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A steep climb but well worth the effort on Craignell

A steep climb but well worth the effort on Craignell


Postby Robertgee » Fri Jan 14, 2022 11:51 pm

Sub 2000' hills included on this walk: Craignell

Date walked: 11/01/2022

Time taken: 3.5 hours

Distance: 7.2 km

Ascent: 390m

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2022-01-11 @ 08-49-52.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



I started this walk on the minor road to the south of Clatteringshaws Loch. There's a good parking spot just before crossing the Pulran Burn.

01-Clatteringshaws Loch looking to Benniguinea and Cairnsmore of Dee.jpg
Clatteringshaws Loch from the car park


My route started off by following good forest roads past the quarry, and onward for around 1.5 miles to reach the track end just to the north of Lillie's Loch.

06-Early sun on Craignell.jpg
Early sun on Craignell


My last few walks on the Galloway subs had me battling through trees to reach the open hillside. Usually easy along the forest tracks, but often few good access points to climb up above the tree line. So this time I was looking for a simple easy way to access the hillside of Craignell. :D

So from other walk reports I reckoned the forest ride marked on the map from the track end near Lillie's Loch, was just what I was looking for. It's marked as a track for a short distance on the OS map, and this is still the case, though it's likely to become overgrown as the years pass by, as it's now largely disused, other than the occasional walker. :roll: It leads all the way easily to the forest edge at the foot of the hill, with the second half now being a grassy path.

10-Craignell.jpg
Looking to the route of my ascent...the grassy slopes heading uphill at an angle towards the left end of the hill


This is where the hard work begins. :lol: I first headed straight up the hill along the same line as the forest ride. On my approach to the hill I could see a mainly grassy slope heading upward, then along a sort of ramp leading to the southwest end of the ridge. This would be longer than just heading straight up to the summit, but the angle of ascent looked much easier and less rough as it was mainly grass, anywhere else was thick heather.

14-Low Craignell and Cairnsmore of Dee from start of climb to Craignell.jpg
Low Craignell and Cairnsmore of Dee from near the start of the climb


15-Route to Craignell.jpg
Not too bad to start with, even traces of a path


17-Getting steeper on the way to Craignell.jpg
Getting steeper now


The climb was initially very steep, but on reaching the "ramp", it turned into a great little walk, there was even a good path to follow. This easily took me along and up the hillside, giving some superb views.

20-Craignelder.jpg
Cairnsmore of Fleet


22-Lillies Loch and Fell of Fleet.jpg
View back down to Lillie's Loch with Fell of Fleet in background...you can see the break in the trees which I followed in the bottom left


23-Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee.jpg
Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee


27-Nice little path now climbing to Craignell.jpg
Good walking along a nice little path now


Once near the high point of the path, it was a case of turning right and heading up onto the ridge. Steep at first, but not for long, and the summit cairn soon came into sight. :clap: I spent a bit of time looking around the summit plateau, the high point is a bit further along from the cairn. It's a remote, wild looking landscape, with a number of lovely blue lochans along the summit. A beautiful place to be on such a nice day. :D

37-Rhinns of Kells from Craignell.jpg
The cloud covered Rhinns of Kells from Craignell


41-Cairnsmore of Fleet and the valley of the Palnure Burn from Craignell.jpg
Cairnsmore of Fleet


45-Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee from Craignell.jpg
Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee


46-Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee from Craignell.jpg
Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee from infinity pool


50-Fell of Fleet from Craignell.jpg
View towards Fell of Fleet


59-Millfore and Cairngarroch from Craignell.jpg
Millfore and Cairngarroch


62-Cairngarroch and the Rhinns of Kells from Craignell.jpg
Cairngarroch and toward the Rhinns of Kells


63-Rhinns of Kells and Darnaw from Craignell.jpg
Rhinns of Kells and Darnaw


64-Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee from Craignell.jpg
Low Craignell, Clatteringshaws Loch and Cairnsmore of Dee
Last edited by Robertgee on Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Robertgee
Walker
 
Posts: 81
Munros:104   Corbetts:39
Fionas:32   Donalds:89
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Wainwrights:38   Islands:60
Joined: Dec 5, 2015

Re: A steep climb but well worth the effort on Craignell

Postby Fife Flyer » Sat Jan 15, 2022 7:14 pm

Hi Robert, enjoyed that, there are some cracking hills in the Borders.

I notice your route was very similar to mine, one point not sure how you managed over 900m of ascent? I only clocked up 420m.
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Fife Flyer
Munro compleatist
 
Posts: 2642
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Re: A steep climb but well worth the effort on Craignell

Postby Robertgee » Sun Jan 16, 2022 12:01 am

Fife Flyer wrote:Hi Robert, enjoyed that, there are some cracking hills in the Borders.

I notice your route was very similar to mine, one point not sure how you managed over 900m of ascent? I only clocked up 420m.


Hi Fife Flyer, yes I used your walk report as a plan to climb this Hill, but avoided your outward route along the edge of the forest.

All I can say about the 900m climbing is oops :? Although it felt like climbing 3000 feet, in reality it was only just over 1000 feet...even after all these years climbing Hills, I still can't convert to metric :lol: Fixed it now :)
Robertgee
Walker
 
Posts: 81
Munros:104   Corbetts:39
Fionas:32   Donalds:89
Sub 2000:147   Hewitts:36
Wainwrights:38   Islands:60
Joined: Dec 5, 2015

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