmospheric and creepy. A lovely rainbow and those squirrels are so cute.

    I was in Manchester the other day and noticed Paddington has been moved – not far, just further up Spinningfields from when you saw him, He looks a bit grubby now though, maybe he needs a good wash. Also the little animal is back on the stairs at Mr Smith’s Dream 😊

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