Galloway - Backpacking a section of the Southern Upland Way

This was my first ever trip walking in Galloway in the southwestern corner of Scotland. I'd cycled there a number of times as it's great for that with lots of quiet country roads but somehow it's taken me this long to pull out the bus and train timetables to see what's possible on foot. Also, having just walked a section of the Southern Upland Way a couple of blogs ago in the Lammermuirs, I became intrigued to discover more of the route. Therefore, four trains and a rural bus took me to Glen Trool Village and after several days on foot, I popped out in Sanquhar to pick up a train home. I hadn't really known what to expect of this section of the route but I absolutely loved it. From the map it looks like the Southern Upland Way passes through a lot of commercial forestry as it crosses Galloway but on the ground it didn't feel like this. There were often sections with mixed woodland and huge areas that had been clear-felled a number of years ago were now exploding into new woods of birch and willow. I often head to northwest Scotland for my May holidays which can be barren and devoid of trees. But with all the woodland, the birdsong in Galloway in May was beautiful. I also really enjoyed the quietness of the route as I saw almost nobody on the trail itself and I loved the fact that the journey was not all through hills but passed through farmland, moorland and small settlements as well. It made for a really interesting walk. Here are some of the highlights from the route.

From the bus stop at Glen Trool Village, a series of beautiful woodland paths took me up into Glen Trool itself. Bluebells dotted the woodland floor and eventually the waters of Loch Trool came into sight. Beyond this, the rugged contours of the Galloway hills started to rise ahead of me.

I made a short detour from the trail to climb the Merrick, the highest hill in southern Scotland. It was late in the day by the time I was on the hill but I loved having it to myself because of this. From the top, I had a hazy view to the rock of Ailsa Craig, drifting off the Ayrshire shore. I descended part way and found a lovely spot for the tent that night beside the ruin of Culsharg. The cottage still had a good roof so was a great spot to sit out heavy rain next morning. The rain didn't deter the swallows that were nesting in the rafters and they swooped in and out through the glass-less windows. I sat here for hours, watching the world and listening to the birdsong.

I eventually continued eastwards, enjoying the lush woods and wildflowers. My next camp was close to White Laggan bothy at Loch Dee. This was a lovely spot with remnants of old farm walls, mixed woodland including beautiful old hawthorn trees and a strong sense of place lingering from days gone by. A long walk beyond here took me through mile after mile of forest to eventually pass into gentler terrain and farmland to reach Dalry.

Beyond Dalry, the Southern Upland Way crosses moorland and high pasture. The first morning out of Dalry was especially beautiful. I was up extra early from a riverside camp spot and the light was magical, casting a golden glow over the trail as it wound its way onward over the moor towards more hills.

I was soon climbing back up into the hills and enjoyed one of the real highlights of the walk as I came upon one of Andy Goldsworthy's Striding Arches sculptures on top of Benbrack Hill. What a stunning sight it was and I could see two other arches on adjacent hills. They are made of local sandstone and are free standing so there is no mortar or framework holding them up. As if all that was wasn't enough, I then had a great view of a golden eagle as I descended the other side of Benbrack.

From Benbrack, the Way dropped down into forestry and on this warm, sunny afternoon the aroma of the pine trees filled the air. The path meandered through the woods and seemingly in the middle of nowhere,  suddenly came upon Allan's Cairn. The cairn commemorates two Covenanters, George Allan and Margaret Gracie. Covenanters were a 17th century religious and political movement who refused to swear allegiance to the King and had to meet in secret. These two Covenanters had escaped capture for many years but were eventually tracked down and killed on this hillside. I camped a little way further on from the cairn for my final night out.

From Allan's Cairn the Southern Upland Way dropped to the valley of Scar Water before climbing again to cross Cloud Hill. There was a lovely surprise here as the waymarker posts had been cheerfully painted with dozens of different designs and mottos. They guided me through the hills and farms to my end point at Sanquhar. 

Fact File
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Start: Glen Trool Village
Finish: Sanquhar
Public transport: Train to Girvan then Stagecoach bus 359 to Glen Trool Village. Train back from Sanquhar.
My route: Woodland path connects Glen Trool Village with Glen Trool visitor centre where the Southern Upland Way can be joined. Stayed on the north side of Loch Trool to pick up the path to the Merrick then followed the Southern Upland Way all the way to Sanquhar. It is a waymarked route but it's not always possible to see the next post and I did find myself using the map regularly, especially to find the route across farmland.    

Mull and Ulva - MacBraynes, trains and automobiles

I'd just finished pitching the tent at Killiechronan on Mull and was taking in the view over the bay, when a familiar voice shouted hello. It was the very nice man who'd just given me a lift there from the Ulva ferry, enabling me to avoid six miles of road walking. He lives on Ulva and had been doing a wee trip to the Spar shop at Salen, another few miles away on Mull, when he thought I might appreciate a few groceries as well. So it was that I had fresh milk, tomatoes and cheese to supplement my rations that evening!

It had been the latest mode of travel in a series of transport connections that got me to and around Mull and its neighbouring island, Ulva as a non car owner. Three trains, a ferry and a bus had transported me to Tobermory, the main settlement on Mull and thereafter I was mostly on foot except for the welcome lift that day. 

My backpacking trip had first taken me north out of Tobermory to walk Mull's quiet and rugged north coast. I was amazed how quickly I left the hustle and bustle of town, initially walking a quiet back road then picking up tracks and footpaths through the forests and down to the coast. I was soon looking for my first night's camp spot as it had been a long journey from home by public transport, about seven hours. I found a spot in the woods amongst a scatter of old ruins above the rocky coastline. Waves broke over the skerries in white plumes and the view stretched over the Sound of Mull to the rugged reaches of Ardnamurchan. The air was full with early summer birdsong and bluebells and primroses dotted the woodland floor. 

From here an interconnecting series of core paths and forest tracks took me south through a mixed landscape of woods, forestry, farmland and loch. It was quiet with a barely another soul afoot. A long walk along the shores of Loch Frisa rewarded with moody views of Mull's hills and the discovery of a beautiful place to linger, The Fank. Here a stunning rusted sculpture sat amidst the walls of a old sheep fank while meadow grasses and buttercups swayed in a gentle breeze. 

But my main goal in coming to Mull on this occasion was to cross to Ulva, a small island that sits off Mull's west coast. Ulva was a successful community buy-out in 2018 and I was keen to visit as I'd never been before. A small, privately-run ferry takes foot passengers back and forward as there are no vehicles on the island. When I arrived at the jetty, the first thing I had to do was summon the ferry which is done by moving a panel on a white noticeboard to uncover a red panel underneath. This is the signal that alerts the ferryman! 

Stepping off the ferry onto Ulva, the first thing that struck me was the amount of woodland with the main village of the island being scattered close to the ferry amongst the trees. There are no tarmac roads so dirt paths and tracks connect the farms and houses here and meander through the lush, green woods. Then beyond here large swathes of regenerating woods cloak the backbone of the island.  Before setting out on my walk across the island, I lingered a while at its little church. What a beautiful spot it was, hidden away in the trees and the bluebells. A memorial to islanders killed during the war was especially poignant as it must have been heartbreaking to have been ripped away from such a peaceful and idyllic place to fight in a distant war. 

I left the church via a path known as the Minister's Walk which ascended through knarly, old woods to join the main track across the island. Here the view opened up and the coconut aroma of the gorse flowers drifted on the warm summer breeze. I walked west until I reached the end of the island but that wasn't the end of my walk as I crossed a causeway onto Gometra, an island offshore from an island that is itself offshore from another island!

It took a little bit of effort to find a camp spot that night as the land was mostly rough and tussocky. I picked my way down to a rocky beach through woods and emerging bracken to find a relatively flat, tent-sized piece of grass that looked out over the sea. It was a place of rich sounds with the song of the woodland birds behind me and the sound of lapping waves and sea birds in front of me. 

Next day I wandered slowly back to the Ulva ferry on a slightly different path through the woods that brought me back via farmland framed by Ben More and its adjacent hills on Mull. Once back on the other side of the crossing, I then got my lucky lift to Killiechronan. This was my last night out in the tent on Mull before the lovely woodland walk through to Salen to start in reverse the journey home of bus, ferry and trains. 

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Lammermuir Hills - The Herring Road

Running from Dunbar through the Lammermuir Hills to Lauder, the Herring Road is the old route used by fishwives carrying creels of herring to market. The route has been in use since the 17th century and would have been used by a variety of travellers in the day as well as the fishwives. As we would be spending two and a bit days backpacking the route, we'd hoped that our heavy packs might give us a sense of what it must have been like carrying a heavy load through the hills here. Mind you, our packs were probably not as heavy as a creel of herring ... and certainly not as smelly.

The Herring Road is 28 miles long and uses a variety of countryside paths and hill tracks with the latter stages picking up a section of the Southern Upland Way. While there is some signage where the route crosses the hills, it's not a waymarked route so a bit of map reading was required to link together the network of trails and stick as faithfully as possible to the original "road".

The online route descriptions take the Herring Road out of Dunbar via the back road to Spott and Halls. After starting at the harbour, we instead headed a little way south to the hamlet of Broxburn. This avoided several miles of road walking and allowed us to string together a lovely route that used farm tracks and core paths to pass south of Spott and onto Halls. It was beautiful along here in spring sunshine with daffodils and primroses dotted through the woods. Our weather was a bit hazy but we could just make out Berwick Law and the Bass Rock. The views over the coast must be lovely on a clear day.

At Halls we came upon on the first sign for the Herring Road which pointed us up into the Lammermuir Hills. We left the green fields behind and climbed up into a rougher landscape of moor and bog, eventually passing into the Crystal Rig wind farm. The road was hard to follow here, being just a suggestion of a path through the bog but eventually we picked up some signs again and knew we were on the right route. Despite the turbines, I liked the landscape here. There were open woods, a sense of remoteness and big, open skies. 

By early evening, we were dropping down towards Whiteadder Reservoir and found a welcome spot for the tents in a quiet cleugh. We were tired as the going had been rough. Next morning there was a light frost on the tents, probably the last of the season. We continued along the Herring Road, briefly re-entering civilisation at the reservoir and its cluster of farms before climbing back up into the hills for a day of ups and downs. 

Wherever we passed through farmland on this route, we were amazed by the number of birds. Skylarks in the skies above; in the fields, curlews and more lapwings than I have ever seen. The lapwings were performing their spring display flights and the air was full of their bizarre, almost electronic sounding song. After the next rise, we dropped down to Dye Cottage then passed up and over the next hill to drop to Watch Water where we picked up the path of the Southern Upland Way.

From every high point that morning, we had been able to see the two giant cairns of Twin Law, the highest point of our route. The Southern Upland Way took us gently up to the summit of Twin Law but the hazy day limited the views. We stopped of course to sign the visitor book which was placed inside an old munitions box in the bigger of the two cairns. 

The Herring Road continued southwest in mile after mile of gentle undulations. Eventually we left the open hills and passed back into green farmland. The road briefly parts company with the Southern Upland Way at Braidshawrig Farm and just south of here we pitched the tents for a second night out.

The last morning's walk was wonderful as the Herring Road rejoined the Southern Upland Way and passed through a landscape that I rarely find myself walking through. Here the road continued to Lauder through rolling green hills and woodland copses. At times the path cut across the middle of fields and other times, it kept company with old, stone dykes along the margins. Again, the fields were full with lapwings. To the south, the unmistakable outline of the Eildon Hills was our compass point for the final few miles into Lauder. 

Waiting for the bus home with coffee and cake was a time for reflection on the walk. The Lammermuir Hills are far from being the most scenic part of Scotland and are largely heather-clad, shapeless lumps. But the route had delivered an unexpected sense of remoteness and an abundance of birds that livened each mile. As well as this, following the old road and understanding something of its past, really made our trip quite special. Hats off to the fishwives of the day who walked this route laden with herring.

Fact File

Start: Dunbar harbour
Finish: Lauder
Public transport: East Coast Buses X7 from Edinburgh to Dunbar; Borders Buses 51 from Lauder to Edinburgh
My route: From Dunbar walked south along the A1087 to Broxburn. Turned right at Broxburn and just before an underpass a dirt path heads south alongside the railway line. It reaches an underpass for the A1 and railway line. Went through this and followed the signed core path to Spott House. Continued passed Spott House and where the track met a road turned right, then first track to the left. Followed this which becomes a footpath and passes through the valley of the Black Loch. Path continued across a field and joins a track to Halls. Just before the farm at Halls, the footpath is signed across a bridge. It joins a road where we turned left and at the road end is a sign for the Herring Road. The rest of the route can be found on the Scotways Heritage Paths website. It is vague at points across Dunbar Common/Crystal Rig wind farm but keeps on a consistent trajectory and eventually picks up signage. Easy navigation once the Southern Upland Way is joined as it is waymarked but the Herring Road leaves it Braidshawrig Farm - pass in front of the farm, cross the Wester Burn and follow the grassy track on the west side of the valley skirting Wheelburn Law. It rejoins the Way after a couple of kilometres for the rest of the route to Lauder.

Corrour - Leum Uilleum

Leum Uilleum is a rugged hill that rises to a shapely point above the isolated train station at Corrour on the West Highland line. Despite its isolation and lack of road access, it's usually a busy station as there are many trails and hills within striking distance and a remote hostel a short walk away. On this occasion however, being mid week at the tail end of winter, it was only me that got off the train. For the beginning of March, the hills were strikingly bare of snow, save for the higher tops. It's been a poor winter. But this didn't mean it wasn't cold and the day hung in a grey, icy grip. Arriving late in the afternoon, I only walked a short distance before making a basecamp below the hill. A nice spot for the tent on a bend in the river that I've used several times before. 

After a cold but calm night, I unzipped the tent next morning to the lightest of snow flurries. With no breeze the flakes fell gently and were mesmerising to watch. They'd blown through by the time I set off up the hill, ascending the north shoulder that sweeps to the top in a graceful arc. I love this route because once the steepest ground is cleared, the walk becomes an enjoyable high level amble to the top. It was easy going as well with the mud and bog half frozen. The pools and lochans, much like the day itself,  were stilled by a layer of ice. 

Higher up a smattering of snow lingered from the morning flurries. The day was colourless and the skies heavy with dense clouds. The view was extensive nonetheless and this is the beauty of Leum Uilleum. It's relatively isolated from other peaks so rewards with big panoramas. To the north, the Grey Corries ridge filled the horizon. To the west, the hulk of Ben Nevis remained mostly in cloud. Most impressive perhaps were the Black Mount hills, forming a formidable medley of rocky ridges to the south. 

I spent ages up on the hill as even high up there was barely a breeze. I wandered round the subsidiary tops and enjoyed the solitude, as beautiful to me as the view. I loved this high place on that day. The grey, gripping cold of late winter; the peace and emptiness of the mountains. 

I returned to the tent late afternoon for another night of watching the trains pass in the dark, the orange glow from their windows the only colour in the blackness.

Fact File

Start/Finish: Corrour station

Public transport: Glasgow to Fort William train stops at Corrour
My route: Left platform to the left and followed the well made path heading northwest before striking up the An Diollaid ridge after the path crosses the river.

Atholl - Déjà vu

Did you ever finish reading a book and enjoy it so much that you straight away started reading it all over again? I certainly did that at least once. I was reminded of it because I did exactly the same thing in relation to a recent outdoor trip. I had a such an enjoyable walk and wild camp out of Blair Atholl that two weeks later, I did the whole thing again with a friend! This wasn't a trip through dramatic scenery or remote landscapes. It was simply a very enjoyable walk with a nice wild camp and lots of interesting things to see along the way.

The walk headed north and west out of Blair Atholl, skirting behind Blair Castle and picking up a pleasant track which contoured round the hillside to Bruar. It afforded good views down to the castle and to Schiehallion which poked its head above the lower hills to the west. Here there was a grand avenue of redwoods that soared into a blue sky and a pretty duck pond tucked into the trees that provided a nice spot to sit for an early lunch.  

As the track passed above Bruar, an easy ten minute diversion joined the path to the Falls of Bruar. It was strange to pop out from the quiet hill track to the busy footpath at the falls and squeeze by people on the narrow path. But the view of the gorge and the falls themselves is always worth the effort.

From the Falls of Bruar, the track turned steeply north through Glen Banvie Wood. Although mostly plantation pine, the forest had some other tree species including an area of Scots pines which thinned to the open hillside beyond. This was the night's campsite and being at the edge of the trees, it was a perfect mix of woodland and open moor. This was advantageous later as it allowed us to have an open view of the night sky which was superb in the cold, crisp, winter air. Most prominent were the planets of Venus and Jupiter which were in alignment in the early part of the year. But the stars were beautiful as well with Orion and the Plough overhead.

A cold, frosty morning followed a chilly night with the temperature below zero. But this was another advantage of the camp spot at the edge of the woods in that the trees had maintained a slightly higher temperature than out on the moor. After packing up camp, we set out following the track down Glen Banvie through pleasant stands of pine. When I did the walk on my own, I climbed the low ridge of Sron Dubh to the north as I wanted to investigate a small cairn and shieling marked on the map. This was a rugged walk and the rivers that crossed the route cut surprisingly deep gorges into the hillside. However, the old, lichen-covered cairn was a good vantage point. I dropped down from here to the shieling and was amazed at how extensive the ruins were. This was obviously a small village in the past.

When doing the walk with my friend, we stayed on the track down through Glen Banvie which meant we could see the shieling from the other side of the glen and this view reinforced the impression of a settlement of significant size. A little bit of googling later, revealed that the settlement was known as Riechapel or Chapelton and included dwellings with outbuildings, stock enclosures and possibly a kiln. It was inhabited during the 18th century and it's thought that a limestone-rich bedrock provided favourable conditions for agriculture. My friend created this image with the two parts of the old settlement superimposed on the modern OS map. 

We enjoyed our walk down Glen Banvie, marvelling at the patterns of ice in the frozen puddles and feeling on our skin the weak, late winter sun. The track here is an ancient route known as Comyn's Road. The road linked Comyn's Tower which pre-dated Blair Castle, with Ruthven Barracks to the north. You can somehow always tell when you are walking on an old route. There is something about its general construction that makes it sympathetic to foot travellers and perhaps there is an aura of the past as well that lingers today.

The track brought us down to Old Blair where we made a short detour to the Whim folly. It sits high on the hillside and affords a stunning view of the valley below which is dominated by Ben Vrackie, the pointed hill above Pitlochry. The woods here are also quite beautiful, set around a deep gorge and featuring many different species. 

Just after Old Blair we made another detour along a lovely woodland path that connects to Glen Tilt via two interesting finds in the woods. The first of these is Tom na Croiche, the Hangman's Knoll. The pillar here was built in 1755 to mark the spot of the last public hanging in Atholl in 1630. 

The second interesting find was a bird hide built in the shape of a yurt but out of wood. It had an open view to the adjacent fields where greylag geese grazed and beyond to woods and mountains. There were lots of different bird feeders hanging in the trees and the hide was an excellent spot to feed ourselves with a picnic lunch before catching the train home. 

Fact File
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Start/finish: Blair Atholl
Public transport: Inverness-Edinburgh/Glasgow train to Blair Atholl
Route: Used the Tilt riverside footpath to the Glen Tilt car park then walked the dead end back road to Old Blair. At the crossroads, turned left down Minigaig Street and followed the road round to the right. At the next T junction, turned right onto dirt track. After approx 3km, a junction of tracks is reached. Turned right uphill then left at the next junction. After another approx. 3km the diversion to the Falls of Bruar is signed. Original track turned north through Glen Banvie Wood then after approx 3km it turns southeast down Glen Banvie and back to Old Blair. The path to Tom na Croiche goes up a flight a stairs at a gap on the wall on the road between Old Blair and the Glen Tilt car park. The path eventually links to Glen Tilt and where it does, turned right to the Glen Tilt car park to then rejoin the outward along the riverside path to Blair Atholl.

Obney Hills - An exciting find

Back in December we had a good cold spell and I was hopeful for a decent winter. But sadly that hasn't materialised so I was happy I got a camping trip fitted in when the weather was more wintry. Those cold temperatures at the end of the year also created a phenomenon that I was very excited to find - hair ice. It's quite rare as the conditions for it to develop are very specific - it only forms on dead wood in broadleaf woodlands when the air is moist, the temperature is just below zero and a particular fungus is present. It is also confined to latitudes between 45 and 55 degrees north. So it really was a special find.

I was out in the Obney Hills, west of Dunkeld. It's always a walk I enjoy in winter time. Snow was lying from about halfway up Birnam Hill and was glistening in the low sun of a mid winter afternoon as I pulled myself up the hill. On the top, the snow was dry and powdery so that it squeaked under each footstep. 

Dropping off the other side took me to a small, hidden valley where I knew a good spot for the tent. A cold night followed but the air was crisp and clear, affording good views of the stars.

A blue sky day followed for my walk up and over Craig Obney. A rough pull up through deep heather gave way to a pleasant high level amble to the top of the hill. The view was superb to Ben Chonzie above Crieff which presided over a snow-dusted landscape of woods and undulating hillscapes. 

But it was perhaps the walk on from Craig Obney that I enjoyed the most. An ancient track passes through Glen Garr, a natural route slicing through these small but steep hills. There are straggly birch woods and pasture which is divided up by old stone walls. There is an overwhelming sense of quiet, of peace and of the past. Perhaps this is because I'm always here in mid winter when there are few people around and when the light covering of snow quietens the world around me.

I ambled slowly north through Glen Garr, enjoying the open views and trying to make its special atmosphere stretch out for as long as possible. But eventually the old path came to an end as it joined the farm road to Balhomish. There was a choice here to walk back to Dunkeld via the Hermitage or to follow the Inchewan Burn back. I chose the burn route so that I could marvel again at the fascinating hair ice.

Fact File

Start/finish: Dunkeld and Birnam train station

Public transport: Edinburgh/Glasgow to Inverness train

My route: At the bottom of the station steps, turned left uphill to pick up the path up Birnam Hill. Descended a little way of the far side of Birnam Hill then turned west at an open bealach to the head of the valley that runs southeast from the farm at Balhomish. Next day up and over Craig Obney and decsended into Glen Garr. Walked north, turning off the farm road onto the forest track at Tomgarrow which eventually joins the Inchewan Burn to return to the station.