Another early start - we had finished breakfast, packed and got out by 9am. Well - it's early for a Sunday! We headed first up to see the Twelve Apostles - a prehistoric stone circle just outside of Dumfries. As with most stone circles (Stonehenge excepted) it was fairly dull. According to online research it is the seventh largest in Britain. Now I'm wondering what and where the others are as I've only seen Stonehenge and Avebury.Maybe they aren't so dull after all if I am seriously considering googling "Stone Circles". Or maybe I'm just sad.
Anyway, after the Stone Circle we headed over to Lochmaben, a small town just north of England. Roy was there last May on a lad's golfing trip and said it was a nice place. There are about 5 lochs around the town so we walked around the largest - Castle Loch. The weather was cold and sunny at times. I was so glad to have my 99p woolly hat to keep my ears warm! Once we got past Lochmaben Castle, the ground turned a bit boggy. We were walking over tussocks and every now and then my foot would sink right into a deep puddle. Not great when you're wearing mesh trainers! Not sure how we managed to forget the walking boots!As we crossed the tussocks, a flock of geese flew overhead. Loudly. We heard them miles off and stood and watched as they honked over us - and back again. Not sure where they were headed but they were making a long way round out of it, that's for sure!
Back in Lochmaben, we had a drink at the pub Roy stayed in, as he wanted to see John, the owner. After a chat with John, we decided to head home. We drove through Lockerbie, which looked like a nice town, and then on to the motorway. I wanted to see Gretna Green (I've never been there) so we stopped off on the way home. Hmmm, not sure I'd ever do that again - what a money making touristy horrible place it is! It looks more like a theme park. I think it must be an awful place to get married. And you have to pay to go in and look at the Blacksmith's place and anvil. We didn't bother. They do, however, have a wonderful food hall there, selling all kinds of gorgeous and unusual food stuffs. We bought scones and jam to have when we got home.
Finally arrived home at 4-ish. I really enjoyed exploring the South West corner of Scotland - it's given me a taste to explore the rest of it - one day.
My only issue with Scotland is that they have such awful and ugly social housing - I know there are some bad places in England but the Scots win the prize for creating some of the most mind blowingly shocking houses and maisonettes. I think they would even beat some of the Eastern bloc countries.
