This enjoyable woodland walk heads down to visit the coast at Port Kale and returns past a gloomy waterfall. The walk is usually open from March to mid-October.
Woodland tracks and paths; muddy / slightly overgrown at times
None to start; bus to Portpatrick around 1km.
Dunskey Glen walks car park.
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To reach the car park, head out of Portpatrick towards Stranraer and then turn left onto the B738. After a short distance turn left onto a track - signed Dunskey Glen walks. The track bends round to the right and the car park is on the left before the farm is reached. Begin the walk by continuing along the track towards the farm. Opposite the buildings is a small information hut on the left giving some details about the walk. Back on the track, turn left at the farm, and keep left on the main track at a fork.
The track soon curves right into Nursery Wood. Pass a pair of cylindrical stone gateposts with a distant view of Dunskey House - built in 1903 this replaced an earlier building from the 17th century. Soon a junction is reached with a white signpost. Turn left here and then immediately right past a barrier. Continue through the woods, ignoring paths off to the right and eventually reaching Glen Cottage.
Just beyond the cottage is a bench looking down over Port Mora; the path then goes to the right of the stone gateposts to slope down to the coast at Port Kale. A double octagonal building is sometimes used as a ranger hut. This is an attractive spot, with the Southern Upland Way running along the coastline between Portpatrick and Killantringan Lighthouse. To begin the return walk, return back up the same track from the hut but fork left onto a path up the floor of the glen.
The path runs close by the burn and soon reaches a footbridge. The path that keeps to the near side is a short cut, but our route crosses the bridge and continues up the far side. This section gets a little overgrown at times, and soon leaves the main burn and heads up a gloomy side glen (known as the Fairy Glen). Eventually it veers off right uphill; infrequently there are waymarker posts (marked in white for the route back to the car park).
Follow the route which curves round and eventually reaches and crosses a tiny stone footbridge above a cascading waterfall. Cross the bridge; the path soon rejoins the track used on the outward walk. Turn left here and now simply retrace your steps (with white markers) to return to the car park. A path opposite the car park provides a link to the nearby Dunskey Gardens and tearoom.
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