Ayrshire on the South West Coast of Scotland

The famed Gretna Green is the first town over the Scottish border and since we'd driven directly from North Wales it was time for a stop. So we drove over to the blacksmith's shop where so many elopers had been married in days gone by by the licensed blacksmith there. Now days couples are frequently married there just for the fun of the venue.

Arriving in Prestwick on the coast just north of Ayr we were taken by our friend Peter Smith to a huge old house overlooking the sea and the Isle of Aran. His kind friends Arlene and Jimmy McInnes put on an excellent dinner including seafood that Peter Smith had caught.......crab claws and mackerel pate on traditional Scottish oat cakes. They even served New Zealand white wine.

History is everywhere in Britain and Scotland is no exception so we were taken to some places relating to King Robert the Bruce who lived about 700 years ago. And then to a young Covenanter's grave behind an old church, he had been put to death in 1688, it makes you realise just at what cost our freedoms have been gained. There was a huge old Abbey, now in ruins but still recognisable just on the side of a country road surrounded by fields. Nathan was keen to explore a castle of the Kennedy clan perched on the cliff a bit to the south of Ayr; a lot of it is still intact and you could go through much of it and Nathan climbed up on to it at several levels. It looked fabulous against the sunset.

Many of the place names in this area are also ones we know from Christchurch as this is where the Deans family came from who first settled in Christchurch. Strathavon = Straven, Kilmarnock and of course the Avon River.

Well, we've finally purchased a Sat Nav but that doesn't mean an end to getting lost.... by no means! We ended up in a dead end street and then down on the waterfront; hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon.

I saw an excellent exhibition at the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery of the Glasgow Boys' work done 1880 - 1900. It was 'en plein air' with a natural everyday life look about it, quite a pleasant and memorable way to spend an afternoon.