Forrest Walk near Auldgirth and no it's not a walk in a Forest.

WALK DETAILS

Location - Dalswinton, nr Auldgirth, Dumfriesshire.
Total distance walked - 2.50 miles.
Surface - single track, grassy path mostly level with one small climb to the stile.  There are one or two parts which require care where there has been some flood damage/erosion to the riverbank..  It is  very close to the river so be aware of this.
What did we see - Heron, Young Crows, Oyster catchers, gnarly trees, lots and lots of very colourful butterflies.
Susan's rating - nce easy walking.  

Walk started at Forrest (see picture) if coming in on the back road (The one which passes through Dalswinton, Duncow and Kirkton) from Dumfries the turning is on the left hand side of the road, if coming in from the Auldgirth side the turning is on the right hand side.  You can't really miss it as it is well signposted and the little blue and white lodge has the most gorgeous cottage garden.  Head down the bumpy track, pass under the railway bridge and keep going until you come to some farm buildings, there is a little shaded spot to park,  just beside the gate which leads onto the walk.

The walk took us  back along the river towards Auldgirth, normally Linda would stop before the stile and head back but today we carried on over the stile and through the field to  a gate which leads onto the road almost opposite the road into Auldbrig View.  If you carry on here just take a bit of care as the road can be quite busy. It was our intention to walk down to the pub and have a (soft) drink, however the pub was shut so we retraced our steps and headed back the way we had come.  We could have visited  the shop but this meant crossing the main road, and we weren't that desperate.

This is the start of the walk, you can just see the route .

  

Anyone who knows me well will know that I am always finding strange bits and bobs when I'm out and about, I am drawn to the strange and unusual, I also like memorials of all sorts and can often be found in old  graveyards taking photos of the stones etc.,  Well today I came across this plaque, I have no idea who these people were, perhaps someone reading this might know, but whoever they were I like the sentiment behind this.  I could just imagine the scene.  

 So my thoughts on this walk.  Yes a good little walk, a nice one to do if you are short of time or just fancy a stroll.  I rather think if would be specially nice either very early morning or in the evening. The dogs loved it, particularly Kona, but I would imagine I would have to be careful if there were fishermen about, they might not appreciate a fat labrador splashing about and scaring the fish.

You could do it the other way round, parking at Auldgirth for example.  Exploring further up the river to see if we could link into the Dalswinton Estate walk will have to wait until another day. 

I hope you have enjoyed this little write up, hopefully it will be the first of many.