Dumfries and some Very Old Stones

Saturday only called for a couple of hours driving, up north to Dumfries. 

Pronounced Dum-freece. Short "Dum," longer and accented "Freece." My husband torments me with the incorrect phonetic pronunciation every time. I figure, why not pronounce it the same way the locals do? But no, he has to be the American tourist every time. 

Jeff wanted to see Cairn Holy, which has two Neolithic (very old) chambered cairns on some farmland overlooking Wigtown Bay, a bit south of Dumfries. They are estimated to date from around 4000 BC, which would be pretty awesome if they weren't so boring.

But before we got there, on the road from Dumfries to Cairn Holy, just outside Castle Douglas, we saw a promising restaurant called the Old School House. They advertised, among other things, a full meal for about ten pounds, no substitutions allowed. So we had the fish meal, which was very large and very hot, and not too bad once you got past your sizzled tongue. Then I had gingerbread pudding and custard, which had obviously been microwaved within an inch of its life, but was otherwise quite tasty. While we were waiting for the food to arrive, I went browsing in a little antique shop in the parking lot and scored some Irish linen tea towels. Which, I think you will agree, was quite exciting.

We continued down the road with pleasantly full bellies and arrived at the fascinating site of Cairn Holy very shortly. The countryside was picturesque, as always.

And behold the cairns.

And some cows.

And some cairns.

What did I tell you? Fascinating stuff!

The lane was rather charming.

And then we drove back to Dumfries to find our farmhouse for the night. The hosts were out of town at the last minute so we had the place to ourselves, which was quite nice because I was able to do our laundry and hang our underwear up in the utility room without fear of scandal.

Just before dark, we drove into town and took a walk along the river. There was a fair happening next to it, which was exciting.

Before retiring for the night, we visited the nearby Tesco and stocked up on tins of Cadbury chocolates to take home, which would be exciting for the recipients when we returned home.
This wasn't our most riveting day of the trip, but it's okay to have a more laid-back day every now and then. And the next day was going to be one of much driving, so there was that.