A MAJOR drive is on to create a new south-west Scotland tourist route similar to the hugely successful North Coast 500 – Scotland’s answer to America’s Route 66, which is listed as one of the world’s best road trips.
South Scotland SNP MSP Emma Harper is spearheading a campaign to showcase everything Dumfries and Galloway, including and attraction similar to the NC500, which is a 516-mile scenic route around the north coast, starting and ending at Inverness Castle Harper said the idea was first mooted by Dumfries and Galloway SNP Councillor Iain Dick when she became an MSP and now she has the ear of Culture and Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop and Economy Secretary Keith Brown, Harper hopes to turn the dream into a reality. She said: “There have been pathways, routes, road trips in the past, such as the Solway Coast Heritage Trail and the walking festival at Newton Stewart.
“Lots of things have happened over the years but we want to bring all these stakeholders together so we can look at mimicking what NC500 have done and have a national tourist route for the south-west of Scotland.
“There are obviously going to be people with different ideas about where the route would be. Some people have suggested the usual route – turn left at Gretna, Stranraer, to Ayr and then back down. That is just a nice big triangle of the A75, A76 and A77 – or you could get off at Stranraer and do the A77, then down the A76 and back along the A75.
“My initial idea was for a South West Twa Hunner, using the Scots language, but it became the Fower Hunner because, as people are discussing it some, are saying they don’t want it to be like the little sister or brother of the NC500, but to have the same importance.
I’ll let the people decide where they want the route.”
Harper has enlisted the help of funding experts, including Andrew Ward from the Creetown Initiative, to help her set up a stakeholders meeting in Kirkcudbright on April 12.
She added: “I have a B&B in Dumfries that my husband runs now. I have knowledge of tourism in Dumfries and Galloway over the last 10 years and grew up in Stranraer.
“I know all these great wee villages we have who know how to bring their produce to market.
“Fiona Hyslop supports the idea and now I can say, ‘Fiona, can you give us some money?’ She is definitely interested in the project. I am in the process of organising a meeting with Keith Brown. Highlands and Islands Enterprise supported NC500, so we could potentially use the same type of vehicle as support with the help of South of Scotland Enterprise. There is potential funding for this using different routes.
“We already have a number of people engaged and interested, including our president of the NFU Scotland and vice-president, who think it is a great idea so we can look at expanding the rural economy and tourism.
“There are some great food and drink tourism businesses in the south-west of Scotland selling produce such as smoked venison and salmon, and lots of small artisan businesses that do great stuff.
We also have great distilleries, the Dark Sky Park, and an Oyster Festival coming up in Stranraer.
“I want to get folk together so they can discuss the best way forward, so we are including people such as Keith Muir from Dark Sky Park and Cathy Agnew who is involved Viking Hoard campaign, as well as other folk from the council and people from the Oyster Festival and the Galloway Activity Centre.
“No-one will want to be left out and have tourists just drive past their business. I want to market the south west of Scotland to regenerate the area.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here