The first part of the walk coming out of the village of Drommore is fairly level, starting to rise gently at Portankill on the climb up to the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse (255 feet). The route drops again as you come off the Mull at West Tarbert and then rises consistently at the start of the exit until Creechan Park (436 feet), before dropping down back to Drommore.
In the early 19th C, there was a substantial lime industry in the area that resulted in the building of the village harbour. Following the demise of the industry, the harbour was taken over by the Ministry of Defence as part of the support services for the nearby bombing range on Luce Bay. The harbour is currently owned by the local authority who are thought (sic) to have plans for a leisure facility in the area.
The Mull of Galloway Coastal Path runs off of the pier, initially following the line of the Cailiness Road before cutting off on to the earth path at the back of the beach. It is reasonable walking and, despite the poor visibility, we had good views all around. In between Cairngarroch and Crawar Bay, in the thick undergrowth on the low hill, a young deer with a fawn at heel, watched our progress carefully.
With the tide still low, there was a considerable expanse of sand and pebbled shore exposed. The green, grassy, undulating and inviting coastline, writhing like a snake, ran all the way to the Mull. At the hamlet of Maryport itself there is, perhaps unfortunately, a caravan park, which somewhat spoils an otherwise impressive view. Beyond the caravan park there is an area that can be subject to an overabundance of the local herbiage. Lucky for us, there were some workmen there cutting a way through it and clearing a path for us to follow.
There is a little drop-down to Portankill where the Kirk Burn discharges. The kirk of the burn's name is Kirkmaiden Church, the remains of which are to be found on the hilltop above. Just after Portankill on the hillside there are the remains of a promontory fort known as 'The Dounnan'. These consist of the remains of an earth and stone rampart, with two outer, defensive ditches. Joanna Elizabeth is just approaching the area in the photograph below.
All along this route there are nice views down in to the secluded little bays, some with interesting rock forms. There are numerous caves on the sections, as well as small and larger stacks (rocks that have become isolated from the surrounding rock face due to erosion). Most of the rock on the southern end of the Mull of Galloway dates from the Silurian period (419-443 million years ago [MYS]) and consists of sandstone and mudstone. On the western side of the Mull there is a section where there is a substantial network of caves, created where the softer rock forms have been worn away. The rock on the northern end, roughly from Port Patrick onwards, is from the later Ordovician Period (443-485 MYA).
We stopped for lunch on the hills above East Tarbert, stopping by a handy bench on the hilltop with lovely views across the bay. While the idea of visiting the bay itself was attractive, we did not want to break the sense of solitude we had garnered on the walk across the braes by interacting with others. The peace would be disturbed soon enough when reach the Mull, now in view and where we expected there would be crowds.
Coming off the Mull we got ourselves into a bit of a fankle at the King's Well (gully) and ended up having to walk up the gully to get over. We had taken the high line coming round West Tarbert Bay and perhaps we would have been better served dropping down in to the bay and walking along the shore to come up on to the cliff after the gully? It ended up with us having to climb over numerous electric fences to get back on track. The fences were a real pain. Down here they seem to think one fence is not good enough and they often have two or three in very close proximity to each other (like every twelve inches!). You get zapped climbing one, jump off the fence in response, stumble and get zapped by the next one.
Once past the gully, it is very pleasant walking across mostly arable farmland. There were areas, particularly when walking on the shore side of the fence, when the gorse was very overgrown and progress was difficult. The added height on the low cliff gives good views back to the Mull of Galloway and forward up to Crammag Head. There are various options in terms of exit points if you want to do a circular walk, including at West Tarbet Bay, later below Cairngaan and again at Cardryne where we headed back to Drummore.
From accessing the farm track to the centre of Drummore is just short of four miles. It is not a particularly heart-warming walk, but it is not ugly either. The road gently rises from the clifftop (two-hundred feet) to Creechan Park to reach the highest point of the day (over 430 feet), before dropping back down on the approaches to the village.