Wigtownshire Ramblers. Whitefield Loch to Knock Fell. January 2012

Walkers being briefed at the start by the leader.

A very calm Whitefield Loch.

Making our way to Knock of Luce.

We met some friendly horses.

Climbing Knock Fell(175M)

Only place you can get a tv signal is on top of the fell.

Remains of St Johns Church.

We wondered if the lambs actually attack you!!

In the walled garden of Craigenveoch Castle.

Details of a type of eel that visits here. (see text)

Todays group on the summit of Knock Fell.

The leader with a new friend.

Today Saturday January 14th I went to Stranraer on the bus to meet up with my mother group for a walk from Whitefield Loch near Glenluce to Knock Fell. This is a walk that the group had done before but one that I had always wanted to do.The leader today is the famous blogger from Newton Stewart that I often refer to in my blogs.He has led this  before and did an excellent blog of the walk back in 2010 which is well worth a look as the weather that day was glorious sunshine unlike today which was a cloudy gloomy cold one.19 walkers left the loch to proceed along some fairly rough roads to reach a cottage at the Knock of Luce where the owner is a keen horse breeder. At this point the leader  pointed out the site of St Johns church which has been completely erased and not a lot of history has been documented about it. Looking at the landscape and the piles of stone around the area there must have been some kind of settlement here. Now we had a short climb to the summit of Knock Fell which we were assured on a clear day has some wonderful views of Wigtownshire and the Mull of Galloway.We had a lunch stop here before making our way to the ruins of Craigenveoch Castle with its walled garden. It must heve been very grand in its day but like so many buildings of that era there is not a lot of it left. We were now back at the edges of Whitefield Loch where there are several information boards erected telling you a little of the history including a crannog on an island double click to get the details One of the boards also told us of a type of eel that starts its life in the Saragasso Sea which forms part of the Bermuda Triangle  before somehow navigates the Atlantic Ocean and finishes in a loch in Wigtownshire. After about 5 years it does the return trip to spawn before it dies.I am always amazed at these tales of nature.Arriving back at the cars the leader was thanked for a very pleasant sociable 6 mile walk I really enjoyed meeting up with the group again and seeing so many old faces and some not so old. Hope to see you all again in the near future.

Alittle footnote: Yesterday as I was walking through the town of Stranraer to Port Rodie with the teacher to get the bus home a gentleman approched us and inquired if I was the author of the blog that he enjoyed reading each week.(The many photos of the teacher were a dead giveaway) It turns out he is a keen walker and gained ideas of walks from the blog. Glad to be of service sir please do not be afraid to make a comment at the end of any of my blogs.