With the weather gods still on our side on Sunday morning, after 2 days of dry weather on our Group Weekend Away, our large party set off in bright, though chilly, sunshine for a bracing stroll up the coastal path which forms the beginning of the Southern Upland Way.

At North Witch Point we paused briefly to admire the Grand Designs eco-home, formerly a military listening post and winner of the 2019 Glasgow Institute of Architects Design award, which is built into the cliff face, complete with grass roof and wall of glass looking out towards the coast of Ireland. Nearby, a derelict former radio signalling station looks ripe for a similar conversion!

Passing sunlit bays of golden sand, we could have almost been in the Mediterranean or Caribbean, although a clamber up steep steps from the beach bought us back to reality. Reaching the lighthouse, we stopped for a photo op and a welcome drink overlooking the sweeping arc of Killantringan Bay while watching buzzards swoop overhead in the deep blue sky.

From here we headed inland, still following the Southern Upland Way, and then turned south through farmland which offered a complete change of scenery as we made our way carefully and respectfully through a field of cows, who kept a careful watch on us but were thankfully unconcerned by our presence. Fields gradually gave way to woodland and eventually we turned coastward again and were suddenly plunged into the damp greenery of Dunskey Glen with its stunning waterfall, ancient stone bridge and carpets of bluebells. Hard to believe at this point that we were only metres from the beach but all too soon the watery woodland path popped out onto the beach we had passed only a couple of hours earlier and we retraced our steps back along the coastal path to the hotel.

A lovely walk of two contrasting halves which perfectly summarised this beautiful area of Dumfries and Galloway, helped in no small part by the gorgeous weather!