Hello all -

My fiancee and I are in the early planning stages for a trip to Scotland next Summer (June 2007). We plan on being married at the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel in Stranraer and then traveling on to Edinburgh. We plan on staying for about 2.5 weeks. Couple of questions for the group as we begin to plan our itinerary:
1) Is a car rental necessary for at least the first leg of our journey (Stranraer) in order to travel around the Dumfries & Galloway region or would you rely on train travel?
2) We plan on staying at the lighthouse for 4 nights and are contemplating taking a ferry ride to N. Ireland for a day trip. Do you think this day trip is worth it? And for anyone who has been at the lighthouse before, is 4 nights long enough to really enjoy it or do you think it would be worth it to stay longer?

Of course any feedback on must see attractions is definitely welcome! Look forward to hearing from you.

AllyO,

To answer Q1. Train services in the area are few and far between. Bus services aren't much better. Corsewall is a long way from most places. I think you need a car.

Re Q2 and must sees. What are your interests?

Should have mentioned this http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...southwest.html

Thanks so much for your quick feedback! The hyperlink to Undiscovered Scotland is great as well.

Some of the sites we've like to see thus far are: Caerlaverock Castle, Culzean Castle and Kirkcudbright. In Edinburgh outside of the Royal Mile and seeing some museums we'd also like to see the Royal Botanic Garden. We like outdoors activities (walking/hiking/fishing) and visiting museums. We were also thinking of taking a day trip possibly from Edinburgh to St. Andrews.

AllyO,

Don't ignore the peninsula on which Corsewall itself stands. Portpatrick is the old ferry port to Ireland and worth a look, the gardens at Port Logan are an outstation of Edinburgh (I think) and have many sub tropical plants, there are ancient crosses at Kirkmadrine.

Further afield in Dumfries and Galloway Threave Castle is interesting, also the gardens at Threave. There are several abbey ruins in the area http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/ .

There are some good walks in Glen Trool, and easier ones at Daltamie (north and east of Newton Stewart respectively).

As no one else has responded I would express a personal opinion that the day trip to Northern Ireland would be a waste of time/money unless you particularly want to go there. There is plenty to see in SW Scotland.

No, the train is very limiting... but you can get a bus throughout the region. You just have to learn how to read the timetable. Even if you aren't at a designated "stop" you can flag down the bus and use your return ticket.

I really don't buy the prevailing sentiment that one "must" have a car. We've done very well in Galloway Dumfries by bus or coach. In case of places you can't get to, hire a taxi.

I hope you visit Kirkcudbright while you are in the neighborhood. The Logan Royal Botanical Garden is a knockout. This is one of our magical areas of the planet. Enjoy!

In answer to your question about a day trip to Ireland from Stranraer, the ferry takes about 2 hours. There are fairly frequent sailings, but you'll be spending at least 4 hours in transit. Unless you're especially interested in seeing Belfast ( you'll have little/no time to do much else), I'd spend the time in Scotland.

I've been on my hols, so sorry for the delay in replying.

Notwithstanding Danna's comments I think you'd find MUCH greater flexibility with a car.

I agree with wasleys that you will have tons to do without crossing the Irish Sea.

This is a copy of my report from a short trip in the spring. We were not nearly as far west as Corsewall.

I got some very good input from here before I went, and saved the stuff randomly in a Word doc. Email me if you want a copy.

You need some input from doonhamer. Or search on his name.

So, our much heralded week in Dumfries-shire got off to a dodgy start, when we had to delay our departure from Saturday morning to Monday night because of a work commitment on my part. We arrived, totally knackered, at 12.50am along a long farm track at a nice warm cottage

One of the other alarms and excursions of the day had been when I got a call in the morning from the reserve manager telling me it was high tide in a day or two and the road might be under water when we arrived!. Fortunately it wasn�t. We so so tired, I doubt we�d have cared, and we�d probably have put the car off the road for a week.

There are two cottages for let on this RSPB reserve- Mersehead- in South West Scotland, through, I think, Discover Scotland. We were in Barnacle Cottage; it has been recently refurbished and was very well equipped and nicely furnished, and, did I mention, warm. I would strongly recommend them to anyone wanting self-catering in this neck of the woods.

So when we eventually surfaced the next day, the plan was to do nothing. We went into Dalbeattie bout 12 miles away, to get essential supplies. It�s a pretty little town on the river Urr, mostly built out of granite which was its main industry for years.

So, after some slobbing out, late morning, I, of course, got bored, and wandered, with the dog, down to the visitor centre, and met the Reserve Manager, and then walked down to the shore. I knew Keith wanted lunch so cut it short and returned and then we decided we�d go down to Kirkcudbright.

To explain, this part of Scotland lies along the Solway Firth, which cuts north east from the Irish Sea, and is a series of river valleys running north south to the main river.

http://www.dumfries-and-galloway.co.uk/maps/map.htm

so, basically, having wandered about one promontory in the morning we headed off for the next in the afternoon. Now, I haven�t been in Kirkcudbright for, oh, 40 years and I can�t remember a thing about it (well, I couldn�t). I know it is the apple of Danna�s eye, and it bills itself as an �Artists� Town� and that the connection with the Glasgow Boys is the Kircudbright Girls- �twere ever thus! By the way , we stopped at Dundrennan Abbey on the way over- the mother house of Sweetheart Abbey. Closed of course, but stupendous.

So how pleasant a town to fall into. Nice wee shops; good book shop, lovely views of the river, multi coloured two hundred year old houses, and dozens of little galleries. One problem tho�. By the time we got there it was about 3.30pm. It�s still winter here, and EVERYTHING had closed by 4pm. That was to be the story of our week, actually.

So we meandered back- lots of wee back roadies, so we weren�t much retracing our steps. Had a glass or two then set out to get some supper.

We headed back to towards Dumfries to find somewhere to eat. We had a number of recommendations, not least from here, and two were to the pubs in the village of New Abbey. Both of which were closed for redecoration. So we went on to Dumfries, and thought we�d find the place you had recommended there, the Eatin� Place. But we couldn�t. So, having gone round Dumfries�s one way system of road works no fewer than 4 times, we gave it up as a bad job and went to the restaurant at the Burn�s Centre- Hullabaloo, where we had a lovely meal in a nice ambience overlooking the river Nith. Highly recommended. The only black spot in the week was Dumfries, which I thought cut up and soul-less.


So, next day, I suggest a trip to Wigtown. By this time we�ve purchased the world supply of guidebooks on the area, and, in particular, the one published by Historic Scotland. So, we�re following this route they have with some stupendous stuff on it. We stopped at Cairnholy chambered Cairns which were pretty top, and saw lots of castles (do you think there are more castles in Dumfries and Galloway than anywhere else in Scotland?). Just be fore the main road reached Newtown Stewart, there�s this big brown Tourist sign which says �Wigtown- Scotland�s book town� And Keith looks at me sideways, and I say �what?�; and he says �I smell a rat!�, and I just about wet myself laughing. So we get there, and very pretty its is too; and it does have DOZENS of second hand book shops. So the boy lasts 5 minutes and then sods off to find a caff, and I catch up with him an hour or so later. Why do you think he picked the only feminist bookshop/café in the place

I bought a lot of books.

We finished our lunch; the town is mall and pretty and sits up above its Solway harbour which now hosts walks and a bird hide. After a quick mooch round we headed past Bladnoch distillery (would he stop? Would he hell!!), and following the twists and turns recommended by historic Scotland to Garlieston and Sorbie, we came to Isle of Whithorn, where the pilgrims landed in the early Middle Ages; then on to Whithorn to see the Abbey and the Celtic crosses which were in the wee museum at the side; which was �closed. The Abbey, which claims to be the cradle of Scottish Christianity is amazing and hardly explored at all. The town is very nondescript, except for a church, which has been converted into a filling station.

Then we headed off back home, after a long day, and stopped in Castle Douglas on the way back. Castle Douglas terms itself the �Food Town� (can you see a theme here?). So we mooched about a bit, bought some hand made choccies and stuff from the 2 delis, and went home and slobbed out a bit more.

The weather all day was fantastic with bright sunshine and crisp air.

Thursday, I had invited an old friend and her husband for supper, so we went BACK to Castle Douglas (it�s got a Tesco) and food shopped; then I went up to Gatehouse of Fleet to meet another old friend who runs the local area for the RSPB, and we spent a few glorious hours in the countryside, looking at some of his reserves and some of the community work he�d been doing. I advise anyone going to this area to spend some time on the Red Kite Trail. These birds are out of this world.

Quick dash home and three course dinner later, we were on our feet watching the thousands of barnacle geese come whirling in to roost, when a barn owl flitted up the other side of the track- at least 10 feet from us, and sat on a fence post in front of the window, in case we missed the point.

Friday, I managed to get up and buy fresh bread and the papers- it had been my intent EVERY morning- then dragged Keith off to see some more antiquities- the Twelve Apostles stone circle and the Motte of Urr, then we went round all the little villages along the coast from Dalbeattie, eventually stopping in Kippford at the river mouth for lunch. We were only about 3 miles from the house, so he felt the need for a siesta and Winston and I walked all round the merse and along the beach and got our feet wet in the outgoing tide, for about a couple of hours. Went back to the visitor centre and said our farewells, then spent eth evening in the Balcary Bay Hotel where the food was very very good, but they were so far up their own behinds it wasn�t that fun an experience., really.

And that was it. We barely scratched the surface of what there is to see. It�s very pretty. I was surprise with how Celtic it was; and the little river valleys make it all a bit closed in. But I will certainly go back.