I slept well and we were on the road at 09:00 after breakfast, initially in jackets to protect against the cold early mist. We rode pass Loch Macgillie and Soulseat Loch and then next to the A75, by which time the sun had chased away the mist and we discarded the jackets. We dropped down to the coast and stopped for a banana break on a bench by Luce Bay. After a zigzag inland we returned to the coast along the quiet A747 then the quiet B7006 took us to the small former County Town of Wigtown where a park with benches afforded a restful site for our Tesco wraps and a second banana. It was very warm by now, we were glad of some shade.
We weren’t far from our destination but a broad estuary forced us north to Newton Stewart and down along a section of NCN7 which we must have cycled when we rode the whole route twenty years ago. Part of it uses the trackbed of the direct Dumfries to Stranraer line, closed in 1965 as part of the Marples/Beeching closures and which would have made it a lot easier to reach the start of the Kirkpatrick route.
The independent hostel here is basic but cheap, and with bike storage and a washing line. I only found out yesterday that the kitchen has only a toaster and microwave, thwarting my plan of a good dinner. We had to settle for a frozen pizza, olives, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes from the village shop. It was no worse than the Stranraer pub fare and provided a good helping of greens.