Wauk Hill a pleasant surprise and Killyleoch Hill

[Katrina89]

Having added the new craze of "trig bagging" to my hill bagging goals I have been kept busy with obscure trigs in the heart of the Galloway Forest and beyond.

With the temperatures rising and the sun shining it was time for something different. I had tried and failed before Christmas to bag Killyleoch but was determined to do it today. To add on I was keen to add Wauk Hill into the mix as it isn't terribly far away by car between the two hills.

Having read walk reports for Wauk Hill I envisaged it to be a long, boggy mess through newly planted forestry and boggy tussocks (my favourite ) I decided to deviate from the previous Wauk Hill walk reports and opted for the straight up and down option as I was slightly late to my start point and was keen to go up Killyleoch too.

If weather is dry there is parking just off the road to Tynron below Clonehead farm on the A702. If you don't fancy squeezing your car fully onto the verge there is quite a long passing place just a few meters further on.

gate/sign

Head back down the road to the A702 and go straight through the gate across the road. At the time of writing this there was no livestock in any of the fields but it is very likely this could change once it warms up further.

Followed the right (south) wall towards Wauk Hill, the first wall has a gate, there is also a newer fence where you can either cross at the corner with the wall over a crossing point (not dog friendly) or you can head north to go through the gate and then trace your steps back to the south wall.

Wall Wauk Hill

Followed the wall up, before going through another gate slightly north before walking back alongside the South wall which has a nice path nearly all the way to the top of Wauk Hill, with just a few meters of heather before reaching the cairn and trig point,

Path Waukhill

The weather was amazing and the sun shone warmly but alas we had plans to move on o Killyleoch so back to the car we went. Took just under two hours to get to the top, have lunch and then head back to the car to head to Dunscore for Killyleoch.

One of the issues with getting to Killyleoch Hill is parking. Not wanting to cause an obstruction, I parked at the Church in Dunscore (big parking space) and walked along the road towards Killyleoch. Killyleoch is one of those smaller Subs which you can see the top of from the road, but getting to it was a different challenge than Wauk Hill as I also had Splash with me who is not as adept/nor keen at fence/wall climbing. Decided to bite the bullet and wandered down to Killyleoch farm for a nosy. This time I could hear the farmer and family in the shed and though that I might as well just simply ask if there is a preferred route up (my preferred route was through their farm). After spending some time explaining why I wanted specifically to go up Killyleoch hill the farmer gave me advice on their preferred route as this "keeps you away from the bull". had a nice bleather before heading on my way with the warning of "it's steep you know".

Steepness was however not an issue! quagmire after cattle and heavy rainfall was! By some miracle I managed to avoid walking in mud to my knees (for a change) and got up to Killyleoch over tussocky and wet land.

Splash Killyleoch

All in all pleasant surprise for Wauk Hill and (slight) shock to the system on Killyleoch, but a great day out! Heard and saw my first Skylarks of the year too which was an added bonus!