Big skies on the Solway, October 2015

For those who would like to follow the thread of this great trip on the Solway from start to finish, I hope this index will be useful.

Setting off with a fair wind and tide on the Solway Firth.

Prospects at the three priapic pillars of Knockbrex.

The follies of Knockbrex and a convenient cave.

Buzzing walls and more follies at Castle Haven.

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

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

Pleasant procrastination during our peregrinations round Slack Heuch Head.

Dark clouds gather above Little Ross, an island with a dark past.

No ghosts on Little Ross Island, despite its tragic past.

A shadow at dawn on Little Ross Island.

A rusty cock, mysterious symbols, dead heads, a high and dry ship and a shaded sundial on Little Ross Island.

Little Ross lighthouse, a lens and an alpine garden.

Gunfire, a lost Queen and a wreck in Kirkcudbright Bay.

A slippery approach to the graceful town of Kirkcudbright and the Selkirk Arms.

The Little Ross "tide race" was like a stroll in the park!

The sound of heavy guns and a mushroom cloud rising over the Solway.

The folly of not bringing a trolley to Barlocco.

Fiery matters at a Barlocco dawn.

A room with a view on Murray's Isles and anomalous petrol pumps.

A race against the tide at Corbies Cove.

A rocky epilogue in Corbies Cove.

Slow paddling mode at the end of our Solway trip.

A 64km trip from Fleet Bay. We started from a private caravan site in Fleet Bay but alternative starts with free parking could made from Carrick shore, Brighouse Bay (toilets) or Kirkcudbright (toilets) depending on the tide. There is a pay car park with toilet at Cardoness, (150m to HW mark). If you want a base in the area there is a great basic mobile caravan and camping site right on the beach at Newton Farm 01557 840234, there is no toilet block only an elsan disposal point. You can launch from half way in Fleet Bay 3 hours on either side of high water. Tide times at Hestan Island are a pretty good guide for most of this coast.

Slow paddling mode at the end of our Solway trip.

From Corbies Cove we paddled back towards our starting point in Fleet Bay. The Solway skyscapes were...

 ...still superlative and had been a real feature of this trip. We now entered that "slow paddling mode" that often happens when you know good trip is coming to an end but you want to make it last as long as possible.

However, the wind reversed as the tide changed and what had been a headwind was now a tail wind which carried us...

 ...up Fleet Bay to the caravan site at...

 ...Cardoness where we had left the cars. Unlike the previous evening we had timed our arrival to just after high water. Even so, trolleys were deployed and we soon had the kayaks back at the cars.

This trip had started as a stop gap "second best" as our planned trip round the NW of Mull had been aborted due to F5-6 Northerly winds.

Fortunately in the Solway, the winds on the first couple of days were only F4-5 and being northerly we gained shelter from the south west facing cliffs. I had been very worried that Ian and Mike might feel short changed by the Solway after our disappointment of cancelling our Mull trip....

...however, the Solway had proved to be a wonderful destination with: rugged cliffs, headlands, caves, wooded bays, sandy coves, islands, a lighthouse, castles, follies, ruins, history, leaping dolphins, spectacular sunsets, starry nights, fiery dawns, huge skyscapes, a delicious pub meal,  great camp sites, a scary pair of herons at midnight (but no ghosts) and above all great friends.

When we got changed and made our way up to the caravan we found that Alison had homemade soup and rolls ready for us, We enjoyed our final luncheon on the deck with a fabulous view over Fleet Bay to the islands. As we said our farewells, the ebb tide was gradually emptying the bay leaving exposed sand flats, where just a couple of hours previously we had been paddling.

We started from a private caravan site in Fleet Bay but alternative starts with free parking could made from Carrick shore, Brighouse Bay (toilets) or Kirkcudbright (toilets) depending on the tide. There is a pay car park with toilet at Cardoness, (150m to HW mark). If you want a base in the area there is a great basic mobile caravan and camping site right on the beach at Newton Farm 01557 840234, there is no toilet block only an elsan disposal point.

A rocky epilogue in Corbies Cove.

From Corbies' Cove it was a short paddle to the contorted rocks of Ravenshall Point.

 It was near HW and we were able to make our way through several rocky channels to...

 ...the NW side of the point where this rather fine arch is situated.

 At this point we turned back towards...

 ...Corbies' Cove where the sand below the waterfall was now well under water.

As we paddled east we dallied at almost every corner...

 ...it was so warm that many Red Admiral butterflies were warming themselves on the rocks just inches from the sea.

 We really did not make rapid progress as we looked for any excuse to divert into...

 ...every nook and cranny.

We came across this rather fine cave that stretched in as far as the eye could see.  I am pretty sure this would have been used by the many smugglers that used to frequent this coast.

This section of coast at high tide is a real treat, the gaps between the rocks become ever smaller!

Along this coast most of the rock is Silurian greywacke sandstone but there are a few volcanic dolerite intrusions, like this one, complete with gas bubbles. Our trip to the Solway was nearly over as just round the corner we would pass a series of caravan sites but what a wonderful rocky epilogue Corbies Cove had proved to be.

A race against the tide at Corbies Cove.

As we left Murray's Isles the temperature had risen noticeably and there was a line of blue sky approaching from the south.

 We were paddle sailing for Ravenshall Point on the NE shore of Wigtown Bay.

 As we crossed Fleet Bay we became rather warm in our dry suits so...

 ...we were on the lookout for somewhere to land and change into something cooler. The coast here is seldom visited but the main A75 road runs along a raised beach at the the top of the cliffs.

 We found a little gap in the rocks at Corbies Cove where a burn tumbled down from the cliffs above,

 The beach was disappearing fast in the Solway flood tide so it was a race to get changed. The water was literally lapping round our feet as we got changed.

This was another stunningly beautiful spot. It seemed a long way back to Ringdoo and Borness Points which were just visible on the horizon and which we had rounded the previous evening. The sky was now almost completely clear and despite being mid October it was getting hot!

A room with a view on Murray's Isles and anomalous petrol pumps.

 As we prepared to leave Barlocco beach the sky clouded over and there was a chill wind from the north. We decided to set off in our dry suits.

Having failed to circumnavigate Barlocco Isle the previous evening we set off to do so now. We literally floated over the route of our tough portage!

 The reefs of Barlocco Isle are a great place to explore as long as there is no swell.

 The sharp fangs of rock could easily puncture a kayak. From the channels of Barlocco we set off for...

 ...wooded Ardwall Isle with its former farm house hiding on the seaward side. The isle was once home to a well known smuggling family.

 From Ardwall Isle we set off across the channel to the Murray's Isles.

The flood spring tide was running and we had to set a surprisingly high ferry angle to maintain the transit of the white farm house above the gap in the reef.

The Murrays Isles are named after Mr James Murray of Cally. He was one of the drivers of the development of Gatehouse of Fleet in the 18th century. A descendant of his, Mrs Elizabeth Murray Usher bequeathed the isles to the National Trust of Scotland following her death in 1990. Mrs Murray Usher was the main landowner in the area and she had rather fixed ideas of how Gatehouse of Fleet should look. In the mid 20th century there were two petrol stations in Gatehouse, one at either end of the town. The Esso station with its red and white livery was the first. To get planning permission from Mrs Murray Usher for the second, Shell petrol station, it also had to paint its pumps red and white as well so that it did not clash. It was the only Shell petrol station in Britain that did not have yellow and white pumps!

We landed in a little cove on the SW side of the larger island and made our way up over very tussocky ground to the...

 ...lichen covered ruins of a cottage. The house has an interesting history. It was built at the same time that the canal was cut from the head of the Fleet estuary to the town of Gatehouse and Port Macadam was built.  The house was for the pilot who escorted ships up the Fleet.

It was customary in exposed locations, it was built with its gable facing the prevailing wind and the open sea. Unusually it had a window in the gable so that the pilot could keep a lookout for ships. The house was also used as an inn for sailors from ships waiting for the tide. The pilot was also the guardian of the Fleet Bay oyster beds. He also had a part time job as customs officer as smuggling was rife on this coast.

I do not normally land here in spring and early summer as the island is a breeding site used by herring gulls, lesser black backed gulls and cormorants.

It is the biggest cormorant colony in the Solway Firth. Once the birds have gone the...

 ...grasses and flowers grow profusely being well fertilised by the bird's guano.

We made our way back to the beach where we discovered a split piece of Silurian sandstone that appeared to have a fossil in it.

The little cove was sheltered from the wind so we settled down to a well deserved second breakfast.