Log No 157. Sat 12th Oct 2013 - Monreith to Isle of Whithorn, 11 miles (2446 miles walked)

No sunshine today but it is still dry and hopefully there will be no road walking.

Getting off the bus at 10.10 I came out of Monreith and took the footpath signpost to "Maxwell's Otter" which led me to the bronze statue of Gavin Maxwell's Otter which overlooked Monreith Bay.

I was feeling adventurous today, there was no footpath shown on the map for the next 5 miles of coastline but after the first mile it was low lying and flat until just before St Ninian's Cave so I didn't think it should present much of a problem. It was only a short walk today of 11 miles so there was no hurry.

I continued on by the edge of the golf course to the car park at Back Bay.

If the tide had been right out I could possibly have walked round the base of the cliffs but as it was I cut across the beach to climb up the slope.

At the top of the slope there was an old kissing gate so at some point there was access for walkers. In fact there was quite a good footpath along the top, with stiles, and I even saw a boot print.

At the end of the cliffs the path dropped down to the flat ground at the bottom of the slopes.

There was no definitive path now but an assortment of trails meant the going was fairly easy, I did have to walk on the stony beach on the odd occasion when the trails were too overgrown.

Coming to the end of this flat section I was surprised to see a car down here at the bottom of a track and I could hear tapping noises among the rocks at Port Counan.

I presumed someone was fossil hunting but it was actually a chap and his young family continuing the family tradition of recording your name on a rock, he was inscribing his daughter's name, Alison Nicholson, on a big rock.

If the tide had been in I would have had to climb up to the top of the cliffs but I was able to walk round with a bit of a rock scramble to the next bay, Port Castle Bay, where St Ninian's Cave was.

St Ninian is the first Christian missionary to Scotland, whose name is known.

It was was 12.50 so I sat outside the cave and finished off my lunch.

From the cave there was a marked footpath all the way to Isle of Whithorn along the top of the cliffs.

It is probably a popular walk but I only met one other person on the path today.

This had been a fine coastal walk, taking 4 hours 40 minutes for the 11 miles.