Forrest Estate’s 65km of forestry roads have been developed primarily for access to undertake the management of the forest and hydro schemes but are open to the public for walking or mountain biking. There are three marked trails to the Rhinns of Kells and the highest point of which is Corserine at 814 metres. Stiles, signage and footbridges have all been placed to facilitate and encourage public access.
I had previously only walked through the estate on my way to the Rhinns of Kells during my Donald bagging phase. (Six Donalds and a top in a day)
Rhinns of Kells. May 30, 2010. 11 miles, 862m ascent, 5h 30m.
The Rhinns of Hell. October 10, 2010. 15.9 miles 1332m ascent 8h 40m. This write up contains the ominous phrase “Then it went pear shaped”.
With our long distance walk along the Eden Way on hold due to bad weather and flooding, the forestry roads of Forrest seemed a place we could continue walking while keeping our feet (relatively) dry.
I didn’t have any particular plan for our walks and the first, on March 8th, was a walk around Bennan Hill, with views of Lochs Harrow and Minnoch, and a stroll along the track labelled on the estate map as “Ghost Hole”
Around Bennan Hill: Larches and lost tracks. March 8, 2022
6.23 miles 3h 26m ascent 228m
During the first walk we came upon a memorial to Robert Watson with a poem which included the stanza:
As the day draws to close
It’s on Shinmount I’ll stand
The dugs by my side
And a stick in my hand
So the next walk took us up Shinmount, a wee hill, where I stood with the dugs by my side.
It’s on Shinmount I’ll Stand. March 15, 2022
6.04 miles 3h 22m ascent 273m
And having visited the place mentioned on Watson’s memorial the next visit we went in search of the memorial to Ralph Forlow, a shepherd boy who had died in blizzard in 1954. This took us by the impressive Loch Dungeon.
Forrest’s Dungeon and Forlow’s Monument. March 22, 2022
8.28 miles 3h 52m ascent 310m
There are four major lochs in the Forrest estate, and we had seen three. There are two Tumps and we had been up one. So our next outing took us to the fourth loch and up Torrs, the second Tump.
Forrest IV: flight of the dachshund. March 29, 2022
10.23 miles 5h 36m ascent 430m
Some photos from the walks this year.
