A journey south
The SWC300 driving route is a spectacular yet undervalued addition to Scottish tourism. Oozing with history, this characterful journey inspires the creative and satisfies the adventurous, says Richard Bath
Ididn’t know the south west that well when I moved to Muiryhill, a lovely old pink farmhouse just off the beautifully austere Dalveen Pass in northern Dumfriesshire. That was in 2000, and over the next three years many weekends were spent exploring one of the least known but most beautiful bits of Scotland.
So the recent launch of the South West Coastal 300, a 300-mile circular driving route that encapsulates much of the south west is an enormously welcome development designed to increase visitors to the one area of the UK that continues to depopulate. It takes in the southern Ayrshire riviera, the coastal road that follows the Solway Firth, and then loops up from Dumfries via Lockerbie and Moffat before heading west through the Lowther Hills towards Ayr to close up the loop.
It is, insist its organisers, not trying to emulate the stellar success of the North Coast 500. Since it launched in 2015 the NC500 has seen visitor numbers to the area sky-rocket, with room occupancy on the route going from 52% in 2014 to over 80% in the year before the pandemic, with an extra £23m a year being injected into the area.
That has led to a string of areas with scenic roads launching trails designed to attract tourists. In all, there are 17 trails north of the Border, with virtually every inch of Scotland seeming to benefit from a driving route designed to boost tourism.
I know them all to varying degrees, and some very well indeed. Yet none of them can quite match the sheer eclecticism of the SWC300, with its mix of incredible historical built environment, wonderful beaches and picture postcard fishing villages. Not only is the south west relatively unknown, it is so varied it only gradually unveils itself, one layer at a time.
I suppose the obvious place for me to start is my old stamping ground near Thornhill. It’s home to wonderful Drumlanrig Castle, of course, but there is so much more to the area, whether it be the wonderful fishing on the Nith, the artsy village of Moniaive, the food at the Buccleuch & Queensberry Arms Hotel in Thornhill, or secret wee spots like Durisdeer church, home to the exquisite Queensberry Marbles.
Heading north from my old
farmhouse are the mining villages of Leadhills and Wanlockhead, perched high in the Lowther Hills. Nestled amid slopes sufficiently vertiginous that there were once ski lifts here, Wanlockhead is the highest village in Scotland and, invariably wreathed in mist, this can be a wet, cold and bleak place. Gold can still be panned in the rivers here, and as well as some amazing walking there’s an old steam train which chugs between the two villages.
Head west towards the coast and you head through Sanquhar, home to the world’s oldest post office and the heartland of the Covenanters who signed a declaration in the town in 1680 renouncing their allegiance to King Charles II, a decision which led to the martyring of thousands. Stepping back into the real world, it’s also home to the Blackaddie House Hotel, where seriously good food is to be found.
The next stop on our anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the SWC300 is Dumfries House, famously saved for the nation by Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay. It’s just outside the unlovely town of New Cumnock, and is an example of the sort of schizophrenic juxtaposition that makes the SWC300 such a twee-confounding joy.
As you head west, to your south is the Galloway Forest, 300 square miles of pristine environment that is so bereft of human activity that in 2009 it was designated as the UK’s first Dark Sky Park – and at that stage one of only four in the world. The crystal clear conditions overhead remain so free of man-made light that it is perfect for stargazing.
You eventually hit the coast at the medieval, arched Brig O’ Doon – no, really – and come to Alloway, the village where Robert Burns was born in 1759. Keats, Tennyson and Muhammad Ali all visited the low whitewashed thatched cottage where the Ploughman Poet came yowling into the world, but Burns isn’t universally loved and in 1914 suffragettes Frances Parker and Ethel Moorhead tried blowing up the birthplace of a man they believed was a symbol of the patriarchy. Another cultural icon, Edwin Muir, was no more of a fan: in his 1935 travelogue Scottish Journey the writer suggested that the ‘ludicrous and pathetic’ monument to the Bard be pulled down.
Heading south along the coast from Ayr, I’d visit the spectacular Culzean Castle, the clifftop home of the Clan Kennedy and Dwight D Eisenhower’s favourite place in the UK, and the Whisky Experience at Kirkoswald. After doing so I’d stop for sustenance at Wildings fish restaurant in the village of Maidens, or at the Turnberry resort’s signature 1906 restaurant, which has an unforgettable view out to the volcanic plug Ailsa Craig (this small island, aka Paddy’s Milestone, is the source of all granite curling stones in Scotland, as well as being the source of my Ayrshire-raised daughter’s name).
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Dumfries House is an example of the schizophrenic juxtaposition that makes the SWC300
Turnberry is a venue for golf ’s The Open Championship, and this coast is loaded with courses of enormous quality, from the storied Royal Troon and Prestwick to the north, to lesserknown games like Barassie and Glasgow Gailes near Ayr, and the wonderful Southerness near Dumfries.
Turnberry is also a luxurious place to stay, and there are a few of those – Glenapp Castle in Ballantrae and Knockinaam on the Mull of Galloway, two formerly Michelin-starred country house hotels, plus Cavens near Dumfries – yet there are also a wealth of small hotels and quirky places to stay.
“This coast is loaded with golf courses of enormous quality
The coast road is hugely enjoyable without ever threatening to match the visual pyrotechnics of the Sutherland legs of the NC500, yet there is an engaging lushness and verdant warmth to this part of the world. This really hit home on the Mull of Galloway, the spit of land beyond Stranraer, where time seems to slow. I’d recommend staying in the quirky Corsewall Lighthouse, and visiting the small fishing villages of Portpatrick and Portlogan.
A stunning coastal walk is in order at our next stopping point of Whithorn. In the 4th century St Ninian stepped ashore here from Ireland at the eponymous cave, where he lived and preached and where he is now celebrated with a Mass on the Sunday closest to his feast day of 16 September. This marks the birth of Christianity in Scotland and is the start of a glorious six-mile walk along the coast to Physgill, where a pint or an ice cream awaits at the Steam Packet Inn.
Next up is Wigtown, Scotland’s self-styled National Book Town and home to the wonderful ten-day Wigtown Book Festival, which each year boasts an array of A-listers that attracts over seven thousand visitors. Many of those visitors will also visit the town’s bookshops, with my favourite being The Bookshop, which is owned by Shaun Bythell, who famously disintegrated a Kindle with his shotgun. The bibliophile was extremely pleased with the outcome, which hangs in his shop as a warning to the technologically literate.
This corner of the world has been immortalised in print by several well-known authors, with Dorothy L Sayers’ fifth Lord Wimsey novel, Five Red Herrings, being the most famous. This concentrates on the artists’ town of Kirkcudbright, where creative types have been drawn for the past 150 years by the
dappled light, with Hornel and Peploe among the celebrated members of the bohemian so-called Kirkcudbright Artists Colony between 1880-1980. You can see their work at the Kirkcudbright Galleries in the town.
There are some nice walks around Rockliffe and Dalbeattie but I always speed along the Solway Firth on route to the distinctive moated and triangular Caerlaverock Castle, which I love. Not only is the castle a memorable place to visit, but it’s surrounded by an amazing nature reserve and some of the best bird-watching in Scotland (which is why it used to be one of the foremost sites for punt-gunning). Just to add to the historical overkill, visit nearby New Abbey and take in Sweetheart Abbey, which has a back story that tugs at your heartstrings. There’s a great tea shop in New Abbey, two pubs opposite each other, a preserved Corn Mill, a great walk at Criffel and a crannog on nearby Loch Kindar.
Dumfries lies to the north, and on the way there I visit the village of Beeswing (renamed in the 1840s after a celebrated racehorse) to visit the Loch Arthur Creamery and buy a barrow-load of their fantastic produce, especially their wonderful cheese. I then arrive in Dumfries, where I’d take time to have a pint in the enjoyably ramshackle Globe Inn and visit Burns’ Mausoleum. When I lived in the area the mausoleum to Burns, who died in the town aged 37 in 1796, was so unloved that I remember visiting it on Burns Night
“Reiving clan The Johnstons would store thousands of stolen cattle
and finding it unattended and in a state of disrepair. Fortunately it has since been renovated, its white walls and shiny marble luminescent amid the ubiquitous local red sandstone.
The eastern boundary of the SWC300, which shadows the nearby M74, is its dullest stretch, although I’ve always rather liked Moffat, and invariably pop into that emporium of the gods, The Moffat Toffee Shop, to purchase some enamel-eroding goodies.
And I always like to pop by the Devil’s Beef Tub, the topographical quirk where reiving clan The Johnstones – the ‘raiding loons’ – would store thousands of stolen cattle in a hollow that only revealed itself once you’re almost on it.
And with that, 300 miles have flashed by. Artists, bibliophiles, historical junkies, gastronomes, anglers and walkers all end their journey sated. There is truly something for everyone in this curiously neglected corner of the country.
Find out more by visiting the website www.visitsouthwestscotland.com/swc300