Last weekend, I made it to Torhouse Stone circle. I read somewhere, maybe at the site itself, that it consisted of a circle of “dumpy stones” but I see that Wikipedia calls them granite boulders, which sounds much better, so I’ll stick with that! There are nineteen stones in the circumference of the circle and three in the centre, and here, for the avoidance of doubt, is the Druid dog himself, who decided he would look very dashing, with his lovely silky ears getting all windswept and interesting.

As you can see, there were cows and a beautiful view, so I shall post a picture of that, without a dog in the way.

The age of the circle is not completely clear. They have yet to be excavated, but Historic Environment Scotland estimates that it is 4,000 years old which, if correct, would make it a bit younger than Cairn Holy (I posted about that here) and Stonehenge. On my online searches, I also discovered there is a particularly stunning looking stone circle in the Lake District, but I think that one will have to wait for the winter months, when all the tourists have departed.

From Torhouse, I drove on to Wigtown, hoping for coffee in ReadingLasses, but the centre of town was so busy with parked cars that I decided that too, could wait for another day. I drove on, down towards the harbour and saw a sign pointing to “Martyrs’ Stake”. The path looked enticing, so putting Triar on his lead, I decided to follow it.

A multitude of dragonflies flitted across the path at the beginning and later, there were brambles, filled with fruit. This little guy caught my ear with its drowsy summer buzz, so I took its photo, then carried on.

The stake itself was modern, which I confess disappointed me. I had been hoping for another standing stone, which technically this is, but it’s a newly placed monument, not an ancient artifact. Two women, Margaret Maclauchlan and Margaret Wilson were executed here on 11 May, 1685 for refusing to swear an oath declaring James VII of Scotland as head of the church. They were tied to stakes on the town’s mudflats, apparently, and allowed to drown with the rising tide. I’m not going to attempt to explain the Covenanters, or Scottish history in this post, but it was certainly a particularly cruel fate for those two poor women.

We stopped on the way home at Carsluith Castle. Like several other Historic Environment Scotland sites, it is closed to assess whether it’s safe, but there was a pleasant cafe in what would once have been its yard, where I had a very civilized cup of tea. There was also a delicatessen shop, which I will have to explore another day. It was too hot to leave Triar in the car, so he joined me outside, once I had ordered my drink.

It was good to get home to my nice, cool house. The walls are so thick that, even on warm summer days, it stays cool inside, and Donna assures me that it will stay easily warm in winter. Hopefully once I get the insulation put in the roof, that will be even more true.

A little later, I received a text from Donna, which said “If you’re home and at a loose end there’s a bottle of wine open and the chiminea is on. Making the most of the only day of summer 😂”. Well who could resist an offer like that? I decided on tea, instead of wine, but sat in Donna’s garden until the sun had gone down and it was properly dusk.

And now, a week later, I’m back at Valerie’s. I am attending a church meeting with her and her husband Charles, with a shared meal, for which Valerie prepared some delicious looking, traditional South African milk tarts last night. Tomorrow I’m going to a mini writing retreat with a group of writers I belong to. We meet in Lockerbie twice a month, and the mini-retreat is a little extra treat, which I am very much looking forward to.

It’s been a good week in various ways, but Triar has been telling me for the past few minutes that it’s time to get up, so I’d better go. I’ll leave you with a little gift the spiders in Blackbird Lane wove for me. Isn’t it beautiful?

Thanks for reading!