Solway sojourn - sayonara in the sunshine

The day warmed up considerably as we crossed from Murray's Isles towards Ravenshall Point, so we took the opportunity to land and change out of our drysuits on a tiny (and fast disappearing) beach at Corbie's (Crow's) Cove.  Although it was mid October the weather was warmer and more settled than it had been for much of the cold and windy summer of 2015.

Douglas had mentioned an interesting rock formation at Ravenshall Point, so I was curious to see what might be around the corner....

The rock formation here is really striking, a graceful sweep of pale rock forms an arch as it joins a larger sweeping outcrop with a window right through to the other side of the headland.  Remarkably this great piece of rock architecture is less than a hundred metres from the busy A75 trunk road which runs along the line of a raised beach above the present day shore, yet it could be a million miles away.  We enjoyed reversing in under the arch to get a better view before reluctantly.....

...turning our boats and starting the last leg of our Solway sojourn.  There was plenty of exploration left to do though, the coast between Ravenshall Point and the end of our journey is punctuated by a couple of large caravan sites but also has great stretches of rockhopping.....

...with more amazing rock formations.  The rock of this crag was so contorted that it was difficult to tell what the predominant plane of it might be.  Amongst the paler bands were sections of bright rose pink rock picked out by the sunshine - how many of the drivers speeding by on the road above could imagine what's just below them?

At the back of a sun-warmed cove we saw three lovely Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) which seemed to be actively seeking out the splashes of water on the rocks.  They were probably feeding on the flowers of the Ivy which covers most of the cliffs here.  These butterflies are unlikely to survive the Scottish winter, the species is mainly migratory in the UK with the population topped up by an influx of butterflies from the continent each Spring.

We intended to land near Cardoness at about high water to avoid a long portage with the boats so we had some time in hand to explore the intricate rockhopping opportunities.  Douglas is back there somewhere......

...and showing fine style through a narrow channel :o)

As the cliffs begin to peter out there are a series of dry coves cutting back into the level of the raised beach.  This one had pine trees perfectly placed at either end and looked almost like a Japanese coastal scene - perhaps a fitting backdrop as we said Sayonara to our Solway journey!

A last opportunity on this trip for us to use the term "alternating turbidite lithofacies"...........

..and another interesting rock formation - this was a darker rock which appeared to be volcanic and had lines of what we guessed to be gas bubbles fossilised within it.

We slowed down considerably as we approached Cardoness and the end of the journey; a subconscious thing that we've noticed previously - none of us really wanting what might be the last camping trip of the year to end.

Our timing was pretty good, the tide had just turned as we landed.  It didn't take long for us to move the boats (this time with the assistance of a trolley) and unload, then we were treated to a lovely bowl of soup - thank you Alison!

What a trip we'd enjoyed - wonderful cliff scenery, wild camping under the starry skies, memorable camp fires, history, islands, intense sunsets and spectacular sunrises, a fine pub meal and calm conditions below huge skyscapes.  Our Solway sojourn might have ended but we have a host of memories to treasure.

Solway sojourn - stories in stone

 We were up and about early at our camp on the shore at Barlocco and enjoyed a spectacular sunrise. Breakfast taken, we dallied a little to allow the incoming tide to shorten the carry to the water, memories of the previous evening's mammoth portage only too fresh!

Back underway and we headed out around the outside of Barlocco Isle threading skerries and channels under sail, which was great fun.

Once out on the open water we set a course for Murray's Isles, the smallest of the Islands of Fleet and consisting of two tidal islands joined together at low water.

 As we approached we could see the stark ruin of a house above the rocky shore.  In the summer this island is teeming breeding colony for seabirds and landing would create a good deal of disturbance, but at the time of our visit in mid October the birds were long gone and it was a quiet place.  Murray's Isles were gifted to the National Trust for Scotland in 1991 by Mrs Murray Usher OBE; we had our membership cards at the ready, but it's safe to say we didn't have to show them in order to gain access...

 The only practical landing is a rocky inlet on the south west side of the island, open to the prevailing weather and sea. Once again we were lucky to have very calm conditions and landed with no difficulty.

 Approaching the ruin, we found the ground to be very tough going, generations of gull nests have created tussocky, overgrown underfoot conditions which require care.  The ruin itself is completely covered with a vibrant growth of yellow and green lichens.  The house was the Pilot station, a smuggler's residence and an inn - possibly these uses may have been simultaneous....

 As is usual, the house was built with the gable end facing the prevailing weather, the concept of a nice view was always secondary to the practical aim of keeping the weather out.  What is unusual is that there is a window aperture set into the gable end, presumably so that the Pilot could watch for shipping requiring his services, the smuggler could watch out for vessels bringing contraband and the innkeeper could watch for potential customers...possibly all three at the same time.

 What stories these stones must be able to tell!

Down on the cobble beach we found a stone with a much older story to tell.  The fossils most associated with the Solway Firth are those of Graptolites, small free-floating organisms, but in the Carboniferous rocks larger organisms are preserved as fossils.  This piece of sandstone which was some 20 centimetres long appears to contain a fan coral or weed, it was difficult to tell which and we're no experts.  The imprint was quite obvious and the dark stone seems to be the fossilised remains.  There's a great little book and download produced by Scottish Natural Heritage and the British Geological Survey which tells the story of the geology of the southwest of Scotland.

We enjoyed second breakfast and coffee on the beach as the tide continued to rise, leaving just as our boats were beginning to lift in the gentle swell.

Solway sojourn - setting our sights and our sails to the south

In the middle part of October a large high pressure system settled over Scotland bringing some settled weather, a feature which had been notably absent during a cool and windy summer. Douglas, Mike and I made plans to travel to the west coast of the Isle of Mull, checking ferry schedules, tidal times, launching spots and all the usual pre-adventure planning.

And so it was that we met up two days later on the shores of Fleet Bay on the Solway Firth, a couple of hundred miles south of Mull.........

The intervening two days had seen a slight drift in the centre of the area of high pressure with the consequence that the settled, calm conditions we needed to explore the exposed west coast of the island had disappeared to be replaced by strong northerly winds.  A quick rethink later and we settled on the Solway area which was forecast to have much better weather.  Our philosophy is fairly simple - plan flexibly and be prepared to adapt the plan!

It's a long drive from home in the north east of Scotland to the very south west of the country so I travelled the evening before we set out on an autumn morning of warm sunshine and blue sky.

We set our sights and our sails to the south and headed off - another small adventure had begun!  You will be able to follow this trip in "SeakayakStereovision" by reading Douglas' account starting here.

We'd launched a little before high water and our plans were largely determined by the tides; the inner part of the Solway Firth has a very large tidal range at approximately 9 metres/30 feet at Springs. This large range coupled with the flat nature of the estuary leads to fast tidal streams and a tide which goes out a very long way at low water.  We felt that our plans would accommodate landing and launching and although we took a portage strap to manhandle the loaded boats we didn't take a trolley.  This would prove to be a minor tactical error later in the trip......

After an exhilarating downwind blast under sail we arrived at Ardwall Island and although we'd not been underway long we landed on a tiny beach and climbed to the high point of the island.  Looking back, our starting point already seemed distant.  This is Douglas' local patch and he was concerned that the fresher-than-forecast northerly wind might give some rough conditions at the crux headland of the day so we wanted to take a look at what we could see of the route ahead.  Although the day was warm, we changed from light paddling gear into drysuits (which we'd stowed in the boats) before leaving Ardwall; changing from one system to another would be a regular event on this trip!

The view from Ardwall Island is very fine - we looked west over Murray's Isles to Ravenshall Point, both of which we hoped to visit on the return leg of our trip.

To the east across a narrow channel was the impressive Knockbrex House, built in 1900 by the Manchester businessman James Brown......

...along with some eccentric follies and turrets.  The castellated folly on the shore was our next goal, but there were some fine upstanding features to admire on the way....