It was a full moon and spring tide so Phil and I went down to the Solway.
My uncle is 83y and still getting out on the water though he has had to give up sailing.
We went out to Dove Cave #1...
...went round a lovely wee stack...
...to Dove Cave #2 which we were able to paddle into due to it being spring high water.
Heavy clouds were gathering over Fleet Bay and it was snowing over the Galloway Hills. A lovely southerly breeze got up so we decided to go for a 10km broad reach across to the headland at the other side of the bay.
But first we stopped on Barlocco reef for...
a picnic then...
...a lie in the sun to let the spring ebb build up.
Breeding was in full swing as we passed the Isles of Fleet.
We used an eddy to slip inside the tide race off Ravenshall Point and...
...nipped into the inlet below Ravenshall Arch.
The lovely coast here makes up for a very large and ugly caravan park, just a little further on.
After a stiff paddle back into the wind we were hoping for a blast back into Fleet Bay but the wind gradually died away.
Enjoying a beer by the shore later, we observed the the Solway tide goes out quite a long way. I was glad we got the tides right. Of course I would have been pretty stupid to get it wrong, I have been going there every year since 1968. Maybe I'll get bored with it in a year or two but then again looking at my uncle, probably not!
What a wonderful day we had. I hope everyone else had a great weekend too.
Douglas
