Dumfries and Galloway holiday 13
From Kirkcudbright, I travelled north to Ayr, choosing the route around the coast road as it promised to be more interesting. I'd been told Portpatrick was pretty and I wasn't disappointed. It was another wonderfully sunny day but here on the coast, at the tip of the Galloway peninsula, it felt fresher and more pleasant.
Portpatrick nestles round a sheltered harbour with a lifeboat station and a fleet of little pleasure cruisers moored there, making a very attractive and colourful scene. It has a big hotel up on the headland and many guest houses and holiday lets in the village itself.
There has been a lifeboat station in Portpatrick since 1877 and the current boat is a Tamar Class model: fast, relatively comfortable for its crew and equipped for long journeys into the often rough waters of the Irish Sea. They have lighter inshore inflatables too. Over the years the crews here have received several medals for gallantry. Our lifeboat crews are highly trained volunteers, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. It's interesting to read HERE what a day might involve for them.
Near to the harbour entrance is a small lighthouse, decommissioned in 1900, though there had been a light here since 1774. Being the closest harbour to Ireland, the port was once an important sea link, with steamers and mail boats crossing to moor at a pier. The former Lighthouse Keeper's cottage is now privately owned and, I think, let as holiday accommodation. Next door is the Lighthouse Pottery and gift shop.
The seafront curves around a small beach and there are numerous bars and cafés, making it a lovely place to linger.
On the road up out of the village, I noticed this interesting old house perched at the end of a row of Victorian terraces, though itself seemingly older. I haven't been able to find out anything about it. It has the look of a toll house but that may be wide of the mark. Why those tiny houses should need eleven chimneys is a mystery!
Thank you, Portpatrick - I enjoyed visiting.
That is quite a tide they get there.
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