Newwig two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Newwig here.

Tried this route while on holiday in the area. It’s a good Slow Way; scenic, with views across the River Cree floodplain to the hills; easy to walk and very simple to navigate as it is all on a signed cycle route.

The reason I take it down a star is that it is all on road or paved paths - which is a lot of pounding asphalt for a walker - and there is also about a kilometre on a path by a (quietish) main road.

The paved going is, however, good for wheelers and apart from two wide bridleway gates on the off-road section of cycle path at the Newton Stewart end (one pictured), the route is obstacle free. Much of it is also flat or very gently sloping. However there are a couple of short steeper sections along the way to be negotiated and a longer 250m stretch of moderately steep hill just west of Wigtown.

I went in the Wigtown to Newton Stewart direction. It starts down Wigtown’s big open high street with lots of bookshops and cafes, then winds downhill from the edge of town to the flat valley where it heads fairly unvaryingly through farmland along miles of straightish roads with a couple of little rises over brooks and a disused railway line. But there are good views around and the hills come ever closer.

Towards Newton Stewart the near landscape is more varied and the Slow Way heads closer to the river. It jinks up to join a main road on a cycle path pavement for a while but good views down from it before it drops down below the level of the road and goes off road completely for the last section into Newton Stewart, eventually reaching the banks of the river. The last section is uphill on an access road to a supermarket, leading to a square with a bus stop at the top. The town’s main high street is to the north. The two towns are well connected by a regular bus service.

My wife and I walked this route on 25th May 2023. It was a fairly direct route, initially off road on a path alongside the River Cree. There followed a section alongside the main road between the two towns which was moderately busy with rural traffic but on a tarmaced path beside the road. The majority of the route followed on from this along quiet country lanes. A suitable route for walkers, cyclists, push chairs etc.

The route is one of 9 from Newton Stewart which are available in a leaflet published by NatureScot which can be picked up in the town but also available on-line.

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