Log No 151. Sun 6th Oct 2013 - Stranraer to Portpatrick, 24 miles (2370 miles walked)

I had company today as Andrew wanted a day walking with me, he is usually running and racing in the hills but unfortunately it is nearly all road waling today.

It had not stayed dry and we left Stranraer in the drizzle at 09.00.

The road was more or less along the coast as far as Kirkcolm then we had to come inland quite a bit, choosing a route to walk as close to the coast as possible.

About half way round we did use a footpath for half a mile but I don't think anyone else has used it for years as we had to climb over a wall and wade through some ferns before getting back to the road.

Andrew kept up a good pace and with the conversation the miles seemed to fly by.

Just past Knock we picked up the Southern Upland Way and the road took us to the coast at Black Head.

After nearly 6 1/2 hours we had finally gotten onto a proper footpath.

Before continuing we stopped so I could finish off my sandwiches, Andrew usually eats while running and we had only had 2 sit down breaks up to this point.

Surprisingly, my Achilles rarely bothered me today and I hadn't felt the need to stop.

I had obviously stopped enough times taking my waterproof jacket on and off, it came off for the last time here and it looked like it might be sunny for a while.

This final stretch of coastline into Portpatrick was very attractive but there was only 2 miles of it.

The footpath dropped down steeply to come into the bay of Port Kale, we went round the shore then up and down again to the neighboring bay of Port Mora.

There was a tall waterfall in this bay and Andrew couldn't resist seeing if he could walk behind it, as you can see, he could.

Back up onto the top of the cliffs we came round the golf course before dropping back down into Portpatrick.

There were 2 lads here on the path overlooking the village and they were flying radio controlled gliders, the wind coming onto the shore was keeping them up, one of planes was actually in the form of a seagull.

We got down to the car park, where Rosie was waiting for us, at 16.30 having completed 24 miles.

Andrew is back at work tomorrow and I'll have a rest day and plan what I need to walk to get to within 30 miles or so of Sandyhills for the 19th October when Mick will join me again, Karen has booked a chalet there for a week.