Wednesday - Dumfries

The group (there are 14 of us here, all friends from an online small campervan/motorhome forum) decided that we would take the bus to Dumfries, the nearest really big town, and just a 40 mins ride away. In the opposite direction and an hour and a half away is the glitter that is Glasgow. 

Unusual to have to pay for a bus but we are in a foreign land, so it was £8.30 each for a return. The bus was very modern and comfortable, probably because it is a Glasgow main route but the journey, whilst pleasantly scenic wasn't too spectacular. 

Dumfries is a two-Bob town, Robert the Bruce murdered his rival in a churchyard here, and Rabbie Burns lived here for a while 

The latter is commentated by a statue

whilst the former gets the town's Wetherspoons as a memorial.

A couple of other famous residents were uncovered whilst wandering the back streets

Given my family history I was particularly pleased to find that last one. 

Charity shops provided Liz with a real nice warm coat (let's face it if you are looking for warm clothes Scotland's got to be a good place) and a large haul of CDs for me. I do hope we've got space in the van.

But the highlight of the day was a chance encounter. Having 30 minutes to kill before the return bus we wandering into a cross-stitch sewing shop just in case there was anything interesting for Liz. There wasn't but the conversation with the enthusiastic shop assistance suggested we must nip back quickly into town to the wool shop. Not much time so a bit of a rush but Liz found something she had been looking for, a Sanquhar glove pattern

along with the wool and the tiny needles. We hope to visit Sanquhar itself on Monday, where we might find other patterns etc but this was a nice find. 

Rush back to the bus but time for two more shots

That bridge is 600 years old 

A better pub experience tonight though, we revisited that no real ale pub then went on to a pub that was full with dinners earlier (it is an eatery rather than drinkery) to discover it has two hand pumps serving Five Kingdoms and Fyne beers. 

Still let's not knock the pub with no real ale, the barman caught my friend's tale of woe last night, and offered to help. Emerson's 40+ year old caravan had developed an electric fault and his mains sockets weren't working. Barman was an electrician as his day job so volunteered to come take a look. Weds morning as the rest of us left for the bus his van was on site and within about 40 mins he'd found and corrected the fault. And didn't even want to charge Emerson £20 for his time!

People up here are very friendly.