Before you say it, yes, we are off galavanting … again! This time we are in Kirkcudbright to inspect a new bell-mouth on a forestry road … exciting! It really would take too long to explain! Being forced to travel down this way, however, is no great hardship. Quite the opposite in fact, especially on a beautiful day like today. It is a wonderful part of the country, overlooked by many as they speed up and down the M74. In 1931 Dorothy L Sayers, the crime writer and poet wrote the immortal words:

If he can say as you can
Guinness is good for you
How grand to be a Toucan
Just think what Toucan do

said “In Kirkcudbright one either fishes or paints” and, believe it or not, that is still as true today as it was then. It’s not known as ‘The Artist’s Town’ for nothing. Many artists have made their homes here and it has art galleries aplenty. It also never ceases to amaze us that Kirkcudbright supports a flourishing fishing industry. Still plying it’s trade from the harbour … four miles from the sea!

Anyway, after a fairly lengthy drive, squinting into the low winter sun, some sort of refreshment was definitely called for. It looked like The Solway Tide Tearoom might do the job. We have been here before but always in the summer when you can sit out in the back garden. Although the sun was shining brightly it was not exactly sitting-out weather so this was our first ‘sit-in’, so to speak. The interior is okay but has a slightly tired look about it.

La confiture

A bit like our waitress … welcoming but in a rather low key Scottish way that could be completely missed by your average tourist. Combined with ‘music to slit your wrists to’ by Jim Reeves , the atmosphere could never be described as jolly or vibrant. The scones however were pretty good, plenty fruit and plenty cream. Plenty jam as well but it had come all the way from France? Places like this are largely dependent on the summer tourist industry so we can never understand the decision not to use local produce. We are pretty sure the tourists won’t understand it either. Even the ones from France!

Equally we cannot understand putting the wifi password up on a noticeboard without the name of the provider. It becomes a process of elimination where you have to try them all. Not a bad scone but not the best scone experience we have had. Much better when you can sit in the garden.

Towering over The Solway Tide Tearoom is the magnificent ruin of the 16th century, MacLellan’s Castle. Sir Thomas MacLellan built it using the stones from a convent which he demolished. It never saw any action so the purpose seems to have been simply to show off his own power and importance. The Trump Tower of it’s day. There were many battles in Scotland and Ireland in which the MacLellans had difficulty picking the right side. With the family fortunes sorely depleted, they eventually ended up as lowly glovers in Edinburgh.

Calexit

Picking the right side has not got any easier with the passage of time. Now that Trump has promised to make the USA great again, California wants to leave (Calexit) more in a protest against the electoral system than anything else. With an economy bigger than that of France they are seriously miffed that, having backed Clinton, they never get what they vote for. Scotland knows exactly how you feel California!

We were amazed to see what looked like flooding down by the harbour. It turned out to be high tides caused by the recent ‘big moons’. One of the local fisherman we spoke to was totally unfazed “och aye, we’ve had them going right into the Post Office”! Only in Kirkcudbright? The bell-mouth was perfect by the way.

DG6 4HZ            tel: 01557 330735             The Solway Tide Café