My urge to wander didn’t take me far today. Just over the hill to Gatehouse of Fleet. A cafe latte was the main attraction but I did walk by the River Fleet afterwards.

To call it a river is a bit of a mis-nomer as this section between the sea and the town of Gatehouse of Fleet was actually straightened in the 1820s and re-designated a canal.

It says so here —

This is one of the old moorings and loading quays and it explains why Gatehouse railway station is sited many miles away in the hills. The protectionist policy operated by powerfull local landowners and presumably shippers ensured that the Railway Company was unable to buy land that would have enabled them to bring their railway close to town.

the moorings —

The hills were full of rain clouds —

But quite often down here you can find a dryish strip right on the coast and that proved to be the case today —

This path would have been the original towpath by the canal —

but now it’s left to the occasional walker such as mesel and the birds —

I had stopped to visit the castle out by the busy A75 —

It’s run by Scottish Heritage but when I saw they wanted four quid for the pleasure I decided as I’d already spent that amount on a Sunday newspaper and latte I would give the old castle a bodyswerve  —

and went off to visit Mossyard Beach instead —

On the way I spotted a few bikes by the Tea Pot near Spyreburn — i stopped for a natter and a look at some of the exotica. Turns out they were a bunch from Kilmarnock based Ayrshire Bikers on their Sunday run.

OK – time for Mossyard beach.

Now I know why I haven’t been there before. The local farmer charges two quid per vehicle for parking. I object to paying the same price for my tiny Smart car or motorcycle as the 4×4 and family of seven so I reneged and went to Kirkwhatsit instead.

Had my soup lunch down on the shore – yes I’m still on a liquid diet. It’s doing wonders for my waist-line but when I get my broken root fixed at the dentist on Tuesday I’m going to pigout on a massive ribeye steak  🙂

Incidently – does anyone else find it strange to see that so many of those government funded solar panels are roof mounted. I always found roof tiles to be fragile things and even being up there to adjust a television aerial was liable to crack one or two. I think with all that grass out front I would have sited the panels down there.

Just had time to wander round the old graveyard with stone inscriptions dating back to the 1700s when the rain that had threatened all day finally caught up but the car wasn’t far away. Good timing and keeping a weather eye open is everything in this part of the world 🙂

River Fleet