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Saturday 7 October 2006--I visit St Ninian’s Cave this morning. It’s a ten- or fifteen-minute walk through the woods
from the car park to a shingle beach, then a few hundred yards to the cave, a crevice in the cliffs. I pick over the
multitude of smooth round stones along the way. The surf rattles them as it washes in and out. Many of the stones
have interesting veins, and I pick out a smallish one to take home. It’s reddish with a darker red stripe through it,
looking like a wet streak.
I arrive at the cave and notice that visitors have constructed various little shrines of sticks and stones, and have jammed stones (but not the usual coins) into various crevices. Feeling some sacrifice is called for, I leave my stone on a narrow ledge. (Of course I will find another on the way back.) There are supposed to be some carvings on the wall of the cave, but I cannot find them. The legend is that Ninian, who brought Christianity here before Columba, and whose church was a few miles away at Whithorn, used this cave as a retreat. Historians doubt it, but it remains a focal site for the cult of St Ninian. A blanket of cloud spreads over the sky, and I spend the rest of the day browsing bookshops in Wigtown (“Scotland’s Book Town”), and having a look at the ruined Priory in Whithorn. Dinner is at the Queens Arms, for a change–unpretentious pub food. Tomorrow I must be up early to meet Ron at the airport. Next |
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On the trail
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On the beach
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Approaching the cave
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Shrines
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The view from the cave
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Bruce's other stone
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The North Atlantic Arc Home
Mr Tattie Heid's Mileage
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