Down on the Bay

From the Mull of Galloway, the coast goes basically east, except it's not at all straight.  First there is the arc of Luce Bay round to the Machars peninsula.  Then a series of giant estuaries of moderate sized rivers make a coastal route quite lengthy, since you have to go a long way up each river, to a big town, to cross it.  The main road goes directly between these towns, so traffic should be light on the coast.

I had a relatively easy, if long, ride from the Mull, around Luce bay on flat roads mostly near the sea.  It's a quiet area - villages perhaps every ten miles, and maybe a car every half mile.   Everything looked lovely in the sunshine.   Port William was particularly attractive, though I didn't stop, having just had a ginormous fish pie for lunch.

The standout place on the route was Isle of Whithorn, which isn't an island although it is at the bottom of the Machars peninsula.  There's another place called simply Whithorn nearby.  The Isle version has a beautiful harbour surrounded by picturesque houses, with a chapel right on the harbourside.  And a fine pub.   CAMRA pub of the year several times running, in the Good Beer Guide for 20 years, on the waterfront, and serving cake.   It had a good selection of beers, obvs., but it was a bit early in the ride,band I hadn't got anywhere to stay tonight, so there was work to do, phone calls to make.

But no phone signal, which was a surprise since the coverage map not southern Scotland is very good.  Not to worry, I have an app which allows making phone calls using wi-fi, for just this situation. However I've never used it, and it refused to make a call because there was no mobile signal. Doh!

I decided to cycle the last 15 miles to Wigtown without a B&B booking, and try again later.  I got phone signal but no answers from the numbers I called.  By now I was taking note of quiet verges that were possibilities for wild camping.

Arriving in Wigtown I  tried to call again, without success, then tried Google, which came up with a few places.  I went to one which had a Vacancies sign, but no answer at the door or the phone. Soon a young lad turned up and rang the bell - his mum was the owner.  So by very complicated process of leaving notes and missing each other repeatedly, I now have a room for the night. Phew.