A Shalloch and The Merrick - Photo Gallery
Saturday brought a clear, blue-sky morning after a cold night in Galloway; it was looking good as I turned off the unclassified Bargrennan to Straiton road at Stinchar Bridge. I was looking for a car park but after driving along a narrow road for a while I was beginning to wonder if I was in the right place. After a mile or so I reached a parking place overlooking Loch Bradan; I went to read the notice about fishing permits just to make sure I was where I thought I was.
I decided it would be too easy to walk back down the road and pick up the waymarked path to Cornish Loch; on a fine day it should be possible to follow the paths on the map and find a more interesting route. After leaving the car park I turned left along a good track which was signposted as the Carrick Forest Drive; even if it wasn't going exactly my way I could just follow the compass south. It wasn't long before I couldn't reconcile the features on the ground with what I could see on the map; I should have realised why that was at the time.
I carried on along the track; I reckoned that as long as I kept going south I would find Cornish Loch and take my bearings again at the Boat House. The loch came into sight but the track seemed to be going round to the wrong side of it; I decided to make a beeline for the boat house on a vague path across rough ground. The path was actually the remains of the tracks of tree-felling vehicles from when the area was harvested. The ground was very soft in places but at least I didn't have to stumble through the tortuous debris of a harvested forest.
The track took me close to the edge of the loch but there was still some way to go to reach the boat house. I had to walk across the harvested forestry; every step has to be measured to avoid old branches waiting to trip you up, and you have to beware at every foot step to avoid falling into a swampy hole. As I got close to the stream feeding the loch, I saw another couple of walkers near the boat house; it made me feel a bit more confident that this was the right way to go. I had to walk upstream on very wet ground for quite a way before I found a place where I was able to step across the burn onto a faint, wet path.
I followed the path to the boat house and met the other walkers who seemed strangely un-forthcoming about my plans to reach Shalloch on Minnoch from there. As I carried on past the boat house I became increasingly uncertain about the wisdom of persevering; the ground was uneven and wet as only harvested forestry can be, it is the most strenuous kind of surface to walk across. I reached a clearing in the trees from where I could see the ridge; going back would be as exhausting as carrying on so I decided to climb up to the narrowest section of forest, hoping I would be able to get through the trees to the ridge.
I was going uphill at that stage, which made the difficult terrain just that bit more difficult; I was fortunate to only step in one wet hole and to only be tripped up once, ending up on my knees in the swamp. I was glad, but more than a little bit surprised to suddenly reach a forest road; it was time for a serious look at the map. I should have realised earlier that if you can't match what is on the map with what you can see on the ground then you must not be where you thought. I had parked at a picnic area a mile along the road from Stinchar Bridge, but navigated as though I was at Stinchar Bridge.
The boat house I came across was on Loch Riecawr and not on Cornish Loch, it seems that boat houses are fairly common. Anyway, I at least knew where I was and it would have a reasonable route to get to Shalloch on Minnoch if I hadn't spent an hour and a half on an unnecessary and strenuous detour. The forest road gave me an easy walk in the warm sunshine for a mile until it turned left at the edge of the forestry; I exited the forest at Wee Meowl with just a steep climb between me and Shalloch on Minnoch.
Looking up towards the hill there seemed to be a natural line of ascent, generally following the route of Craigencoof Burn to a small col on the skyline. I initially followed some quad bike tracks through the tussock grass; maybe it was the earlier walking over the harvested forestry and maybe it was the warmth but it was hard work getting up that hill. Tussocks are always awkward to walk through, and as usual there were occasional wet holes to avoid; together with the gradient and the heat it seemed like a long climb. I eventually reached the skyline, a broad grassy ridge with a faint path going upwards in the direction of the summit.
It was a mile-long slog up the wet, grassy slope before I got to the extensive summit plateau and made the final easier walk to the summit of Shalloch on Minnoch. Having taken so long to get to the summit, there was not enough time, nor enough enthusiasm in my legs, to complete the ridge walk that I had planned. From the summit, a faint path heads northwards; going past a small lochan in a depression before it climbs gently to a subsidiary summit and then it's downhill all the way across Cairloch Dhu and Cairnadloch. In common with all of the Galloway hills, the ground becomes very wet and muddy as you descend; the ground was wettest just before I had to cross Splinty Burn and my foot went into a swampy hole up to my knee.
Eventually I reached the road where I turned right and walked to Stinchar Bridge, noting the car park I should have used, and then onto the picnic area where I had actually parked.
Sunday morning was a bit cloudier that the previous day, but it was a bit warmer with a reasonable breeze. I parked at Loch Trool in the car park closest to Bruce's Stone; at the top end of the car park is a notice at the start of The Merrick Climb so there could be no false starts on this walk. There is an obvious path that starts to climb uphill; it's an immediate walk with having to hop across boulders and step across muddy puddles in the path. Fairly soon I arrived at the waterfalls in Buchan Burn, you can scramble over boulders to get close to the tumbling waters.
After walking by the side of the burn for a short while there is a fence that stops you from following the burn, and a sign with a notice instructing you to use the high path. The high path is a path quite high above Buchan Burn; as you reach a large flat area the path bears away from the burn towards Culsharg and its abandoned building-cum-bothy. There has been a lot of tree harvesting in the area and in true Forestry Commission style, some of the trees have been left where they lay across the path.
After walking past the bothy you start climbing up a path through the forest and another couple of fallen trees have to be climbed over. The path is becoming eroded and muddy in places as it follows Whiteland Burn uphill until it reaches a forest road. You need to turn right and walk along the road for a few yards, until you reach an obvious path on the left, going uphill into the forest again. For now there are no felled trees; it's a bit of a slog on a rough path, the gradient isn't too bad but it is relentless for about half a mile.
As you emerge from the forest you can see the job ahead, a big grassy lump called Benyellary has to be climbed. I have been this way before, and I remember a very wet and muddy area, but an excellent path has been built; the packed slate-chip construction makes a good non-slip surface to walk on. The wind had become quite strong and cold by then; my hat, hood and gloves were all called into action. After walking uphill for a while you reach a fence with a gate, you can see around the fence how muddy and churned-up it used to be. You carry on walking on the path as it slants upwards towards the skyline until it reaches a ridge wall.
The well-constructed path ends when you reach the wall, just when I could have done with it to get up the next steeper section; muddy foot holes are not much help. You walk by the side of the wall all the way to a large cairn at the summit of Benyellary; The Merrick comes fully into view at the summit. You have to descend along a ridge called Neive of the Spit; the wall runs along the crest of the ridge on your left hand side and the ground falls away steeply on the right to the Scars of Benyellary. The wind had become very strong by then and it was difficult to stay on my feet and it was slightly worrying with that steep drop being so close.
You have to climb up the other side of the col, eventually the wall bears left and you bear right across Broads of The Merrick; a wide, featureless, angled plateau. There is a vague path but there are no landmarks and the summit is out of view; it was still a struggle to walk being exposed to the strong wind. Suddenly I saw the triangulation column at the summit sticking above the skyline; it wasn't as close as it looked but I reached it soon enough. The view was hazy and the shelter didn't provide much relief from the wind but at least there were other walkers at this summit unlike the day before.
Having rested for a few minutes it was time to descend; in that wind I had no intention of struggling with a map trying to find another way off the hill so I retraced my steps and walked back towards Benyellary. Thankfully, in the short time that I been away from the col, the wind had dropped considerably and it was a much easier walk back. On the descent from Benyellary it even became warm enough to take my jacket off, as well as hat and gloves of course. The best bit of this descent is that the car park is immediately at the bottom of the path.
© Andy Wallace 24th & 25th March 2007