Ardwall

Sunday 6^th May

The trip to Ailsa Craig from Girvan was cancelled even though it looked like a sunny day with hardly any wind in Ayr where we were staying. We were told the boat couldn’t go in that much wind. It was foggy over the sea though and part of our road journey later. In the end I was quite relieved as it sounded like the boat is only safe in perfect conditions and every boat recently had been cancelled. Our back up island, Ardwall, is tidal and low tide is around 10am. We only received the cancellation message at 8 so we set off immediately towards Fleet Bay in Dumfries and Galloway.

The island’s closest mainland point is Carrick but there isn’t an actual causeway just muddy sand. After parking on the grass where a thin pole seems to mark the best crossing place ( though it doesn’t actually say it is.) Instead a waterproofed paper tells the reader the coastguards number but our mobiles didn’t work here anyway!

 We reckoned we’d get 2 hours- 1 hour either side of low tide to be safe. But we didn’t arrive until nearly low tide. The height of the tide today is 1.7 metres. Last time we tried to do this island it was 2.7 metres and the sea never parted to reveal a safe path across. Luckily the tide revealed to us a stretch of exposed sand about 200 yds so we set off expecting to get wet but safe in the knowledge that we had dry clothes and other footwear.

 

From the grass bank it was a few rocks then about a third of a mile of sometimes boggy, sometimes with a few inches of water, dirty sand. The sky was a lovely blue and the sun shone with just a haze left in the distance from the early fog. Sometimes our feet were sucked under but unlike walking across Morecambe Bay it felt safe and probably best to press on, picking the drier paths. It took us about 5 minutes to get to the pretty beach on the other side. There was plenty of bladder-wrack and rocks were encrusted with large mussels. Later we spotted someone collecting some- Moules Mariniere?

The trees here looked like they might have been part of a garden. We followed a path of trodden down vegetation up and across to the other side of Ardwall. On route we admired several thrushes anvils scattered with snail shells. The wild life here would have the place to themselves most of the time. The highest point is 100 feet above sea level and we admired the view from the stone cairn marking this.

There were signs of human activity- a rusting car wheel, tyre tracks on the grass, and a cottage on the island is let for the summer so people do come and go apart from visitors like us.

We met a couple and a young family who came over just after us, but we didn’t see rubbish or hear loud music except for the birds- the peace of the place was intact unlike Crammond, near Edinburgh. We could see the other island in the bay we’d tried to cross to a couple of years ago, Barlocco. We’d given up trying to battle with slippery rocks. I remember it, though, for the hare on the beach which seemed a rare and a special sighting. On the other side of us are the Murray Isles probably best visited by boat.

On Ardwall Bob was lucky enough, as he led the way, to see a deer run into the bushes. It must have been stranded. We didn’t see it cross back to the mainland though and the grass looked lush enough to eat. The flowers are beginning to come out here- bluebells and celandine. It is a pretty island with little bays and a quite a few trees- unusual for a small tidal island. Straying from the path takes us into brambles, bracken and gorse so it was best to keep to the path. We had hoped to see the remains of an old chapel marked on the OS map, but it must have been hidden by vegetation.

We walked around the shore, as far as the sea, with an eye on the shrinking passageway then reluctantly made our way back to the car. It would have been a splendid place for a picnic if there had been time.

I hadn’t noticed how wet my feet were. The sticky mud had permeated my trainers and they took days to dry out when we arrived home. We had enjoyed our 3 islands and are hoping one more trip will round off our 100. There are 11 to go if we want to reach our target this final year and we have booked ferries to the Hebrides.