St Ninian's Cave

St Ninian's Cave was our destination today on our hill-walking club weekend to Newton Stewart. We drove the two hours down to this area last night after work and enjoyed a hearty pub tea with the other nine in our party. The hotel is really nice with ensuite rooms; I had been expecting a hostel so I was very pleasantly surprised.

This morning six of us went on a circular coastal route starting from the small harbour village of Isle of Whithorn. After a rainy night and a misty start to the day, the weather turned warm and sunny - as we walked along in short sleeves it was hard to believe that we are nearly at the end if November. We made our way along cliff paths with beautiful sea views across to the Isle of Man in the distance. 

Then we descended to a wide stony beach, crossed a small but fast flowing stream, and arrived at St Ninian's Cave. It is indeed a cave and a plaque on the wall informed us that St Ninian (a 5th century Christian missionary to Scotland) used to pray there, so in no way did I feel short changed! In addition there are crosses carved on the walls and people had put little wooden crosses and pictures of saints in the nooks and crannies of the walls. Clearly a spiritual place. We had lunch sitting outside it and James made tea and coffee with his stove. Our way back was mainly by road, which was a bit straight and boring but picturesquely surrounded by fields full of sheep and cows, and luckily it did not have too much traffic. On arriving back in Isle of Whithorn we found that it was standing room only in its tiny village pub, so we decided instead to come back to Newton Stewart for a drink. And after a nice hot bath I am about to join the others in the bar! A good day.