I started with this as my first route on my first hiking tour of Scotland. With a mix of driving, camping & hiking coming up over the next two weeks I felt pretty welcomed crossing the border.
This is how my first Scottish mountain hike went, starting off the tour strong with Merrick. The county top of Galloway & Dumfries and a Corbett (with many more definitions).
I had planned a couple of wild camp locations but unfortunately the path to Loch Enoch was blocked/closed for logging work. So I returned to the car and just slept their for the night. Waking pretty early to take on my first Scottish mountain, the Corbett summit of Merrick in the Galloway Forest SCA.
The Route
I do usually go for circular routes but for this on I opted to go for the there and back again approach having not been able to check out what the path east from the summit down to Loch Enoch was like.
This hike followed a reasonably gentle incline throughout. Well there wasn’t any steep sections as gentle doesn’t feel like a great term.
The weather wasn’t the greatest, and the path between Benyellary and Merrick was very windy. There was a nice wide plateau along the ridge, so there wasn’t much fear of being blown off. I did try and keep my centre of gravity pretty low.
The challenge isn’t standing up in the wind, it’s staying stood between gusts when you’ve been leaning into the wind.
I was well prepared for this hike and I knew landmarks that I would encounter on my way up the mountains path.
A warm welcome to Scotland
It had already been a warm welcome to Scotland, with the sound of bagpipes coming from the bunk house further down the valley and the amazing views of Loch Trool.
Dark Sky Spot
Galloway forest is also known as a Dark Sky Spot. This means that it has areas that have none or next to none light pollution meaning on a clear night the sky really does light up. Unfortunately this didn’t last long as a clear evening turned into a rather cloudier night and a slightly dull next morning.
Bruce’s Stone
This hike starts from Bruce’s Stone. A rocky path follows the stream flowing between the higher lochs and down into Loch Trool.
The forest area that came after this was lacking a few trees. This park is well known for it’s large timber industry so I was expecting some areas, but a lot had been trimmed back from these lower paths.
Culsharg bothy
My first encounter with a Scottish bothy. I will be honest I didn’t really fancy spending a night sleeping there although I could imagine chilling there for a few hours on overnight hikes. And the building did have an amazing roof.
So after stopping for a brew in the bothie I carried on up to the mountain. Officially leaving the forest zone and into the mountain zone. Well at least according to this paver.
A hiking mascot
I still have Grogu (also known as Baby Yoda & the Child) although he doesn’t look as clean as he does here anymore. It is extra weight but when hiking alone it is kind of useful having something else, a third party, that you’re trying to protect. You can call me And the Mandalorian. It does make you consider some actions a little better.
So then I hit my first Scottish mountain, greeted with a trig point and the sun really was trying to get through that cloud. Although this summit isn’t a Munro, its not quite tall enough at 2,766 ft that does place it in Corbett territory though.
I felt pretty energised after this hike. This was only the first stop of two weeks of adventures and was always planned to be a short one. I utilised it more to break up the drive, although I have since realised that this detour added about 3 hours onto what would have been a more direct route to the Trossachs.