Kirkudbright (again) April 2025

Not wanting to travel far, we chose Kirkudbright as our first trip in 2025. We had visited before and enjoyed the town, so chose the Silvercraigs campsite, overlooking the town, again. Before the trip we went to retrieve the motorhome from our neighbours land to run through the list of things that needed doing before we left. The first task was to get a MOT, but we could not get the engine to fire up on the day of the appointment, so had to cancel. After a while, and with the help of our new neighbour Andy (Gary?), another story!, we managed to fire it up, and were set to visit the garage on a rearranged date. The motorhome passed it's MOT with flying colours, the next job now was to clean it, to get rid of the green mould that had grown on the surface over the winter. With the help of a hose and extendable brush the job was complete, except for the roof which I decided was too dangerous to tackle given my advanced age.

On the day of the trip we quickly loaded up all our clothes and food, and stopped off at the local Co-op on the way to pick up some extras, plus a bottle of Syrah to accompany the Chinese takeaway we had planned for our first nights meal. The trip to Kirkudbright is little over an hour, and we were soon there, although this time we entered the town from a different direction from the last time. We were quite late getting there, late afternoon, and there was no-one in the reception office to raise the barrier to let us in. Luckily the man in the pitch next to our allocated one, pitch 1, saw us struggling at the gate and came across and typed in the code to let us in (the code had been emailed to me but I was unable to find the document at the gate).

Once in we set to connecting to the electricity supply, and switching on the gas (a task I had a problem remembering how to do given the amount of time since our last trip). Once the basics were completed we put our minds to visiting the town to sate our thirst and buy ourselves a congratulary bar of Dairy Milk Chocolate from the nearby Tesco. We then visited the Kirkudbright Bay Hotel to check on our meal booking for the Friday night, and to ask which of the two Chinese takeaways in town was considered to be the best. The front bar in the hotel is tiny and was crowded with locals so we decided to have a drink in the snug behind, not before we were advised to visit the nearby Canton House for our takeaway.

After our drink we followed the advice and picked up a Chinese meal which was super, and went well with the bottle of Syrah. we then settled down for the night.

The next day broke fine and after breakfast we ventured into town, this time with plans to explore more of the art on offer. We started with the Kirkudbright Galleries which along with the traditional paintings was displaying Mary, Queen of Scots silver casket. As dogs were not allowed inside Sue volunteered to look after Finn in the park across the road whilst I had an initial recce. I was not too impressed with the paintings, and the casket, which was tiny, the size of a small book, so I quickly left to meet Sue and Finn outside. I had earlier discovered the beer garden of the Selkirk Arms hotel and planned, as it was a nice day, to dine alfesco, for lunch. Beforehand, we decided to visit a few galleries and studios so headed along the road in search of the same. There was not much on offer with the studios resembling craft shops, but the walk offered us an insight of Kirkudbright before the Selkirk Arms opened for lunch.

Lunch at the Selkirk Arms was an uneventful experience apart from Finn darting out from under the table to scare the waitress. We sat in the beer garden, initially on our own, until others found our idyllic spot. With lunch finished we decided to walk back into town, and the Tesco supermarket to pick up further supplies before retiring to the motorhome for a quiet afternoon in the sun. When we returned Sue decided to sit in, out of the sun's rays, whilst I enjoyed a spot of sunbathing, with a drink of cider. The afternoon was so quite, apart from the church bells ringing on the hour, and the sun was providing a fair amount of heat.

As the evening drew near my thoughts turned to food and it was decided that another Chinese takeaway would be the best choice for tea, and I was dispatched with the plan of picking up more wine and chocolate from Tesco, and quickly visiting the Kirkudbright Bay Hotel to await the opening of the Canton House. Eager to fulfill my tasks I ambled back into town. At the pub I enjoyed a good conversation with the local farmers.

The takeaway was again very good, with the Syrah complimenting the prawn crackers very well, and it was not long before there was a bowl of crockery awaiting a wash again! The chocolate and the wine offered another good match. After tea we settled down to another night.

It was still fine the next morning, and after breakfast we decided to take a walk to the marina, and look for further studios and galleries. We met others from the campsite, with their dogs, as we explored. Once we had explored the shore we turned our minds to looking for more studios. It was then that we stumbled across Alison and Alistair's studio on Castle Street. Alison produces textile works whilst Alistair is a photographer, and we spent some time with them chatting before we bought some of the work on offer. Thereafter we stopped in the Garret Hotel for a drink and lunch, although Sue had little appetite and decided to walk Finn back to the motorhome whilst I ate my spicy chicken (Finn had been misbehaving himself and barking in the pub!). After I had finished my lunch I returned to the motorhome to meet up with Sue and Finn. There we stayed, again enjoying a warm afternoon, until we needed to return to town for our booked evening meal. We had an evening meal booked at the restaurant ' Archies' in the Kirkudbright Bay Hotel, and made sure we were on time as it is a small place. Again Finn decided to bark at the staff, and two small children who ventured too near to the table, and Sue decided not to finish her meal and took Finn back to the motorhome early. It was decided that a qualified dog trainer was to be contacted upon our return home. I finished my meal and followed Sue and Finn back to the motorhome, where we settled down to the last night of our trip.

The next morning brought rain, and I ran the gauntlet as I disconnected us from the services, and after an uneventful journey home our first trip of 2025 was over.