Threave’s drumlin swarm

5 miles 1h 45m ascent 76m

Overcast, and unexpectedly dry. This easy stroll meandered around several wee hills that are part of a drumlin swarm near Castle Douglas. A new looking, or perhaps just well maintained track towards Threave Castle, and the first drumlin, Port Hill. Unfortunately the ferry was not in use so we had to gaze across the River Dee to see the Castle.

There has apparently been a castle on the site since about 1000 AD, but the original was destroyed by Edward Bruce, brother of Robert, in 1308. Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway, built the present castle in the 1370’s. He was given his title and made Warden of the Western Marches in return for his efforts to purge Scotland of the English. He led many raids against the English and gained the epithets grim, or black, because of his “terrible countenance” in battle.

After the castle we came to an osprey viewing point. There were no ospreys to see but there were a couple of nests visible in the trees across the river. I have no idea if these belonged to the ospreys. Perhaps we should start taking our binoculars along on walks.

From here the path leads away fro the river and along the side of our second drumlin, Meikle Wood Hill. This gave some good views across to Threave island, with the castle, and Lodge Island further south. From here we rejoined the path back to the car park and set off on the Threave estate walk, which is marked by red arrows and sometimes yellow hoops.

At a cattle grid we turned right onto the disused Castle Douglas to Kirkcudbright railway line. This carried trains from 1861 until 1965 (B the D). Andy, our local expert, let us down by not remembering trains on this section of the track. “I was only three”. What kind of excuse is that?

The railway line took us under a couple of stone bridges and over a stone and iron affair onto Lamb Island and its hide for birdwatchers. Who decided to put those windows so low? We then retraced our steps to a minor road, turned right and crossed the A75 on a small bridge. This led us around our next drumlin, Brownie Hill, across a minor road (with a sign admonishing us to take care on the “busy road”) and over another, unnamed drumlin to the Old Military road.

This military road was built in the 1760s, under the command of Major Caulfield, to aid troop movements to Ireland. We followed it only a short distance to Hightae Cottage where we turned north along a path which led to some holiday cottages, the Old Exchange, which includes a converted telephone exchange.

The path then led along a bank for about 50m before crossing the B736, passing through some “farmland mud” then over the A75 again. This had us at our last drumlin, Barley Hill, which we walked around to rejoin the old railway. From there it was back to the car park then on to Castle Douglas for refreshments.

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