02 It is a short, easy and pleasant walk from Islesteps to St Queran's Well. However in wet muddy conditions you would still need boots or wellingtons.

Approaching Islesteps from Dumfries on the A701 you cross over a narrow bridge over the Cargen Pow burn as you enter the village. Immediately after this the main road turns sharply to the left but you should turn sharp right and there on your right you will see the village hall with parking space beside it. Once parked there you cross the road and follow the way-marked signs along the edges of the fields to the well.

In the picture above Morris is looking down into St Queran's well and you can see that the immediate area around the well is wooded.

The picture below on the left lets you see what Morris was looking at down in the well. There is an early-medieval-style human head cut in a white metal which sits below the surface of the water. The dark areas of the image are created by the darkness of the water which you see down into where the metal has been cut away. Photographing this head in the well means that you have to try to cast your shadow over the head as much as possible, though you still get the sky and the trees reflected in the water, plus your own shadow falling on it. This gives an interesting mixture of different layers of reality in one image which is compatable with the mysterious history of the well.

As you can see in the third picture people with a New Age or Pagan interest are still to this day drawn to the well. Here you can see some of the paraphernalia that they have hung from the surrounding trees presumably as part of their ceremonies.