This is a repeat of the northern section of the Black Loch and the Eye walk, but this time in sunshine rather than rain.
We went up the track from the Queen’s Way to the eastern end of Black Loch then walked along the Old Edinburgh Road, with its rather unexpected covering of seashells, as far as the sheep pens at the Grey Mare’s tail burn, with a brief detour to the Eye.
Unlike most of my Galloway outings, we were not alone. A family were exploring the same parts as us and a young lad passed nearby on a motorcycle.
The dogs enjoyed exploring, though they were tethered when near to children. Sweep always likes to jump into water and had a swim in the Black Loch close to the Eye, but needed help getting out. Leo was less aquaphilic and just paddled in the shallows of the Loch and later the Burn. Sweep did his usual bouncing about in the undergrowth, so I’ll no doubt be removing ticks later on.
The Eye
The Eye is a 7m conical terracotta-covered structure by Colin Rose, commissioned in 1997 to mark the 50th anniversary of Galloway Forest Park. There is a hollow section running through it but I don’t know if this is part of the “art” of the piece or something more mundane such as the means by which it was held prior to being placed here. I tried looking through in case it showed some important feature in the distance but couldn’t see much.
At the sheep pens further along are a collection of stone faces called Quorum, by Matt Baker, who also did the Devorgilla piece in Dumfries.
After our stroll we called in at the Clatteringshaws visitor centre for some cream of Galloway ice cream and to admire the loch and surrounding hills. The loch was a beautiful deep blue, the best I have ever seen it, or perhaps the ice cream was giving me rose tinted spectacles. Coming back to the car though Sweep, wet from from his swim, had managed to climb across and sit on my seat leaving it damp.
We finished of our brief outing with a visit to the Catstrand gallery in New Galloway.
