Isle Of Whithorn

Isle of Whithorn. A lovely view of Whithorn Harbour.
Hi All,
I'm going to have to ask the writers and anglers to be patient because this post is all about the Isle Of Whithorn. If you do read on I might be able to whet your appetite for a break in a beautiful part of the world.


You won't have to worry about delays at the airport, air crews going on strike or even whether some old volcano is going to blow its top. There is another thing too, you won't see a scene like this anywhere in Greece or the Costa-del-packet

There is so much to see in and around the area of Whithorn that it will be the focus for my Scotland posts for many weeks to come. Anglers and writers will be catered for in between.

I don't know about you, but when I'm booking a holiday cottage I'm always wondering what I can't see on the picture that they present. The people who do the brochures are experts in making some places look far better than they are. They must go to the same school as the ones used by estate agents. Anyway, I always have this horrible feeling that when I reach my destination that the cottage that looked sweet and peaceful in the brochure will turn out to be a nightmare because it has happened before. One place I booked was a rat infested barn conversion and another turned out to be nothing better than a nissen hut. Neither of these were in Scotland I hasten to add, but sadly in my own country. I can honestly say that all of the accommodation we have booked in Scotland so far has been tip top.

Still the days of deceit will soon be over in England thanks to google street map. Using this lovely bit of technology you can soon find out if the cottage you are thinking of booking is a dump and located between a chippy and a youth club.

We had a long but pleasant journey to Whithorn especially after we'd left the motorway. The A75 which takes the traveller to catch the ferry at Stranraer can be busy but the scenery is nice to drive through and it is possible to drive for over sixty miles without seeing a single traffic light so that can't be bad can it. So far I've yet to encounter any of those humps they call "Sleeping Policemen" anywhere in Scotland. Stafford the town where I live is a disgrace when it comes to traffic jams, speed humps and pot holes. The council is telling us how short of money it is and can't afford the people and tarmac to fill in the pot holes, yet it is still building more speed humps using the very same material and manpower.


Okay that's enough of that negativity, let's get back to Whithorn. As we got closer to the cottage my level of anxiety went higher; would it be as good as it looked on the photo and would the location be as expected? Well I needn't have worried it was even better than I'd hoped. It was in a nice secluded spot with views of the Galloway Hills and surrounding countryside.

The location was ideal too, being half way between the Village of Whithorn and Whithorn Harbour. St Ninian's Cave was also within walking distance of the property but we didn't bother going to see it. If you've seen one cave you've seen them all. A cave is just a bit of tunnel in a rock face that is probably full of bat crap. Not interesting and certainly not pretty.

I'll leave you with a picture of a boat taken in Whithorn. It may not make much sense to start off with but it made us laugh because our visit was in the same year that the drama programme "Das Boot" was shown on telly. It followed the progress of a German submarine and its crew through several weeks of the second-world-war. Those of you who saw this compelling drama will no doubt recall the the frantic shouts of "Alarm, Alarm," as the submarine and its anxious sailors dived for safety on a regular basis.


I guess there must be a German living in Whithorn and perhaps they do have a sense of humour after all.

Now we have arrived in Whithorn and you've seen where I'm staying, in my next Scotland post we can start exploring it together.