Dumfries to Loch Doon

This is my first visit to the Loch Doon Campsite since it has had built a long-promised toilet and shower block. There was lunch at Moniaive, using the village shop for coffee and some provisions. Moniaive is within reach for a day out and locals rarely seem to pass each other without speaking to each other. I visited it on my Grand Tour (Watford – Broadford – Inverness – Watford), when one of its music festivals had attracted visitors from far and wide.

Practising what I preach about diet, I refused at the shop the free sugary goody to go with coffee and lightened my load by eating carried food including assorted remnants from home meals.

The long climb went well and the downhill views of the hills were stunning, as they had been on my Grand Tour. I remember telling Mrs Hewgill, another member of the small IT/Computing dept at Watford Grammar School for Boys, that I had not visited her home town (Castle Douglas I think) but had turned right and gone “up and over” before reaching it and had been thrilled by the layers of hills during the marvellous descent. The day’s distance felt just right, getting me nicely tired and about half way from home to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran.

Today a “major wildfire” broke out between Patna and Kirkmichael, a few miles from Loch Doon campsite, according to the Ayrshire Daily News. There was wild camping with camp fires near the campsite but no evidence of forest fires close by.

The campsite block was immaculate, but those cleaning it noted that it lacked a window for ventilation and relied on extractor fans. At £10 per night for a small tent with views of the hills and loch and free showers, use of kettle and phone charging this represents good value to me, but perhaps not to those who have been wild camping near here for years.