This outing began with a long drive since I had to come at the hill from either the north or west and both the Galloway forest park and Loch Doon meant there were no direct roads. I thought the quickest way would be to drive up past Carsphairn and then along to Loch Doon and the forest road. When I reached the entry to the forest road there was a map from which I gathered that the forest road becomes a cycle path for several kilometres. Rather than drive several miles to find a closed road I headed off to Stinchar Bridge via Dalmellington and Straiton.
The roads were in pretty good shape despite being single track and the main hold ups on the way were sheep and lambs on the road. Stinchar bridge has a car parking area and seems to be a little like Mabie Forest.
The river Stinchar has an rocky area which is described as a waterfall, but that doesn’t seem quite right. Certainly a pretty spot, and though it was deserted when I set off, on my return it was busier with picnickers, mountain bikers, walkers and folk in camper vans.
I set off along a path signposted “Cornish Hill Trail 5km”. The forestry commission describe this as a strenuous climb to 467m, but it does start at 350m, and I wouldn’t call this part strenuous. The path starts by crossing the river on a wooden bridge then heads off through the trees, gaining height steadily. There is a monument that looks like a fireplace, at the ruins of Craiglour Lodge, about 10 minutes along the track. The path eventually left the trees and led me up Cornish Hill.
My plan was to walk to the top of Cornish Hill then head SW up a minor ridge to Caerloch Dhu. There is a small spur of the path heading up to a cairn on Cornish Hill and I mistook this for the top and headed off SW from there. The ground descended rapidly and became very boggy with heather and grass tussocks that made going unpleasant. Within 5 minutes I realised that I was well short of the ridge so retraced my steps to the cairn and followed the path further. This time I went further along Cornish hill before hitting the rough ground again.
I’ve since read of a route where the path is followed down to Cornish Loch from where you head south following the remnants of a fence, passing Loch Girvan Eye before heading up Shalloch on Minnoch between crags. If I try this walk again I think I’ll give this a go if only to get a closer look at the lochs. I’m also tempted by Shiel hill.
As it was I headed SW through the usual tussocks/heather/bog. Every now and then I would spot what seemed to be a path but these were always waterways. There must be a name for these, they are not streams (or burns) but often have enough flowing water to be audible. It says something that they are often the easiest routes to walk. Having gone down a few metres the ground started to climb and I crossed the remnants of a fence which is at about 450m on the OS. There were rolls of new looking wire scattered about so I presume this fence is in for a mending. How the hell the wire has been got up there I do not know. Perhaps there are monster wheeled quad bikes?
On this slope I saw a deer and by the time I got the camera out there were five more. The photographs always look as if these hills are covered in grass and ought to be like a walk in the park. Let me make it clear that this is not the case.
Once on the top of Caerloch Dhu the going was much easier with a visible path most of the way. It petered out amongst the rock covered slopes of Shalloch on Minnoch but it was simple enough to walk to the top. SOM has a trig point with a nearby shelter but the summit is elsewhere. I headed for a likely looking cairn and set the camera to snap me there as I had my banana and coffee. I had forgotten to microwave the coffee after it came out of the coffee machine so it was lukewarm, but it still tasted good.
As I sat thinking and looking at the map I realised there was a higher area over to my left. Out came the compass and I realised I must have come up the final slopes at an angle and was not facing the way I had thought. I was not at the summit cairn. So another 200m east to the the real cairn for another photo and a view including Loch Enoch, Merrick, Kirriereoch and the lower Tarfessock.
My planned route down was more straightforward, heading over Caerloch Dhu to join a path from its northern slopes which would lead me to the road about 1km south of Stinchar Bridge. My luck was in. I could see a path down from Shalloch on Minnoch to Caerloch Dhu so it should lead me to the OS path. Ah! the joy of paths compared with rough boggy tussocks.
On thing that did strike me as I descended was that the views were much more limited on the tops of these hills compared with walking up their flanks. The lovely views of the various lochs I had on the way up were hidden now so perhaps my ascent over the rough ground was worth it.
I passed a couple of walkers who had come up the way I was heading and they assured me there was a path though it did disappear occasionally and the burn was virtually empty and easily crossed. Strangely the path become much less distinct once I got to the part marked on the OS. I would follow the path only to find it disappeared, then after a few metres of stepping though heather I would spot the path 50m away and make my way back to it. The burn was easy enough to cross then a short walk on the road back to the car park.
I could have done with a cold drink at the end but the bottles in the car were all warm. Next time I’m going to put some cold drinks in a cool-bag in the car.
8.25 miles 504m ascent 4h 5min
Probably just on par for Naismith’s predictions. It took 25 minutes to reach the cairn on Cornish Hill which is about a mile. Cornish Hill Cairn to the lochan below SOM (3 miles, including my wasted first journey off Cornish Hill) took 1h 38min. Lochan to top of SOM 23mins. SOM to car park 1h 17min.
