From Southerness Lighthouse to Carsthorn

Start : Southerness Lighthouse, Southerness (A), Dumfries (DG2 8AZ). Grid Ref. NX 975 544

(S) From Southerness Lighthouse (B), head along Gillifoot Bay, the shorefront (C) to your left when facing out to sea (Eastwards).

(1) After walking along the coast for about 2.8 Km, you will come to the secluded Powillimount Beach (D). (Alternative parking). Then carry straight on along the coastline North.

(2) If the tide is out you can pass through the rock arch at the end of the beach (E) known as the Thirl Stane and continue along the shoreline.

⚠️''An alternative if you have caught the tide wrong is to leave the shore at the car park and take a route quite a lot further inland along quiet roads. After a while you will return to the shore at the waypoint (4). Look out for the House on the Shore, an arts and crafts style dower house built in 1936."

(4) From the House on the Shore you pass around Borron Point and then Hogus Point before reaching Carsethorn (F). (E)

Start : Southerness Lighthouse, Southerness, Dumfries (DG2 8AZ). Grid Ref. NX 975 544

Parking : There is free parking and public toilets at Southerness and Carsethorn.

Alternative car park : Powillimount Beach. This has a car park next to it so is an alternative option for starting/ending the walk from the waypoint (1).

Arrival : Carsethorn Parking, Dumfries (DG2 8DS). Grid ref. NX 991 599

Terrain : Sandy tracks

Public Transport : Translink

Facilities : There is free public toilets at Southerness and Carsethorn.

Dog policy : Dogs can be off the lead for most of the walk.

Note : Some of beaches are not passable at high tide so do check tide tables before heading out. Good footwear is advised.

More walks and information at Kirkennan Estate website here.

(A) Southerness is just off the A710, the coastal road between Dalbeattie and Dumfries - about half an hour drive from Kirkennan. It is a unique place with a rather unusual mix of old cottages and new holiday developments. When I first visited I assumed that the cottages used to belong to fishermen, but a little research indicated that they were built as accommodation for miners in the 1770s by Richard Oswald of Auchencruive who was convinced there was coal to be mined in the area - it seems he was wrong. Subsequently the village has had a considerable history as a sea bathing resort. It has been suggested that the name of the location was originally Saulterness (Salt Makers Point) indicating a past where saltpans were used to extract salt from seawater to use for preserving food.

(B) Southerness Lighthouse : The most striking building in Southerness today is the particularly fine 18th Century lighthouse, one of the oldest in Scotland, which predates the village. It was built in 1749 to warn ships of the dangerous rocky outcrops on the route to Dumfries and was operational until the 1930s. It stands approximately 56 feet tall. It is occasionally open in the summer months.

(C) Gillifoot Bay shorefront : This shore and local merse are frequented by seabirds, particularly in winter when the winter migrants arrive. On our walk we saw and heard Curlew and Oyster Catchers. Other likely winter sightings include Barnacle Geese, Ringed Plover, Teal, Widgeon and Shelduck.
If you look inland you will see views of Criffel. This is not a particularly high hill, but it is distinct and qualifies as a Marilyn, "a hill of any height with a drop of 150 metres or more on all sides".
Remember also to look back the way you have come towards Southerness lighthouse which can be seen in the distance.
On a clear day, if you look out to sea, you can see the mountains in the Lake District on the other side of the Solway Firth.

(D) Powillimount Beach. (Alternative parking). It is a fun beach to visit with kids who will enjoy its rock pools, shells and dramatic rock formations. See if you can spot the enormous granite boulder that looks out of place. According to local lore this was spat out by the devil after he took a bite out of Criffel then decided he didn't like it. An alternative possibility is that it was deposited by glaciers during the last ice age.

(E) The rocks on the beach in this area are rich in fossils which are easy to spot if you take some time to look (it was getting a bit dark by the time we got there). According to one report I read the kind of fossils found on this side of the Solway indicate that 400 million years ago it was near the current equator. This was long before the land masses of Scotland and England collided, so presumably the fossils on the English side of the Solway are quite different. As long as the tide is out this is an easy walk along the beach, with a number of fossil rocks to investigate en route.

(F) Carsethorn: If arriving at dusk as we did, you can leave the beach when you see the welcome lights of the Steamboat Inn. It is hard to imagine now but in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Carsethorn was a busy port with regular sailings to Ireland, Liverpool and The Isle of Man. By the shore here you will find a memorial to the 21,000 people who left Scotland from this point to search for a better life in the New World.