The Machars

The Machars (Scottish Gaelic: Machair (Ghallghaidhealaibh); lit. "the Plains (of Galloway)") is a peninsula in Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. The word is derived from the Gaelic word Machair meaning low-lying or level land, known as "links" on the east coast of Scotland. Although there are no high peaks in the Machars, it is not flat and would best be described as undulating or rolling. The North Atlantic Drift or Gulf Stream creates a mild climate, and dolphins and basking sharks are frequently seen in the seas.

The Machars peninsula is roughly defined by a northern boundary stretching from Newton Stewart to Glenluce, the only other boundary being the sea. The 40-mile (64 km) coastline has enormous variety, starting with the mud-flats of Wigtown on the east facing Wigtown Bay, down to the sandy beach at Rigg Bay in Garlieston (where the Mulberry Harbours were developed). The coastline then rises to form dramatic cliffs as it passes the ruins of Cruggleton Castle, dropping a little at Portyerrock Bay and the Isle of Whithorn, and rising again at Burrow Head (where much of the cult classic The Wicker Man was filmed).

Past the southern tip of the peninsula, the shoreline leaves Wigtown Bay and becomes part of Luce Bay. The cliffs continue as far as the beautiful sandy beach at Monreith (home of the author Gavin Maxwell), and on past Port William. A combination of rocky shoreline, sandy beaches and cliffs continues as far as Auchenmalg and Stairhaven before the sandy dunes approaching Glenluce. Two rivers cut through the peninsula, the River Bladnoch which rises at Loch Maberry and meets the sea just south of Wigtown, and one of its major tributaries the Tarf Water which meets the Bladnoch near Kirkcowan. Another tributary of the Bladnoch is the large stream the Water of Malzie which rises in the large expanses of peat bog near the Old Place of Mochrum before meeting the Bladnoch near Corzmalie.

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