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Another weekend, more Donald's on the menu. This time it was a planned outing that we were intending to tackle a couple of weeks until Parminder became unavailable due to Covid. He hasn't contracted Covid but had been in the company of someone who tested positive - so as a safety measure he took the usual tests and stayed indoors.
The route I suggested was to tackle the 4 hills from the south, last time I was here about 5 years ago I approached the last 3 from Loch Trool.
We arranged to meet Parminder at Straiton park and ride and then head SW down the A702.
I had chatted to Tommy on Whatsapp and told him we would be at Auchinleck at about 8am, as it turned out we didn't arrive until shortly after 9am. We were all equipped with head torches as I knew the walk be about 7hours and as we near the shortest day, daylight is becoming a problem. As it turned out we arrived back at the cars about 15 mins before it started to get dark.
The car park at Auchinleck, enough room for 4 vehicles
The way ahead, a couple of Km's on a good road/track
Hills looming on the horizon
The way ahead
Looking back, the blurry dog is Tommy's - Max who was obviously pleased to be out on the hills, he must have covered 3 times the distance we did
Still a track but not quite the same quality
We are about to leave the track and head into the undergrowth on the left as the track was going to be heading in the wrong direction
The undergrowth, one of the easier off piste experiences
Next obstacles a burn then a wall and on the other side of the wall a barbed wire fence
Action shot
George opting for a different part of the wall
Now the 'real' walking begins
We are heading up to the fence, then turning left following an ATV track
We were initially heading for the slight dip on the horizon
Welcome to the smaller hills terrain, the wind was right in our faces
George sheltering behind Tommy, almost getting a piggy back
Looking back - south
Tommy leading the way and plodding uphill we would stay slightly to the right of the highest point
Black Cairn not far from the summit of Drigmorn Hill
A video I took at just over 500m, it will give you an idea of how brutal the wind was. Apologies for the end of the video pointing at the ground, I thought I was about to lose my hat
Our first view of Curleywee, with Lamachan to the left
Panning a bit further left, the one thing we can't see from here is the drop between the hills
Looking SW, Drigmorn Hill and the Solway Firth in the distance
George and Parminder taking a breather. One thing I should point out, George very rarely wears any headgear and he would have his beanie on soon as well
Solway Firth glimmering
Parminder enjoying the sun
Curleywee on the right just peeking out, the other 2 hills along the ridge
The way ahead to Millfore
Looking north, Merrick on the left with a slight dusting, the hills on the right are Corserine and the Rhinns of Kell also with a dusting
Not far from Millfore, looking across to Curleywee and the rest of our route
Parminder a happy bunny now as there is a trig on Millfore
Parminder leaving the trig disappointed - it is the first one we have come across without a plate
On our way to Curleywee, what we can't see is the drop that lies in wait
White lochan of Drigmorn
The same lochan close up
Easy part of the walk a flat bit which is quite rare
Not sure what this used to be, certainly not very big
More descending, after a huddle we opted to head left to try and retain a bit of the height we had struggled to gain. the height of the terrain at the foot of Curleywee is about 350m so that means losing well over 300m
Curleywee, we are heading left and would ascend it up the easier shoulder to the left
Curleywee looking very impressive
Traversing trying to keep the height
Having reached the wall, we found a faint path uphill, we would be heading uphill to the right
Plodding uphill you can see how undulating the terrain is in the background
Our approach up Curleywee
Looking down on George and Parminder
Looking back downhill
Angle of ascent looking across to Larg Hill
Loch Dee to the NE from Curleywee
The way ahead to Lamachan Hill
Lamachan Hill cairn
Looking back to Curleywee
Looking back to Curleywee and the undulations
Nice broad ridge, with a path
Looking back to Curleywee and Millfore on the right
Lamachan Hill shelter
Looking west, zoom in and you will see Ailsa Craig on the right
Lamachan Hill still
Solway Firth
On our way to Larg Hill now looking back to where we were earlier
Larg Hill cairn
West again with Ailsa Craig in the middle on the horizon
Descending off Larg Hill and following a wall down one of the shoulders
Marching downhill, our start point is behind Parminder
Looking back uphill, path is fairly obvious
Once at the foot of the descent we crossed a forestry track and headed downhill utilising a firebreak. The underfoot conditions were rather soggy
Still heading down in the fire break
Looking back
We reached the track that would take us back to the car park and came across a victim of Storm Arwen, as well as 4 trail bikers that we saw earlier. They were struggling to get there bikes round the fallen tree
You can see why it was a struggle the bikes, Tommy saved them by using his dog lead to pull up the bikes from the front having put the lead round the front forks
An action shot plenty of brute force required
Another action shot. We had to laugh as the guys were local and asked what the hills were called that we had been up and also asked where the track would take them - we were more than happy to assist
Parminder leading the way for Max
It looks as if Parminder is lifting the tree up for Max
The track back to the car park
Another obstacle
This turned out to be a really tough shift, we were very surprised when we looked at the scores on the doors when we got back to the cars. The ascent figures seemed to be far less than we felt, George had an extra 400m on his GPS but we have been doubting that for quite a while. Tommy had very similar stats as me, having said that we are both using Viewranger. The obvious standout hill has to be Curleywee which looks quite impressive from all directions.
Next week I will be flying solo as both my colleagues are unavailable, so I will probably tackle a local hill to keep the legs moving.