Sea kayaking round Burrow Head.

A 32km day paddle from Port William round Burrow Head to Garlieston, Solway Firth,  January 2011.

Approaching Burrow Head near slack water.

Tides

Well off Burrow Head: 

The east going flood starts -0600 HW Liverpool (-0545 HW Dover). 

The west going ebb starts at HW Liverpool (+0015 HW Dover) 

The spring rate is about 3 knots. 

Close in to Burrow Head:

Strong counter eddies become established in the last 2 hours of the flood and the ebb, so close in, the tidal flows turn two hours earlier than the above times: 

The east going flood starts +0430/-0800 HW Liverpool (+0415/-0745 HW Dover). 

The west going ebb starts at -0200 HW Liverpool (-0145 HW Dover) 

Close in the spring rate is about 4-5 knots and there is turbulence at the eddy line. This means that "slack water" close under the rocks occurs when the main race is still stonking off shore. If there is any wind against tide, the main race will look quite scary and the eddy line will create very confused water. As you are approaching the head, to take advantage of the inshore slack, you will see great lumps of water from the main race heaving on the horizon and you can have a bit of a dry mouth before you round the corner and actually see what it is like.

We were so far south that  there was almost a whiff of civilisation in the air.

A peculiarly cold form of burnishment, in Port William.

Less fond of basking sharks than otters.

Touching the past on the way to Burrow Head.

The Devil's bridge of Burrow Head.

Navigational aids: #7 The luncheon beacon.

Home to roost in Garlieston.

Touching the past on the way to Burrow Head.

At Bloody Neuk, about 4km short of Burrow Head, we came across the wreck of the SV Chile, which came to grief here in WW1.

Although she was a sailing vessel, she had steam powered winches...

to work her rigging.

There is nothing quite like touching the wreck of a once great ship...

...as mental preparation for rounding a distant headland, with a notorious tide race.

Less fond of basking sharks than otters.

We paddled down the Machars peninsula and across Monreith Bay. Phil's silhouette was ringed by the bright water of  Luce Bay.

Crazy drystone dykes marched across the Galloway hillsides and raised beaches. I have already mentioned that Port William was planned by Sir William Maxwell. One of his descendants, Gavin Maxwell, fisherman, turned naturalist, then author, was brought up in Elrig, just north of Port William. His books included; The House of Elrig and Ring of Bright Water. This is the story of Edal, an otter he brought from Iraq to Sandaig on the remote north west of Scotland. He was less fond of basking sharks than he was of otters. He established a shark fishery on the island of Soay, south of Skye. By the time he had finished, he had exterminated just about all the basking sharks on the west coast. To commemorate this son of Galloway, a brass otter has been placed on the cliff top high above Monreith Bay.

Right on cue, this fine otter surfaced as we passed below Maxwell's memorial.

It had a crab in its mouth and I heard the crunch of shell as the otter swam past to lunch on the rocks.

A peculiarly cold form of burnishment, in Port William.

The tide was ebbing fast from the little harbour of Port William. The village was  planned and built in the 1770's by Sir William Maxwell of Monreith.

The harbour is one of very few on the west of Galloway and like most in the area it dries out. Although the sun was now rising in the sky, the roofs of the village houses were still covered in frost.

Our departure was watched over by "the Man"...

...a weathered sculpture in bronze  by local man Andrew Brown (2005). I think he has caught something of the character of the good folk of the Machars. The verdigris caused by exposure to the sea air has been burnished  by the shoulders and arms of many tourists who take time to share his viewpoint.

What is this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

W.H. Davies

The winter sun also burnished the sea but it was a peculiarly cold form of burnishment.

We pressed on to make up time which was lost deep in those Galloway lanes.

The whole of Luce Bay is designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

We paddled past clear waters off the Point of Lagg which were...

...backed by the rugged cliffs of Cairndoon.

The wreck of the SV Chile

While paddling round Burrow Head, Tony and I came across the wreck of the iron sailing vessel Chile. She lies at the low water mark at the foot of a defile through the cliffs, which are to the north west of Port Castle Bay.



Her riveted iron plates and winches litter the shore. She was a German vessel, built for the nitrate trade with Chile and was impounded in Liverpool at the outbreak of WW1. Captain Weaver was taking her to Glasgow when she was driven on to the shore by a storm and the powerful tides round Burrow Head. Her great masts towered above the cliffs but the sea was pounding her to pieces. The Captain managed to get the crew safely ashore in the boats then led them to safety up a steep path through the cliffs, known as the Ladies' Steps. They were so grateful that they presented him with a picture of the ship which can still be seen in the Wigtown Bay Sailing Club clubhouse.



The resting place of SV Chile.

Burrow Head

Last Wednesday, Tony and I paddled Burrow Head in south west Scotland.



It juts into the strong tidal streams of the Solway and separates Luce Bay and Wigtown Bay.





We found strong tidal streams, some of the best rock architecture, caves and rockhopping which either of us have found anywhere on Scotland's west coast or the Hebrides. Another plus for the magnificent south west.