The Machars

[anteros_lmc]

More pics of sunny Galloway as promised, it seems like a world away now, as its been pissing with rain here all day :} We camped at Gatehouse of Fleet but spent most of the weekend bimbling around the Machars area of Wigtonshire. Our trip coincided with the Wigtown Book Festival and we spent Saturday wandering around the book town tripping over literary celebs like Joanna Lumley and William McIlvanney (does he count as a celeb?) which was a bit surreal tbh. I picked up a rather gorgeous edition of Cochrane's memoirs, a history of the Falmouth packet service and a cheap pre-publication copy of Sam Willis new book In the Hour of Victory. We also visited the Isle of whithorn and New Galloway, a ridiculously pretty little market town.

The highlight of the weekend for me though was a guided walk around the Georgian port town of Garlieston led by historian Lucy Inglis, author of Georgian London. I've been dying to visit Garlieston ever since nodbear and I recently discovered that former Indefatigable midshipman John McKerlie captained merchant vessels operating from the port after he retired from active naval service. I'll post some pics of Garlieston in a separate post. I also finally managed to stop and take a picture of Corvisel House outside Newton Stewart where McKerlie lived later in life. Sadly I couldn't get a picture of the front of the house but it looks grand enough from the side!

Lest you think that I spent all weekend dragging partner, friends and children round Galloway's Georgian landmarks, rest assured we also spent plenty of time chilling by the beach drinking wine :)

Mossyard, Gatehouse of Fleet	Mossyard, Gatehouse of Fleet
I followed aletheiafelinea's instructions and look! I caught a butterfly! :)	Pretty shells
Interesting rocks.	More interesting rocks...
Isle of Whithorn	The blue boat on the left was called La Reve :)
WW1 mine pressed into service as a collection box for the Shipwrecked Mariners Society	St Ninian's Chapel, Isle of Whithorn
Isle of Whithorn	Isle of Whithorn
Corvisel House, Newton Stewart, home of John McKerlie	New Galloway town hall
New Galloway	New Galloway
Kitty's Tea Room, New Galloway	Kitty's Tea Room, New Galloway

Kitty's is a fantastically pretty / twee (delete according to taste) tearoom housed in a Victorian building opposite New Galloway town hall. According to the owner, the property was originally built as a temperance hotel by a "sea captain" in the 1840s. The extraordinary wood panelling was taken from two ships that were brought into Palnackie harbour to be broken up. Unfortunately she didn't know the name of the captain and she said that research done in the 1970s had failed to turn up the names of the ships, however, it's certainly a very striking building and the cakes are fabulous!

Comments

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting all those beautiful pictures!!! Now I want to roam the British island for a year or so :)

No name mentioned of the captain (or the ships) who, of course, inspired that beautiful ceiling??? Ooooh... It is... wkrstfff... awesome. *stares*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The mysterious captain and his lovely ceiling are very intriguing aren't they? The owner said that the Scottish Field magazine had done some research in the 1970s but hadn't been able to trace the ships. Apparently, because they had been brought to the harbour to be broken up their names had not been recorded. I'm sure it must be possible to find out the name of the captain though!

Glad you liked the pics, you must come and visit Scotland one day :)

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

Impossible. Someone must have noted the names...!
Agreed about the captain's name. When nodbear and I visit Scotland together :) we will find out :)

This ceiling really is faszinating. *stares again*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'm quite sure it'll be possible to track down the name of the captain and quite possibly the ships too, but that's one rabbit hole I'm not going to chasing down right now! XD

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

I have shell envy.

That part of the world is forever associated with the immortal line "Two soups for the Lairds!" I'll explain next time we meet.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It's a grand shell beach! It's also the only beach I've ever seen which is completely littered with turitella shells. You very rarely find them further up the West Coast so when ever we visit this beach I always come home with pockets full of them :)

You'll have to tell me about the Lairds and their soup sometime!

[esmerelda-t.livejournal.com]

I would love to go to the Wigtown book festival! Must make a note for next year!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You should go! I'm sure you'd love it. It's a really big event now, it runs for over two weeks and they have hundreds of readings, performances, guided walks and what not. It's also a lovely part of the world to visit :)

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Peacock butterfly! I have a soft spot for them from my childhood! Psst, you can start breathing again. ;)

I love the rocks and the view through the chapel. And I share the shell envy with charliecochrane.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Psst, you can start breathing again. ;)
Phew! Thank goodness for that! I was starting to go purple :}

I love the rocks and the view through the chapel.
I rather liked the rocks too. I'm no geologist but they looks like some kind of sedimentary rock, very different from the hard gneiss and granites we get further north. They'd weathered into fascinating shapes and were lovely and smooth and tactile :)

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Some fabulous photos there.

I can never get butterflies to stay still and in focus.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm usually useless at catching butterflies, but this one seemed to be particularly sleepy :} Have you seen [Bad username or site: aletheiafelinea' @ livejournal.com]'s butterfly pictures? They're absolutely stunning. She says the secret is to hold your breath and not swear too loudly but I'm sure she must cast a spell on them to keep them so still ;)

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Wonderful beaches - and rocks and butterflies

I miss the sea so much at times

grand to see Corvisle House and indeed to imagine John M in those harbours and towns

Galloway looks such a beautiful place - though as we were saying once much busier than now

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's easy to see why John McKerlie was drawn to return to this part of the world, it's very beautiful and in the mid 1800s there were plenty of opportunities for enterprising fellows!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_likimeya/]

I'd love to take a long walk on one of those beaches or on the rocks, and then warm myself from the inside with a cup of good strong tea. :) Do you think they have soy milk?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether Kitty's have soy milk, but our camper van is always well stocked with soya milk! Actually the tea room were very accommodating with partner's gluten free vegan diet so I suspect soya milk wouldn't be a problem!