There is a reasonably clear path at this point, albeit it sometimes disappears as you clamber over the rocks on some of the points. It was glorious weather and we looked forward to a fine day's coastal hill walking. On the low cliff it was green and verdant with numerous wild summer flowers in bloom. There was a particularly fine show of common purple orchid scattered between the grasses and ferns. With just a little height the views over the bay opened up, 'silver darlings' glittering on the top of the water.
There are a couple of lovely bays and inlets on this stretch where you alternate between walking up close to the golf course and dropping down to the shore. On one of the bays at Rumblekirn there is a 'bone cave' where animal and human remains, dating to the first and second centuries AD, were found. The geology of the area is very interesting as well, with good examples of 'folded rock' clearly visibly in the bays and headlands, particularly between Dunrod Point and Point of Green.
Lovely stone dykes zig-zag in and out of the bays, lagoons and on the headlands, adding a slightly olde world feel to the place that compliments the aged geology.
- On the section running to and from the golf course there is a good hard earth path that makes the walking easy. After that it becomes a little more difficult. Round about Rumblekirn there is a sign warning of the long path ahead and that the path becomes steeper. It is as well to note that beyond this point there are fewer easy exits should you struggle with the rigours of the route.
Just after Rumblekirn the path rises to the highest point of the day on Borness at about one hundred and forty feet, before dropping back down to lower levels on the approaches to Harrison's Bay. The hill is the site of a well preserved promontory fort called Borness Batteries. The date of its construction and usage is unknown. For us the difficulty on the next section was that the tide was in and you could not walk on the sand / shingle / rocky beach. This meant you were pushed back to the foreshore where there was a lot of high grasses and shrubbery. It is very hard stuff to walk through and we tried to walk above the high water mark wherever we could find a clearer path.
The back of the shore on this stretch was like the most beautiful rock garden with various wild flowers, many Alpine-like in their form and habit, clothing the rocks and shore. Amidst the grasses lovely creamy Primrose still grew in thick clumps. On a day like today, in this season, at this time, this is isolated, wild, beautiful land and seascape.
The route kept us on the road until the small hamlet of Barlocco, where we left the road behind and headed back to the coast. From below Barlocco there is a path on the left all the way back to the coast, coming to it just before the Pillars of Knockbrex.
The three pillars that are on the beach here are a navigational aid for a small hidden harbour that lies behind the rocks and belonged to the Knockbrex estate. The estate originally belonged to the Gordon family and the main house was built in the 16th C. The family were on the wrong side in the Covenanter Wars and lost the estate to the Crown. Knockbrex gardens were well known, traditionally laid out and said to have been quite beautiful. If you search the internet for the gardens you will find some lovely black and white images of it.
At the top of the first small brae on the campsite there is a handy bench where we stopped for a brew up before starting the last section. While we were sitting there drinking coffee, Margaret Seeds and her husband stopped to pass the time of day with us. Margaret gave us directions through the park and on to the track that eventually leads to Gatehouse. For most of its length it is tree-lined and a very pleasant walk. Unfortunately, we had acquired a smudge on the lens of the camera that spoiled the photographs of this and the preceding short section.
In the grounds of Cally Park there is a lake, golf course and a cricket pitch and pavilion, with a game underway as we passed by. An elderly couple were leaning on a fence watching the game. As we passed they asked us what path would take them back to the hotel? We give them precise directions, laughing to ourselves, knowing we are the last people in the world you want to ask for directions!