Rascarral Coastal Walk Dumfries & Galloway 01/06/09

On Monday 1st June a friend, Bill and I went for a walk. Bill is into hill walking and such like so picked the walk we were going to do. We started at Grid reference NX821 496, the Balcary Bay Hotel. We commenced our journey along a dirt track through fields, then a wooded area before coming to another road to take us down to the shore. There were a few gates to open and CLOSE before we hit the road. Before we got to the road it was just open fields and wood , nothing spectacular. Once on the road again we were met with this site and we passed the cottage on the way. The island in the back ground is the Isle of Mann. We started the walk about 09:30.

The first part of the walk was along the shore itself for about a mile or

so. Difficult to judge just how far. The picture shows the shore we came along. It was a stony path with some parts sandy. The yellow fields from the first picture can just be seen. The sky was clear, no clouds and very, very hot, even for that time of the morning. Where we were at this part of the walk, there is a seat where Bill usually stops for a banana, bag of ready salted crisps and a bottle of lucozade.

The scenery in breath-taking on this walk and one picture I didn't take was the Cumbrian Hills across the Solway Firth. Another picture I didn't take was of the Windfarm they are building in the Solway Firth, kind of spoils the view. This picture was taken at the highest part of the walk, from the shore the overall rise was about 200 feet. This is Heston Island and is at the edge of Auchencairn Bay. There are a few seabird colonies there including Gannet and I wouldn't be surprised if there were seal as well. I'll investigate that and update this posting as some time.

South-west Scotland is more a farming community but there is a fishing community as well. You have probably heard of the Solway Harvester that was lost with all hands in the Irish Sea. All bodies were recovery and the Isle of Mann footed to bill to raise the boat which I think is still in Douglas Harbour. I am not sure what kind of boat os in the picture but there is some sort of lifting mechanism at the stern. It could be a boat used for Lobster Fishing but I just don't know. I would be greatful for any suggestions.

We progressed around the coast, over the highest part to what is called Balcary Point which is about a mile from the end of the walk. Along the way we passed places such as, Airds Point, Adam's Chair and Lot's Wife. Where do they get the name of some of these places. The highest part, a hill going away from the coast is called Big Airds Hill. On top of this hill was a Roman Fort and just inland from Adam's Chair was another. I don't think there is anything left now but mounds on the ground. What I haven't said is that I get a bit of vertigo and didn't know how close we were going to be to the cliffs as we got to the highest point. Somewhere in this picture there is the path we took. Its on the grassy part before the rock go up again. I can't say I really enjoyed this part of the walk but was fortunate that Bill gave me a loan of a proper hill walking stick. Don't know if I would have made it without the stick. To say it was nerve racking is an understatement but I did manage it, just.

From Balcary Point we continues to the end of the walk. This involved skirting the coast, through another wooded area and some field before arriving in the Hotel Car Park. The wooded area at this stage of the walk was a pleasant surprise, plenty of shade and a drop in temperature. This last picture doesn't really show how high we were. I was using a 75-300mm lens and this was at 300mm which foreshortens perspective. Here we were still quite high up.

The entire walk was just short of 5 miles and took us about two hours. It was a warm day so be took our time. Overall it was a most enjoyable walk. Bill and I plan to go some other walks this summer but hopefully not over cliffs like these. The final shot is of a map of the area. We started at the Car Park at Balgary Bay Hotel . Passed Loch Mackie and through the wooded area to the road. We continued down the road, pased cottages to the shore at Rascarrel Bay then along the coast (single dotted line) and back to the Hotel Car Park.