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Red Cave (Cairngarroch Bay)

Rinns of Galloway, SE of Portpatrick, Cairngarroch Bay, Wigtownshire.

A large littoral cave at the base of the rocky cliff. A 2 m high, 1.2 m wide entrance over a shingle beach strewn with flotsum and jetsum. Heading about 15 m into the cliff before becoming too low.

The given coordinates place the cave at the point in the cliff where the Shinnel Formation - Wacke is intersected by North Britain Siluro-devonian Calc-alkaline Dyke Suite - Felsite. The rocky foreshore to the south-east is North Britain Siluro-devonian Calc-alkaline Dyke Suite - Microtonalite.

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: Littoral - on the edge (tidal).

In WW2,Cairngarroch Bay was the scene of a very poignant and tragic air crash.

Two American Dakota planes carrying wounded D-Day survivors flew into thick fog as they approached the Rhins coast on their way to Prestwick and then the United States.

But one of them never returned home, the crew and one RAF man from Ayr who had hitched a lift home with his bicycle - 22 in total. For it flew too low and crashed into cliffs at Cairngarroch Bay near Portpatrick.