Island 392 - McCook's Craig/Dorn Rock, Portpatrick, Dumfries and Galloway

This was an unexpected island.  I visited the lovely village of Portpatrick on a sunny  evening on my way to County Donegal and spotted an island in the harbour.  It is currently called Dorn Rock but on late 19th century Ordnance Survey maps it is called McCook's Craig.  I don't know at what point its name was changed.  It is connected to the north side of the harbour by a stone and concrete breakwater.  It is about 75 metres long by 25 metres wide and is a rock with rough grass growing on it.

Portpatrick is one of the few breaks in the south west facing coastline of the Rhinns of Galloway (the bit that is hammerhead shaped), which was suitable for the building of a harbour.  The village was used as a port for ships carrying mail, cargo and people to and from Donaghadee in Ireland as least as far back as 1620.  Following plans drawn up by John Smeaton in 1768, a breakwater was constructed on the south side of the inlet and completed in 1774 or 1778 (depending on which source you believe).  However work on the north breakwater was abandoned in 1801 after repeated damage by the sea. 

The engineer Sir John Rennie began work on improving the harbour in 1821.  After his death later the same year, the work was carried on by his son, who was also Sir John Rennie.  The plan was to build two piers, one on the south side and another on the north, curving towards each other and leaving a 61 metre gap as the entrance to the harbour. 

The South Pier, which was built of Welsh limestone and incorporated the 1778 breakwater was completed c1832.  A small 14 metre high lighthouse on the end was completed in 1836.  However the pier and the lighthouse were damaged by a storm in 1839 and had to be repaired.  

A breakwater on the north side of the harbour, which linked McCook's Craig to the mainland, was completed c1835.  The North Pier, which jutted out into the sea in a south south westerly direction and at right angles to the McCook's Craig Breakwater, was still unfinished in 1839.

The railway reached Portpatrick in 1862 but a few years later Irish bound passenger traffic moved to the much more sheltered port of Stranraer where boats sailed to Larne in Ireland.   Portpatrick Harbour fell into disuse soon after and in 1871 the lighthouse on the end of the South Pier was dismantled and shipped to Colombo in Sri Lanka, where it was re-erected.  The lighthouse on the inner end of the pier was relit and remained in use until 1900 when it was replaced by Killantringan Lighthouse at Black Head to the north of Portpatrick.  The branch line from Stranraer to Portpatrick closed in 1950. 

Dorn Rock has a flagpole on its highest point, which was flying the St Andrew's flag when I visited.  It also has a large rusty anchor on display and a memorial plaque to Rockin Robin Waddell "who rocked this rock on many occasions" (1967-2014) and who was a local guitarist.

North Harbour, Portpatrick

 

Dorn Rock and North Harbour

 

Flag and Anchor

 

Anchor on the summit

 

Portpatrick from the summit of Dorn Rock

 

Memorial Plaque

 

Lifeboat off Dorn Rock

 

Dorn Rock

 

Lighthouse on the South Pier

Island 244 - Ardwall Isle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Ardwall Isle is a roundish tidal island half a mile north of Barlocco Isle and is another Island of Fleet, along with Barlocco Isle and the Murray Isles, which are half a mile to the north west of Ardwall and which are not accessible on foot except possibly at times of extremely low spring tides.  Ardwall Island is approximately 700 metres from north east to south west and 400 metres from north west to south east.  The highest point on the island is 34 metres above sea level.

Unlike neighbouring Barlocco Isle, the access to Ardwall is across muddy sand.  You have to open a gate to access the parking area opposite the island at Knockbrex and when I visited there were cattle grazing, whose favourite game seemed to be to stand in the middle of the road and refuse to move!  I parked my car under the curious gaze of the cows but they kept their distance, so I left the car and set off for Ardwall.  The sand turned out to be firmer than it looked and I took the absence of warning notices about soft mud or quicksand as a good sign.  The sand nearest the rocks at the island end turned out to be thick mud but away from the rocks it was fine to walk on.  The beach is composed of an orange tinged sand with crushed blue and mauve mussel shells and cockles and limpets.

It is about 400 metres to the island and there was a clear path leading up onto the island from the beach at the eastern end.  I don't know who owns or manages the island but some areas had obviously been mowed quite recently and some of the undergrowth had been cut back.  There is a ruined building towards the southern end of the island, which had an apple tree and a eucalyptus in its former garden.  I tried one of the apples - it was horrible!  To the south of the ruin is a house which was shut up but looked to be habitable.

The island is covered in grass, gorse, white and red fuchsia bushes, red campion, thistles, ragwort, nettles, bracken, brambles (more blackberries to eat), yarrow and thrift.  The undergrowth is impenetrable away from the paths, which got quite narrow towards the house.   There were a few full grown trees - some ash and a line of pine trees, possibly planted as a shelter belt.

The remains of a chapel are marked on the Ordnance Survey map at the north east end of the island but I couldn't see it.  The site was excavated in 1964-5 and from the photographs I have seen I think the remains were covered up again.  A cemetery was established on Ardwall in the 5th or 6th century and a stone chapel in the Irish style was built c700 on the site of an earlier wooden building.  A hall house was built on the same site c1250-1350 and then a tower c1780-1800.

As I was about to leave the island I looked across the sand and realised that my car was surrounded by 4 or 5 black cows.  When I got back to it I found they were busy licking all the windows and doors!  I have no idea what the attraction was but I managed to shoo them away.  As I did so I noticed that one of them wasn't a cow but a very large bull.  However he seemed quite placid.  The cows then got their revenge on me for interrupting their ritual by blocking the only track back to the road.  The bull then proceeded to get amorous with several of his ladies for 15 minutes right in front of me, although it all looked a bit half-hearted to me!  I tried driving right up to them and hooting gently but they just looked at me and refused to move.  In the end I reversed back and waited for them to move on, taking the opportunity to wash the slobber from all my car's windows!  In my experience cows don't stay in one place for all that long.  About 20 minutes later there was just enough space for me to drive through and I left.

The ruin with eucalyptus and apple tree

The house

The middle of the island
 

Path up onto the island at the north eastern end.

Ardwall Island from Knockbrex

 Murray Isles from Ardwall

 Mainland from Ardwall
- this is the main point of access onto the island

 Ardwall from Knockbrex

Island 243 - Barlocco Isle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Barlocco Isle

This exotic sounding island doesn't live up to its name.  It is one of the Islands of Fleet and can be accessed at low tide across a narrow 300 metre long rocky platform from the mainland a few miles to the south of Gatehouse of Fleet.  It is about 400 metres long from north to south and 250 metres wide from east to west.  The highest point on the island is only just over 10 metres above sea level.

I visited in mid September 2014.  There was a track marked on the map leading from the road down to the beach.  I found where it started and there was a convenient parking spot for my car.  It was then a pleasant 10 minute walk down to the beach. 

When I crossed it a couple of hours before low tide only a thin strip of the rocky platform was above the water level.  It is a minor scramble but once again I had reason to thank the barnacles which have colonised the rocks and which give us humans a great non-slippery surface on which to walk.

There were a few very faint paths on the island and the remains of an old stone wall, so I presume that the island was once used for grazing animals.  The island is covered in exposed rocks, rough grass, thrift, sea lavender, thistles and blackberries - I ate more than enough of them to count as one of my 5 a day.  There are no trees, just a few bushes.

This disused building is located on the edge of the beach on the mainland opposite Barlocco Isle.  I have no idea of its former purpose.

Not the world's most interesting island!

The remains of a dry stone wall and some brambles laden with delicious blackberries

More dry stone walls
 

The rocky causeway - looking towards Barlocco Isle

 

Barlocco Isle from the mainland

 

Barlocco Isle from the nearest parking spot

Barlocco Isle

Island 242 - Isle of Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway

The Isle of Whithorn is the name given to the village that lies 3 miles to the south east of Whithorn in Dumfries and Galloway and at the southern tip of the Machars Peninsula.  However it is also the name of the former tidal island adjacent to the village.  Both the village and the island are delightful, peaceful places off the beaten track.

Having driven 500 miles in one day to get there, with only a couple of brief stops for geocaches along the way, I was glad to stretch my legs and to have some time to stand and stare in this tranquil place.

The Isle of Whithorn is an important place in the history of Christianity in Scotland.  St Ninian, who was British but went away to Europe to study, returned to convert the southern Picts 50 years before St Columba arrived on Iona.  The current chapel, which is in ruins, was built in 1300 on the site of an earlier narrower one.  It is situated inside a perimeter wall, which probably enclosed a house for a priest and a burial ground.  The chapel was in ruins by the 1860s but was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1898.

After St Ninian's death the Isle of Whithorn became a place of pilgrimage. Pilgrims from as far away as Spain, France, Wales, Ireland and Scandinavia landed in the safe harbour on the island, gave thanks for their safe arrival in the chapel on the island and then walked 3.5 miles inland to visit St Ninian's shrine at Whithorn.  The exact details about St Ninian's life are a bit sketchy and lost in the mists of time.  He does of course have a whole island named after him in the Shetland Isles, although he probably never went there.

I have not been able to find a definitive date for when the causeway to the island was built.  Some sources say the 1790s while others say the 1820s.  The causeway is clearly shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1849.  A row of houses was built on the causeway, so it is difficult to tell where the island used to start.  Round the back of the houses at the wonderfully named Stinking Port (presumably the stink was created by rotting seaweed?) it is easier to see.

The island is covered in grass and wild flowers such as thrift, sea campion, thistles, thrift, sea mayweed and yarrow.  There is a network of paths criss-crossing it, some better trodden than others, and several memorial benches.

There are also 2 memorials to the crew of the Solway Harvester, a scallop dredger from Kirkcudbright, which sank off the Isle of Man on 11th January 2000 with the loss of all 7 crew members.  Her crew members came from the Isle of Whithorn area.

The name Whithorn means "white house" and refers to St Ninian's stone church - Candida Casa in Latin.

Witness Cairn 

It was inaugurated in 1997 to commemorate St Ninian's arrival in Scotland.  People are welcome to add their own stone, as a symbol of an act of witness completed or which you pledge that you will do. It is situated inside the remains of the village's old lifeboat station, which closed in 1919.

Solway Harvester Memorial Bench made of Galloway granite, with St Ninian's Chapel in the background

I don't why this area had been mowed or what the lines are for?

Memorial to the crew of the Solway Harvester up near the tower

I'm not sure of the origins of this tower.

St Ninian's Chapel

Round the back of the houses it is easier to see the join between the island and the mainland.

This is the causeway from the front

Whithorn Priory

Isle of Whithorn

Tower and Solway Harvester Memorial

 St Ninian's Chapel 

Island 183 - Rough Island, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

This is an island of which very few people seem to have heard.  It is a small uninhabited tidal island located half a mile to the SW of the village of Rockcliffe in Dumfries and Galloway.  It is accessed by a natural causeway of small stones, cockle and mussel shells and barnacles to the north of the island, which starts half a mile south of the village of Kippford.

The island is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and managed as a bird sanctuary.  Access is not permitted in May and June during the breeding season.  It covers an area of 8 hectares and is about 500 metres from north to south and 250 metres from east to west.

I parked in the main car park at Kippford but there was parking for about 12 cars half a mile nearer to the Rough Island causeway.   The causeway itself is just over half a mile long.  I arrived on the beach of whole cockle shells to the south of Kippford and could see the causeway but there was about 200 metres of mud to cross to reach the start of it.  Thankfully the mud was hard enough to walk across.  Low tide on the day I visited in early September 2012 was at 9.45 am, so I arrived on the island at 8.45 and had it to myself. 

I have not been able to find out much about the island.  Even the National Trust for Scotland seem to keep quiet about it, as it gets only a passing mention on their webpage about the land they own at Rockcliffe.

The island is covered in scrubby trees (mainly hawthorns), bracken, brambles, grass, gorse and wild flowers.  The wildflowers in bloom in early September included scabious, thistles, bird's foot trefoil, ragwort, heather, broom and rosebay willowherb.  There were plenty of ripe blackberries, so I ate a few.   Down on the rocky beach that fringes the island there were Michaelmas daisies, thrift, sea campion and sea lavender.  There is a clear path running up the spine of the island from the northern tip to the summit, which is 24 metres above sea level.  The bracken on either side of the summit path looked like it has been managed, presumably to allow more interesting vegetation to flourish.

I thought Rough Island was going to be a bit dull and an anti-climax after all the interesting islands I had visited in the previous fortnight.  However I was wrong.  On a sunny morning it was a delightful place to 'stand and stare' for a while and being the only person on it added to the experience.   I look forward to visiting some more of Dumfries and Galloway's tidal islands in the years to come.

 Rockcliffe from the summit cairn

On top of the cairn under a couple of rocks there is a battered tin, which contains a logbook for visitors to write their thoughts in - much like a geocache really. Judging by the comments in the book, some people visit the island regularly. 

 Summit cairn looking north towards Kippford

 

 Looking north towards Kippford along the causeway

Causeway to Rough Island
 

Looking north towards Kippford
 

I think the nets off the east coast of Rough Island are for some kind of traditional fishing

Clear path up the spine of the island to the summit.  Looking north towards Kippford.

 Hestan Island from the summit of Rough Island
Hestan is in the top right of the photo.  It is also a tidal island but the causeway to it, known as the Hestan Rack, only clears when there is a spring tide and then not for very long.  It is also a 3 mile way each way from the nearest parking point. 

Top of the island looking towards the summit

 

Rough Island from Kippford beach

Kippford - macabre memorial 

On the footpath from Kippford to the Rough Island causeway there is a garden, which is full of strange sculptures made from stones, driftwood and other materials.  There is even a fairy grotto.  The more you look at it, the more you see.  I thought it was great.  

A couple of the driftwood sculptures