The Solway Firth is a strange piece of sea. It is wide and shallow and has some of the biggest tidal ranges in Britain, and at low water it empties into a landscape of sand, mud and channels where the tide can return faster than a walker can run. On its northern shore, the Scottish side, the land around Eastriggs and Annan is flat salt marsh and farmland, backed by low green hills, and across the water you can see the Cumbrian fells rising bluish and far off. The Roman frontier ended on the other side, at Bowness, but the Romans watched this shore too, and the wall's western run along the English edge is the reason the area is on the heritage map.
The tides have always shaped life here. Old fishing communities used haaf nets, a method where men wade into the shallows holding huge frames, and a few still do it. The saltmarsh feeds geese, great flocks of barnacle geese that come down from Svalbard each autumn and fill the sky with noise. On a still evening the light lingers on the water and the outline of Criffel, the big granite hill to the west, turns purple.
The roads along this coast are quiet, flat and rather straight, with the occasional gentle bend between hedges and farm gateways. Tractors, cattle crossing and mud are the usual hazards, and the verges can be soft. In winter the wind comes straight up the firth, damp and sharp, and sea mist can turn a clear morning into a cold one in minutes. Spring and early autumn are the best times, when the sky is big and the marsh is full of birds.
Eastriggs is a small village, and Annan, eight kilometres away, is the nearest proper town, with fuel, supermarkets and cafes. Gretna and its famous wedding history are a short way east, and the border with England lies just beyond. Bring a windproof layer even in summer, and keep an eye on the tide tables if you plan to wander on the shore, because the tide really can catch you out.