One of the walks I’ve always wanted to do for the blog is visiting the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct that sits in the hills above Creetown and south of Clatteringshaws Loch in Dumfries & Galloway. Part of the now defunct Portpatrick railway that ran through Dumfries & Galloway, the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct was built in 1861 and …
Cairnsmore of Carsphairn
Cairnsmore of Carsphairn is the most northerly of the Dumfries & Galloway Corbett’s, sitting to the north-east of the little village of Carsphairn on the A713 road that links Castle Douglas and Ayr. A lovely hill that I’ve bagged before, it has been absent from the blog for far too long and has been on my to-do list since the …
Fly Fishing Loch Valley & Loch Neldricken Above Glen Trool
Glen Trool is one of my favourite places in Dumfries & Galloway (and the south of Scotland in general), offering easy access to a wild, remote-feeling glen while being just a 20 minute drive from the bustling town of Newton Stewart. With copious free parking, walks of all difficulties and lengths and offerings of sweeping views over Loch Trool and …
Broad Law via Dollar Law & Cramalt Craig
I climbed Broad Law a few years ago with a friend and deemed it unworthy of a story on my blog. It was a short day, an easy enough climb and had a summit scarred by a variety of installations (including one for Air Traffic Control!). Most of the big walking websites seem to concur, with words such as ‘unremarkable’ …
Sunset at Cairnsmore of Fleet
Cairnsmore of Fleet is a relatively small hill, with a tragic history, in Dumfries & Galloway, nestled on the coast between Creetown and Newton Stewart. Standing at 2,333ft it is classified as a ‘Graham’ (a mountain between 2,000 – 2,499ft) and, despite having climbed it before, it has always been on my re-do list for one very specific reason: To …
The Merrick & The Shepherd’s Hut
I was recently invited to spend a free night in a Shepherd’s Hut in the beautiful Dumfries & Galloway countryside and how could I say no? Dumfries and Galloway is one of my favourite places in Scotland and is underrated and overlooked by many in my opinion. See? I love it! I’ve also never spent a night in a Shepherd’s …
Why You Should Climb Corserine and the Rhinns of Kells
Is there a summit somewhere in the world that you have reached more than once? Is there a cairn somewhere high up, that you have gotten used to seeing? That you could happily climb to another dozen times and not get bored of it? There is for me and it is called Corserine, a Corbett in the Galloway Forest Park …
Millfore: A Forgotten Summit
Millfore is a hill I have walked past on multiple occasions. Each time, I have been going somewhere else and each time I have thought to myself: “I really ought to climb that one day”. I recently did bag this hill and I had such fun I decided to make a blog post on it! What Actually is Millfore? Millfore …
The Bone Caves at Inchnadamph
I went to see the Bone Caves at Inchnadamph during my recent route of the North Coast 500. I didn’t include a detailed report on the caves in my article on the North Coast 500 because of all the other things I did, yet this felt unfair as they were such a memorable part of the trip! Below is a …
A Guide to the North Coast 500
When a friend of mine asked me if I would like to do the North Coast 500 I have to be honest…I’d never heard of it. Once he explained that it was a 500 mile road-trip around the very north of Scotland, beginning and ending in Inverness, I immediately said yes. How could I refuse? I adore the Scottish Highlands. …