Sou'wester
July 1998
Wild and woolly days in the Galloway Hills near Newton
Stewart
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 Day
1: Criffel
"How do we get there?" "Easy - just go straight up
the M6 and turn left at Scotland...". Pretty accurate
directions, really - the Port road to Stranraer being the first road
of any significance after crossing the border. A good road too,
single carriageway but straight and wide.
 It
was mid-day by the time we arrived at Dumfries, so we paused there
for lunch, before taking the coast road to New
 Abbey.
A couple of miles beyond, a narrow lane to the right ends at Ardwall,
where the walk - a very direct ascent - begins to this shapely,
isolated peak, at 1868ft often the most visible part of Scotland for
climbers in the English lake district. Wild raspberries in the lane
provided free snacks at the start and finish of this short foray. |
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 Day
2: The Rig of the Jarkness
 The
highest point for today's sortie would be Craiglee, just 1741ft. But
any route taking in "The Rig of the Jarkness" would surely
be great, with a name like that! In fact, a few minutes with the OS
map reveals a wealth of wonderful place names in this region -
"Curleywee", "Craigeazle", "Shalloch on
Minnoch" and the gloomy-sounding "Loch Dungeon", to
name but a few.
  The
walk starts in Glen Trool, at Bruce's Stone, commemorating an
historic fixture when the Scottish team won... I always feel, on
visiting Glen Trool, that really, it's part of the Highlands - with
far fewer visitors! Climbing above the Garland Burn, we eventually
forded the stream to gain the "Rig" - a fascinating
traverse of little boggy hollows and rocky outcrops, before arriving
at the fine rocky top of Craiglee. Round Loch of Glenhead and Long
Loch of Glenhead are both visible from the summit....
 Descending
to the south, we gained the Southern Upland Way, returning to our
starting point mid afternoon....
....which meant there was time for an ice cream at Stroan Bridge,
where the peaty Water of Minnock flows like Guinness through a
shallow rocky gorge, before taking the car back to Newton Stewart.
That evening, we drove down to Wigtown. We had dined
well at the Cree Bridge Hotel the previous evening, but with time to
spare, a short outing and "recce" was justified. The good
citizens of Wigtown will, I hope, forgive me for commenting that, at a
little after 6pm, the town appeared to have closed down.
Wigtown is trying to develop itself as south-west
Scotland's "Hay-on Wye", with a number of second hand
bookshops setting up there. "What a claim to fame" commented
John, "'Probably south-west Scotland's second biggest bookshop'
it says on their sign". We had a few chuckles about this
excessive modesty before realising that it in fact said "Probably
south-west Scotland's biggest second-hand bookshop", an
altogether more optimistic claim....
....and back, again, to the Cree Bridge. |
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Day 3: The Rhinns of Kells
 Another
great name! The Rhinns of Kells is (are?) a fine ridge on the
eastern side of the Galloway hills. We were to join the ridge in the
middle, at its highest point - Corserine, 2669ft (the highest
point in south-west Scotland is the Merrick, 2765ft, another super
outing from the aforementioned Bruce's Stone in Glen Trool).
 We
left the car near Forrest Lodge. Originally, the house was in open
country; now it stands at the heart of extensive plantations.... The
highlander depicted was once the figurehead of a Fred Olsen Lines
vessel. Sunk near the end of the second world war, it was recovered
by divers 20 years later.
 It
will have been gathered that, inevitably, the early and late stages
of this walk are in the forest. By the time we escaped from the
regiments of trees, the showers had begun, and waterproofs remained
the order of the day until our walk was nearly over. (Later, we
learned that Newton Stewart had suffered a heavy thunderstorm - I
wonder if that's it in the picture of the summit above?)
  We
reached our highest point in a dry spell, the clear air giving some
fine views - providing us some interesting guessing games as to
whether we would suffer the substantial showers that continued to
march around. In any case, the bitter wind persuaded us to keep the
waterproofs on - and the hats, gloves etc. July in Scotland! - what
was that about global warming?
 The
ridge southwards provided us with a superb walk, via Millfire and
Milldown to Meikle Millyea. We met the only people we saw all day
here. "We thought we were the only idiots out today" they
greeted us. "You're the first we've seen" I replied,
unintentially causing Tim nearly to wet himself, as he tried not to
laugh out loud. The insult was quite accidental, of course, and I
don't think they quite realised what I had said. |
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Day 4: Home again
Today, we should have had another full day in the area. The day's
weather forecast was very poor, with strong winds and frequent heavy
rain forecast - not really one for the hills. We left our B&B
and headed, in the car, to the main street of Newton Stewart where,
after buying provisions for the day, we debated what to do. We were
still sitting there when our landlord's son appeared beside the car,
on his bicycle.
"I'm glad I caught you - we thought you'd gone". The
accommodation had been booked, by phone, at short notice. It
transpired that they thought we were staying for just three nights -
I thought I'd booked for four. This perhaps explained the surprise
on our arrival there, when they thought we were one short - "We
were expecting four of you".
Had we really been chased - on a bicycle???
 In
fact, the minor confusion had done us a favour. Our rooms had been
booked to another party for the evening, so we decided to cut our
losses and head for home. We paused at the attractive village of
Rockcliffe, for a stroll beside the rocky shores of the Rough Firth,
but here too, the rains came, so our stroll was fairly short.
Nevertheless, it had been a good trip, with some most enjoyable
days out on these wild woolly hills. I've a feeling that we'll be
back, one day.
Books and Maps:-
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; "Criffel - climbing through the plantation")
; "The Nith estuary")
; "The summit - Douglas's Cairn and OS column")
; "Bruce's Stone and the view to Loch Trool")
; "Climbing below Buchan Hill")
; "Bog cotton and peaty pool, Rig of the Jarkness")
; "Rocky outcrops on Craiglee")
; "Round and Long Lochs of Glenhead, and the view to the Merrick")
; "Water of Minnoch at Stroan Bridge")
; "Water of Minnoch at Stroan Bridge")
; "Water of Minnoch at Stroan Bridge")
; "The highlander, Forrest Lodge")
; "View north from Corserine")
; "Corserine - view to the Merrick")
; "View to Loch Dungeon")
; "Will we catch this one?")
; "The forest - our route back to the car")
; "The Rough Firth near Rockcliffe; more rain on the horizon...")