Morning light, Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
I’ve been put up for a couple of days by fellow travel bloggers Esther & Warren, who cycled around the world for three years finishing up their odyssey back in Scotland. Like me, they experienced nothing but kindness in all their time of being strangers on the open road.
Craigneuk Point, Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Next morning their neighbour, Matt a retired ambulance driver, offers to drive me back to the coast along beautiful winding roads, his wife sitting in the back, reminds him to slow down at regular intervals! It’s a special kind of Scottish sun today that delivers absolutely no heat.
Salmon Nets I, Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Saltpan Rocks & Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Salmon Nets II, Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
I’m thrilled to be onto the first cliffs of the Scottish coast at Sandyhills bay. I find it an exhilarating sense of freedom, almost like flying, to walk on rolling fields by the edge of a sea cliff. The sunlight today is very vivid, like Velvia transparency film and there is barely any wind.
Salmon Nets III, Sandyhills Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
The Solway is very shallow here with a texture between mercury and silk through which a complex pattern of intersecting waves gently pulsates. I marvel that, even after two and a half years of spending a significant amount of time staring at the sea that it can surprise me anew like this.
Gillis Craig, Port O’Warren Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Silken Sea I, Portling Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Silken Sea II, Portling Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Path to Castlehill Point, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
I chat with a man walking his dog. It turns out this is an unusual event for him as he usually’s running. “I must do it more often, you see a lot more walking”. He tells me about his remarkable career as an ultra-marathon runner, which includes being the first Brit to run 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, “That was hard, all eating and sleeping were in airports”.
Silken Sea III, Portling Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Hestan Island from Rockcliffe, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Red squirrel land.
A rare sighting of an elusive Scottish coastal path sign!
Esther Tacke and Warren Sanders, adventure cyclists extraordinaire, who generously put me up when I walked near their patch.
Read about Esther & Warrens’s four-year epic cycling around the world at their blog The Sportswool Diaries
Cracking set of photos Quentin.
Thanks Paul, after two and a half years by the sea I’m still surprised at how different the surface of the sea can appear
How welcoming the silken sea appears!
Doesn’t it just!
Stunning photos, the colours are magical.
yes, this day had very unusual subtle colours. thanks
Hi.
Are you aware of the “green travel map” on Dumfries and Galloway Council’s website:
https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/15300/Cycling-in-Dumfries-and-Galloway
Or the “Core Paths Map”:
https://info.dumgal.gov.uk/mapviewers/pathsmap.aspx
I saw on your page for your first day in Scotland a comment about a lack of paths on maps, or similar?
Hope this is of some help!
BTW, is there a way to get a notification when you have posted a new day’s story, after one of your breaks?
Thanks for the info, yes I am aware of the core paths. Having followed them on and off for twenty days they vary greatly in how well they are maintained. Unfortunately, my experience is that they are frequently completely impassable. If you click follow this blog via the tab at the side you’ll get an email each time I post 🙂
No problem. Found the follow thing, at bottom of page on my browser! Will look forward to future postings, no doubt when snow gone!
thanks, I have 13 walked days to edit at the moment so there will be many posts over the coming days
The Silken Seas’ are so delicate and beautiful. Great photos!
thanks