Pleasant procrastination during our peregrinations round Slack Heuch Head.

 From the Mull of Ross we crossed Fauldbog Bay as the sun was fast sinking to the west.

 We explored the rocky recesses among the stacks at the...

 ...foot of the Slack Heugh cliffs where we...

 ...found a blow hole which reverberated...

 ...deep within our chests as the compressed air was blown back through the swell.

 We soaked up the atmosphere as we drifted along the coast. The low warm light made the most of the cliff's contorted features and...

 ...yellow lichen covered rocks.

This was a truly beautiful October evening in a...

....stunning location.

As we entered Slack Heugh Bay a flash of...

...wings revealed the presence of a peregrine falcon.

Still we procrastinated and we were not yet round the Kokatat yellow cliffs of Slack Heugh Head. The autumn night was nearly upon us...

Read more procrastinations on Ian's blog here.

Erratic moments on the Mull of Ross, which should not be confused with the Ross of Mull.

Beyond Rumblekirn we rounded Point of Green before...

...paddling across the open mouth of Brighouse Bay.

The quality of the Solway light and the skyscapes were outstanding. A pod of leaping bottlenose dolphins added to the magic of the moment. Then a little breeze got up and allowed us...

...to complete the crossing with our sails up.

The east coast of Brighouse Bay at the Mull of Ross consists of razor sharp fangs of rock but there is one small breach, where we landed for a late afternoon luncheon.

The pebbles on the beach were a sight to behold. Most were of the local banded Silurian sandstone but here and there, there were erratics which had come some distance. The pink granite pebble is not local as Galloway granite is silver-grey. This one will have been brought here by glaciers during the Ice Age, possibly from the Ross of Mull. What a journey, from the Ross of Mull to the Mull of Ross!

What a view we enjoyed on our luncheon stop. We savoured the moment knowing that the day was coming to an end.

We climbed a little way up the Mull of Ross to make the most of the view but the lowering sun...

...called us back to the boats. We still had some way to go to Little Ross Island.

A couple of Rumblekirns and much friction between Scotland and England.

 We left Castle Haven with a fair wind, a...

 ...following tide and the sun sparkling on the shimmering Solway sea.

Passing Kirkandrews we saw the trailers and launch site of the two Campbeltown fishing boats we had seen earlier.

We had left the granite rock of the Galloway hills far behind and were now paddling past layers of Silurian sandstone which had originally been formed at the bottom of the Lapetus Ocean when Scotland was situated near the equator.

As England collided with Scotland the horizontal layers on the ocean floor were folded up and many became vertical such as here at Rumblekirn. A Rumblekirn is a cave with a blowhole at its back.

Below half tide this coast is a maze of reefs with sharp fangs of rock formed by the vertical strata ready to rip the bottom out of any boat. The steamship Ormsa stranded near hear in 1907 but the coast is literally littered with the wrecks of wooden 19th century smacks, sloops and schooners.

Above half tide you can paddle into Duncan's Cave and behind the nearby Little Pinnacle but we had to settle with a...

 ...view from further out.

Dove Cave can be entered only at high tide and these cliffs are indeed home to rock doves. There are also a pair of peregrine falcons here though we did not see them (We would see another peregrine further round the coast).

 Once we rounded Borness Point we left the Isles of Fleet behind and ahead we could see...

 ...the coast of Cumbria in England which was 40 kilometers distant with the hills of the Lake District rising behind.

 We came to a second Rumblekirn and could see through the blowhole at its back.

We paddled into a deep geo behind Rumblekirn and could see where the blow hole exited but could not approach due to the low tide.

The walls of of the geo were impressively vertical as they soared upwards towards the sky. Who would have thought that there had been so much friction between Scotland and England? 

Read more on Ian's blog here.

Buzzing walls and more follies at Castle Haven.

 From the beach at Barlocco we continued SE towards Kirkandrews where...

...we were passed by two small shellfish boats. This one is "Irene K" A3 and her home port is Campbeltown. They had both been launched from road trailers near Kirkandrews. They seemed a long way from home.

On the way we passed Corseyard farm with its tower and model dairy. The tower is not an old castle, it is actually a water tower and the dairy is a veritable "coo palace". The farm was built by Mr Brown of Knockbrex who had retired there from the Manchester department store of Affleck and Brown.

 The light, clouds, wind and tide were Solway paddling at its best but yet again...

 ...we made a diversion, this time into Castlehaven Bay.

At the back of the bay lies the ruins of Castle Haven which was built during the Iron Age on a rocky promontory. It is thought that over 1000 years after it was built, the Vikings refortified the site as a "borg", giving rise to the name of the local hamlet of Borgue.

 We decided to land and explore further.

 We entered via the postern gate which leads down to the sea.

Castle Haven was excavated by Mr Brown of Knockbrex and James Barbour F.S.A.Sco in 1905 and they demonstrated that it had a galleried wall structure as is shown...

...in this plan which was made at the time and published in the Journal of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1907.

After the excavations were finished Mr Brown rebuilt some of the dry stone walls by adding height onto the existing foundations.

The doubled wall structure clearly seen in this photo is very typical of the brochs and duns found in the highlands and islands of Scotland. This makes Castle Haven the most southerly broch in Scotland. Most duns are circular but Castle Haven is D shaped as its sea edge follows the line of the vertically raised rock strata at the edge of the bay.

We were not alone. The air was full of the sound of buzzing bees who were gathering nectar from the climbing plants that were gradually choking the walls of Castle Haven.

Read more on Ian's blog here.

The follies of Knockbrex and a convenient cave.

 From the three priapic pillars of Knockbrex we set off along the...

...rocky Solway coast until we arrived...

 ...at a delightful stretch of shell sand backed by a castellated folly.

We stopped for a second time to...

 ...explore what was an early 20th century bathing house. A folly in Galloway is known as a "coo (cow) palace" and this was a good example with...

 ...the remains of a stone and iron pier extending into the Solway.

 The folly has a beautiful view over to Barlocco Isle and the distant mountains of the Isle of Man. It was built by James Brown who was a wealthy Manchester merchant. He retired to nearby Knockbrex House  in 1895. Until he died in 1920, he spent much of his fortune building a series of gardens, walls, buildings and follies around the estate.

The jagged reefs of this coastline were the scene of many shipwrecks but it was also used by smugglers who would have found...

...this to be a most convenient cave for concealing contraband from the customs cutters. For many years the entrance was concealed by a thick growth of ivy but a storm a few years ago tore it away.

The cave has a dry level floor and would make excellent shelter in a storm.

This part of the Solway was a lawless place not only frequented by smugglers but also by pirates. We decided to reenact walking the plank. Was this to be a folly on Ian's part?

Time was pressing on and the ebb tide was now in full swing so we made our way back to the boats to continue our exploration of the Solway by sea kayak.