The Solway Firth is a long, shallow estuary where the tide rushes in faster than a man can run, and at Cardurnock the land finishes in a flat, grassy peninsula that pokes into it. Hadrian's Wall once ran this way along the coast, and the line of the frontier continued along the shore with a series of milecastles and turrets watching the water. Turret 4a is one of those small signal towers, set about every third of a Roman mile, and nothing much remains of it above ground. What there is, instead, is a landscape that explains why the Romans put a tower here: wide, open and exposed, with a clear view over the sea to Scotland.
Across the water lie the hills of Dumfriesshire, and the great hump of Criffel stands against the sky. The saltmarsh and mudflats in the foreground are rich in birds. In winter thousands of barnacle geese arrive from Svalbard to feed on the grass, and the noise of them rising at dusk is one of the great sounds of the British countryside. Curlews, oystercatchers and wheeling flocks of knot are common, and the whole area is protected as part of the Solway Coast landscape.
The lanes that lead to the peninsula are narrow, flat and quiet. They run between hedges and fields, with sudden bends where a farm track meets the road, and in places the tarmac is crumbling at the edges. The wind is a constant companion, and in a westerly gale it can be strong enough to push a bike across the lane. Sheep and cattle graze on the roadside marshes, and signs warn of floods at high spring tides.
The nearest bigger town is Annan, but that lies across the water, and by road it is a long way round. On the English side, Silloth, a Victorian seaside town with a wide green and about three thousand people, is the nearest place for fuel and a bite to eat. Carlisle is the sensible alternative.
The light on the Solway at sunset is memorable. Come in autumn or winter for the geese, though take warm clothing, as the wind off the water is bitter.