Our A75 adventure continues with a visit to the seaside village of Powfoot, between Annan and Dumfries in Scotland.

Last week we started on our A75 adventures in Annan where we found out about Robert the Bruce and had some great fish and chips.

This week we have travelled a further 10 miles west and arrived at the sea.  Powfoot is one of those villages you would only visit if you have a reason.

Arriving at Powfoot

We turned left off the A75 and travelled down what seemed to be an unused road, complete with grass growing in the middle, and exited onto the B724.

Little indicated which way to go, so dad took a guess and turned right.  Once again his internal compass worked and turning left past a very well decorated bus shelter we made our way into Powfoot.

Occasionally we had to pull into the side of the road to let caravans and mobile homes get past us.

Anyone for golf

Our arrival into Powfoot was greeted by a number of large houses with commanding views across the wide open Solway Firth.  Mum noticed that many of the properties were painted brilliant white.

Parking in front of the Powfoot Golf Hotel we set off towards the beach and some fun.

Dad decided that we would follow a path leading off to our right and we scrambled down the sandy slope to where a narrow, one person wide, path had been etched into the landscape.

With the sun beating down and the sky clear we could see all the way across the bay, to what dad thought was the spire on the church in Silloth.

The Powfoot swimming pool

Stretched out before us, miles of soggy mud and an unusual structure in the sand.

With the risk of quicksand and that dad did not have his trampling boots, we could not investigate further.  However from the shore it appeared to be a circular structure about 600m from the coast.

Research upon our return indicated that this was the site of the former tidal swimming pool.  From the air, using Google maps the wooden enclosed space has the shape of a coffee bean.

No other information about Powfoot tidal swimming pool seems to be available on the web, so can you help via the comments form below?

Solway Firth wildlife

Looking back along our path, we could see the curve of the bay towards Annan and around in to Cumbria.

On either side of the path many salt loving plants were growing.  Some of them looked like dandelions on some form of booster juice as they stood almost three times taller than Charlie.

Blue and white butterflies could be seen as well as many bees and wasps.

It wasn’t long before Charlie had spotted water and although it tasted salty it was great on our tummies and legs.

The hot weather and the cool water were ideal partners as we splashed between the many rock pools.

Mum tried to take a look in some of the pools in case she could see any wildlife.

Around us were piles of cockle shells washed up from the beach.  We took care to wash our feet to avoid any sharp shell edges rubbing between our toes.

Toads and caravans

After around an hour splashing and paddling in and out of the pools of water and running around having fun we resumed our path.

The area along the beach near Queensberry Bay Caravan Park belongs to the Caerlaverock Nature Reserve and is where Britain’s most northern colony of Natterjack Toad can be found. With the warning of toads nearby, we proceeded with caution through the bright red grasses and escaped the beach on to the single track road which we had been shadowing to our left.

Ahead of us was the Queensberry Bay Caravan Park and the end of the road.

It seems that Queensberry is an alternative name for Powfoot

On the sands, to our left, could be seen four horses throughly enjoying the wide open space.  A few dogs and their humans could also be seen playing catch and fetch.

Realising we could not go any further without entering the park, we turned around and after passing the National Cycle network marker post, headed back towards the car.

Powfoot golf club

Wide manicured lawns of the Powfoot Golf Club lay beyond a wire fence to our left. Dad is no expert at golf so for a description of the course we went to their website and it says this…

“Set in breathtaking scenery in Dumfriesshire, South West Scotland, Powfoot Golf Course presents a mixture of both links and parkland golf of the highest standard.

Designed by the legendary James Braid in 1903 the course offers a superb test of golf with its many challenging holes which are set among whins and rough and has earned Powfoot the tag of “golfs best kept secrets”.

For non-golfers James Braid was the Founder and President of the PGA and 5 time Open Winner.   He is a bit special in golfing circles it seems and even has a Society named after him.

We arrived back at the car for a well earned drink and a sit down after about two hours trampling whist dad drove us home for some lunch.

Until next time

Buster and Charlie.

Further information

Old pictures of Powfoot – Powfoot Holiday Cottages