Moorings in Solway and Galloway

This coastal area covers the Scottish side of the Solway Firth and the Galloway coast of Dumfries and Galloway, from the Urr and Dee estuaries west to Portpatrick and Loch Ryan. The Solway Firth forms part of the border between England and Scotland, and its salt marshes and mudflats have frequently shifting patches of quicksand, so channels and tides need care.

Dumfries and Galloway Council runs five harbours, Kirkcudbright, Port William, Isle of Whithorn, Garlieston and Stranraer West Pier, and takes bookings for visitor and annual berths. Kirkcudbright, on the River Dee, has a 300 metre pontoon where visiting boats usually stay afloat, but the channel is shallow and twisting with tidal streams of up to 3.5 knots in the river, so arrivals are best timed a couple of hours before high water. Isle of Whithorn keeps a number of leisure craft alongside its fishing boats, and Garlieston provides berths for people touring by boat.

On the Urr estuary, Kippford is a sailing village where many small yachts lie on moorings in the tidal estuary, and it is home to the Solway Yacht Club. On the west coast, Portpatrick harbour is run by a local trust, with visitor moorings in the outer harbour and wall berths in the inner harbour, reached through a narrow entrance between the remains of damaged breakwaters.

Stranraer sits on Loch Ryan, and although Stena Line moved its ferry services to Cairnryan in 2011, the council still runs the harbour at Stranraer's West Pier. Moorings in Solway and Galloway are mostly drying or tide-limited harbour berths and river moorings, with pontoons at Kirkcudbright.