Into the storm!
So…last weekend we had another break which coincided with the arrival of Storm Amy from the Atlantic. After the miserable weather for our Anglesey break we were feeling a bit hard done by with another terrible weather forecast. We went to Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway simply because we had a free two night stay at the North West Castle Hotel courtesy of ‘Carefree’. ‘Carefree’ is a charity organisation that provides free breaks for carers, for up to two nights, in a variety of hotels around the country. I chose the hotel in Stranraer because it had availability on a Friday and Saturday night whereas most other hotels offer only weekdays when they are quieter. As a carer you can get a free break once a year and occasionally twice if you are lucky.
We set off on the Friday as Amy approached Scotland. We called in at Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet and Newton Stewart on the way. The rivers we saw were already in spate and near breaking their banks. We didn’t venture out of the hotel the first night because of the rain and wind but got out on the Saturday and despite a few apocalyptic showers managed to get around the whole of the Rhins of Galloway. We visited the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse first, which is the most southerly point of Scotland, then Port Logan but the Logan Botanic Garden was closed because of the weather. We had some lunch in Port Patrick and walked along the cliff to Dunskey Castle before heading on up to the Corsewell Lighthouse at the northern end of the Rhins. The wind was epic all day and it howled all night outside the
