It’s been a long time since we managed to get out onto the cliffs but a visit from friends Simon and Caroline gave us an opportunity to visit Meikle Ross, just a few miles away from Craig Cottage.
Climbing Again!
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Singing in the Park
The SongWave Choir is up and running again now and they gave a concert at Dock Park in Dumfries in early June. This will be followed by more concerts around the area later in the month.
Paddling down the Dee
We had a good kayaking session down the River Dee past Threave Castle with the Kirkcudbright Canoe Club.
There was a good turnout for the event with around 30 assorted kayaks out on the river. There was a bit of extra excitement at the end of the trip with a short section of rapids where the river passes under the A75 road bridge which I unfortunately failed to capture photographically.
Trip to Mull
After a couple of years of lockdown we finally organised a trip outside Dumfries & Galloway. We had a 5 day stay on Mull with Mull Wildlife Breaks. Each day, we were taken out by mini-bus to see different areas of Mull and Laura our guide pointed out the variety of birds and other wildlife. We also had a boat trip day when we saw sea eagles nesting on Ulva, puffins and other sea birds around Lunga and lunch at Staffa & Fingal’s Cave.
Barlocco Beach Cleans
We had the opportunity to get a skip, sponsored by the Solway Firth Partnership, to collect rubbish that had accumulated over a period of several years along the stretch of coast between Kirkandrews and Carrick. A team of local volunteers set to work over a fine, sunny weekend in March to fill the skip.
Hello Heron
Here’s the newest addition to our garden, a mosaic heron made by Yvette Green of Baobab Tree Mosaics. We saw some examples of her work while we were down in Gloucestershire earlier this year and ordered the heron for Gabrielle’s birthday.
Birthday Pies
John’s birthday this year was celebrated in the usual style with a feast of meat and potato pies and mushy peas. Here are the magnificent pies before being tucked into by us and our visiting friends, Karen and Mike.
Storm in Dumfries
In the lead-up to the COP26 environmental summit meetings in Glasgow, a giant puppet called ‘Storm’ made a tour around Scotland. Storm represents a sea goddess and is made from recycled materials. She was greeted in Dumfries by the SongWave choir of which Gabrielle is a member.
Gabrielle’s Birthday
It has become a bit of a tradition in Kirkandrews to celebrate major birthdays with cake and refreshments so it was chocolate buns, bunting and bubbly for Gabrielle’s birthday this year.
Kirkandrews Regatta
We had a visit from our friends Lyn & Paul with two additional generations of their family and managed to get out on the water for a mini-regatta.
We had 2 double kayaks, two single kayaks and two paddleboards out in Kirkandrews Bay. Here’s Paul, inspecting the fleet before launching.
John had his first attempt at paddleboarding – not totally successful!
Eventually we all got out into Wigtown Bay for a cruise along the coast.
