In praise of the Caravan Club Site at Garlieston

In praise of the Caravan Club Site at Garlieston

There’s more to excite the imagination in Scotland than the Highlands and Islands.  Turning left after Carlisle on to the A75 will bring you in fewer than 100 miles through scenic Dumfries and Galloway to Garlieston Caravan Club site, an ideal seaside spot, for visiting the local area. 

Sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds and benefiting from the Solway Firth’s micro climate it is unusually mild.  It’s a worthwhile prospect for a quiet, late summer holiday-going on early autumn when most folk are back at work or school.  (Unfortunately this year, the site will close on 4^th November).  Many places of interest can be reached by bike.  We cycled to Whithorn to see the priory and museum and on to St Ninian’s Isle, by the Isle of Whithorn, a delightful sheltered harbour.  On the eastern edges of Luce Bay, many pilgrims seek out St. Ninian’s cave, where ancient crosses have been found.  Between here and Port William, is a viewpoint you can share with a bronze otter; a memorial to the author Gavin Maxwell.

Bookworms and browsers will want to head for Wigtown, especially in late September during the Book Festival.  Here they’ll be spoilt for choice with the many coffee shops stacked with wide a range of reading.  We timed it right and after homemade soup stayed on for the pipe band and fireworks, which mark the start of this annual event.  And talking of food, we can recommend Sunday lunch at the Bladnoch Inn.

But you don’t have to dash about.  Garlieston Caravan Club site is just the place for a stroll around the bay.  If that sounds too energetic, it was sunny and warm enough just to relax outside the ‘van, watching the sea birds and the tide come in and out.  It is a picture postcard place, but one where you should go and take your own pictures.