Kingholm Quay and a visit to Tom in DGRI

This weeks Wednesday walk was the Dumfries Parks and Riverside walk so we could visit Tom Stothart who was in the DGRI for what he called a Major-Minor operation. We parked our car at the hospital and then Niall, John and myself set off towards Kingholm Quay via the grounds of the old Crichton Hospital. This is the Crichton Memorial Church which was completed in 1897 as a memorial to the founder of the Crichton Royal Hospital Elizabeth Crichton. The grounds of the Hospital are superb and contain Cricket and Football Pitches plus a Bowling Green and wonderful gardens and even a Golf Course.  

Bluebells blooming in a flower bed in the grounds of the Crichton. 

On our arrival at Kingholm Quay we were delighted to see this sailing ship called the La Malouine which arrived a couple of weeks ago and will now be based on the Nith and the owner hopes to use it to give young people sailing experience on the Solway. The only problem with it being based on the Nith is that it needs a very high tide to get along the Nith and into the Solway so it may cause future problems.  

We walked further along the banks of the Nith and returned by a lane and road for lunch in the Swan Inn at Kingholm Quay. It is a very busy pub and provided us with an excellent lunch.

From Kingholm Quay we headed up the Nith towards St Michaels and then back into the DGRI to visit Tom but our route took us through Castledykes Park and an old sunken garden that used to be an old quarry where the sandstone for the Dumfries Mid Steeple was quarried.  

This is the sunken garden that was once a quarry and in a few weeks time will be ablaze with Azaleas according to a local guy we met who said it was one of the nicest parks he had ever been in and he spends many hours visiting it during the summer.

From the park we had to take a shortcut through a field to the Hospital

Tom was safely back in ward 6 after his major-minor operation and in very good spirits and very hungry.  He was delighted to see us and looking forward to getting home on Thursday and back into his very busy life.