Scottish borders

With the Ardrossan Harbour redevelopment still awaiting Scottish Government sign off, it is now pretty inevitable that all Brodick sailings in May 2026 will be from Troon, with the ongoing potential for diversions to Gourock in severe weather.

Sailing time from Troon is greater than from Ardrossan so timetables need to be confirmed for when that happens, using the two new ships. No one seems to have actually confirmed if they fit the linkspan at Gourock, for the customary long standing diversions. Likewise whether or not the Brodick to Campbelltown sailings can happen- or if those will become Troon to Campbelltown only without a Brodick call, so Kintyre would be via the Lochranza ferry. Maybe by Christmas ish (?) Troon service plans may be clearer.

A number of imponderables there.

Hopefully you can do Rothesay in one direction via Western Ferries to Dunoon and then the Colintraive route, and on the ABC boats to Wemyss Bay in the other.

I don't know if I have slowed down a lot but I surprised myself last year when I found that 4 nights in Dumfries was not sufficient- and for me Dumfries is normally day trip terrain. Now I was working that in with the week long Riding the Bounds in Dumfries (hence staying there for so long, so was shoe horning day trips around ridings events times) and trying to cover a lot of turf- which can also be covered from Kirkcudbright and Whithorn.

I've just come back from five days in the Scottish Borders and had fogotten just how nice they were and how much there is to do there... Melrose is a delightful small town and makes a good base.

My choice of visit sequence allows us to use the Wemyss ferry, then take the back-door route via Rhubodach/Portavadie/Claonaig to Aran then back on the Lochranza to avoid the Androssen mess entirely. I have been following all the earlier posts on the issue. I also picked Bute as the first stop since we'll be arriving on a long haul flight in Glasgow and the short drive is a great feature. Steve Marsh calls the Wemyss Station the most beautiful in Scotland. so I get to check his judgement.

Of course, by 2026 there will be a whole new set of ferry issues.

Nice, jj! I think you will really enjoy Arran. It would be great if you had one more night there, but it's a small island so you can see a lot in that time. Lochranza was really interesting. If you're waiting for the Lochranza ferry, there is a sandwich shop across the road that has really good sandwiches! I highly recommend them. I also loved Tobermory.

I will especially look forward to your report of Kirkcudbright. I've been wanting to go there ever since I read The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. And I recently found out I've been pronouncing it wrong (it's pronounced “Kerr-COO-bree"). I'm sure you knew that. :-)

Not the way I was pronouncing it !

Kerr-Coo-bree is the correct pronunciation, Kirk-cud-bright marks you out as a tourist. That spelling is a corruption.

The etymology of the name is from the Gaelic for The Chapel of St Cuthbert- his body was kept there after exhumation at Lindisfarne (due to the Danish Viking invasion), on the way to Chester-le-Street (via .Melrose among other places) thence Ripon (after more Viking action) before his final resting place at Durham Cathedral.

The town is now a fishing port and artists town, and a Royal Burgh. A very nice place to visit, chock full of history.

John Paul Jones (founder of the American navy) was one of the prisoners in the prison at the Tollbooth for flogging a seaman to death for attempted mutiny in 1770. And of course his birthplace museum at Kirkbean is not far away.

There is also MacLellan's Castle right in the town centre.

Check whether Maclellan's Castle is open by next May. The grounds and shop are open at the moment, but the building itself is still closed while they undertake high level masonry inspections. There are still a lot of Historic Environment Scotland properties that are either closed or partially closed with no indication when they will be reopening...

Have you come across the Gem Rock Museum in Creetown? It is a fascinating place. As well as displays of all sorts of minerals, they also have carved items made from many of them too. Some of these are wonderful. Even if rocks aren't your thing, there is still a lot to enjoy here.

Are you planning on visiting the Museum of Lead Mining at Wanlockhead when you are in Sanquhar? It's well worth a visit. And of course there's the Devil's Porridge at Eastriggs - doable either on the way to Dumfries or from there.

BTW- Do check the Rothesay route before departing GLA. In certain weather conditions, like tonight, services have to divert to Gourock (with extended passage times) as Wemyss Bay is an exposed port and can become untenable.

Gourock is a very useful standby port- I've rarely known it to be closed for weather.

Hi, jjgurley,

As you're going to be on Bute, I can highly recommend three places to visit/stay:

The Kingarth Hotel - it's out in the middle of nowhere, but it is really special, and relatively inexpensive. We stayed in the annex, so I can't vouch for the main hotel, but it's the first hotel we've ever stayed in in Scotland that has a television built in to the bathroom wall. Not only that, but it's the first hotel we've ever stayed in where you could open the bedroom window and pet a horse!

Mount Stuart - a spectacular Gothic Revival country house. The interior is amazing - lots of it made of Italian marble, which was imported specifically for that purpose. Many paintings by Italian masters, huge tapestries, awesome ceilings, etc. Plus over 300 acres of gardens. The Stuarts, who have a long lineage going back to fleein' Fleance, were at one time the wealthiest family in Britain. The home was the residence of the Marquis of Bute. Check out the website to decide if you want to visit.

The Victorian loo at the Rothesay ferry terminal. Even if you don't have to spend a penny, it's worth a visit to this ostentatious public convenience. It's only the gents' loo that is so ornate - the ladies' loo is quite standard by comparison.

As you'll have just arrived in Scotland, you won't need a laundrette, but there is a good one on the high street in Rothesay. However, if you need to do your wash by the time you get to Callander, there is a self service below the public conveniences in the town center.

Best wishes for your plans!

Mike (Auchterless)

p.s.: Do you live anywhere near Merlin/Galice?

We're about 25 miles SW of Merlin.

Our current agenda for the full day on Bute is the Toilet Museum, Ardencraig Garden, Mount Stuart, Kingarth Stones, Kingarth Tea Room for lunch, Kilchattan Bay, St. Blaines Chapel, and Scalpsie Bay.

We'll do the Balnakally Loop on the way off the island

I don't think the Tea Room and Hotel are related, but I'll look into switching if they serve lunch. A quick look doesn't show that. We'll probably stay in Rothsay because we like to be able to walk to a pub.

Hi again, jjgurley,

A few years ago, I drove that insane Galice Road/SR23 from Merlin to Agness, on my way to Gold Beach. It made some of those single track roads in Scotland look like I-5!

Mike (Auchterless)

p.s.: Just to warn you, Mount Stuart is a good half day, especially if you are going to visit any of the gardens.

That's probably why I'm not troubled by single tracks in Scotland. Over the last few years several people have gotten in serious trouble (including death) by following their GPS's guidance over that road in the winter. They close the gate once the snow falls, but the first storm of the year is a problem. It's pretty easy to get caught in a snow storm and ending up stranded 20 miles from the nearest help. And the instinct to walk downhill just gets you to an impassible river canyon (except by raft).

The etymology of the name is from the Gaelic for The Chapel of St Cuthbert- his body was kept there after exhumation at Lindisfarne (due to the Danish Viking invasion), on the way to Chester-le-Street (via .Melrose among other places) thence Ripon (after more Viking action) before his final resting place at Durham Cathedral.

Interesting, Stuart! Yet another reason to visit Kirkcudbright. It could be a bucket list for me to visit all the places where St. Cuthbert's body was. So far I've seen his earlier grave on Lindisfarne and the final one in Durham Cathedral. I was in Ripon—is the grave marked there? And I wish I would have known about Chester-le-Street Church as I could easily have stopped there. Opportunities missed!

I guess it is a pretty sad bucket list, but there is something appealing about it.

And Mike and jj, thank you both for alerting me to the dangers of Galice Road. I will make sure to avoid it.

Mardee,

I believe the grave is not marked at either Ripon or Chester le Street.

The reason being that the then Church at Chester le Street was a timber Church, later replaced by the current Stone Church. It was actually a Cathedral for over 100 years (before Durham) and remains a titular see of a Roman Catholic Bishop. It was built on the easily defendable former Roma fort. At Ripon the current Cathedral is a total replacement for the then Cathedral- as that first stone Church (replacing an earlier timber Church) was destroyed in 948 by King Eadred.
However if looking for a potential resting place at Ripon, you could visit the remarkable Crypt under the High Altar (the only surviving part of the original stone Cathedral)- which was built to represent Jesus' tomb.

There is a 62 mile walking trail- the St Cuthbert's Way from Lindisfarne to Melrose- the first part of the epic journey.

And of course the current shrine at Durham is the 3rd (or 4th?) resting place of Cuthbert at Durham- even if we disregard the destruction of the shrine by Henry VIII.

The body lay in many other places en route. Even my daily Primer- the Oxford Dictionary of Saints- does not give me enough detail of all the intermediate locations. But that would be some journey. Almost every St Cuthbert's Church in the Lake District is reputed to have been an at least transitory resting place.

My apologies to Mr Gurley for derailing his thread.

Derail away with interesting twists and turns !