4.2 miles 1h 27m ascent 111m
Dundeugh Forest is bounded by the Waters of Ken and Deugh, and became an island with the damming of these rivers to create Kendoon Loch.
A pot-holed road near Polmaddie leaves the A713 and crosses the Water of Deugh on a small bridge after which there is space to park a few cars. A padlocked gate prevents driving any further.
From the gate a forestry track turns left but I headed right along a less used track that soon narrowed to a single-file woodland track and meandered through the trees. Occasionally fallen trees blocked the way, but the forest is not particularly dense and the detours were easy.
The woodland track took me down to the southernmost part of the island but from where I was the rivers could be heard but not seen. A footbridge could be glimpsed through the trees. The path came close to the Water of Ken, but the river itself remained mostly hidden by the trees.
We then turned away from the river and climbed up to reach the vehicle track that was to be our route for the rest of the walk. The trees mostly obscured any views but the Cairnsmore hills could be seen across Kendoon Loch. We passed a short track down to the dam on the Water of Ken but it was extremely muddy and must have been submerged in last week’s floods, so I didn’t visit the dam.
Walking back, the path was close enough to see a little of the Water of Deugh.
Perhaps I’ll be back to tackle Dundeugh Hill another time.
[osmap gpx=”http://www.screel.co.uk/walks/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/RK_gpx-_2013-10-26_1146.gpx”]
