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This was my greatest ever site visit.

I arrived at the lay-by South of the Stinchar Bridge car park just after 9.30am. In 2003 I had walked up this way from the car park with my Grandad, on my first ever proper hillwalk
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7298, but we had turned back at the 768m trig point for some reason, and never officially summited. 15 years later, it was time to finish the job.

I had met my colleague in Straiton then gone on a two-car convoy up the valley past the Tairlaw Burn before leaving my car here for the day. This had to be a two-car trip (a peek into the future, 18 months before the lockdown site visits...) because we had to take photos from Shalloch on Minnoch *and* Kirriereoch Hill. Oh, and we should probably be re-taking the existing photo from The Merrick, sans snow.

This is not going to be a normal shift, sat clicking away in the office waiting for 5.30pm. This is going to be a bit different.

I jumped into my colleague's car for the drive down to Glen Trool. In hindsight I don't know why we didn't do this in reverse, as Glen Trool is only 130m up and the Shalloch lay-by was nearly 400m. Must have been something to do with the angle of the sun. Merrick was trying to cling onto some mid-morning cloud as we drove past it. Hopefully that'll clear soon, as low cloud kind of means 'no photos'.

Just after 10.15am we were finally walking. I had climbed The Merrick before (with a couple of mates on a dark cloudy day in 2012, which accidentally coincided with the Merrick Hill Race
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60988), and the path was obvious. It's possible we just decided to go South-to-North because the Merrick path is better than the Shalloch one (I always think it's best to use a path for the worst bit - the first big climb - then descend a different way if the circumstances allow for it).

Ah, the bothy. We might take a stop there actually. My colleague is insisting on carrying the tripod and won't hand it over, so he'll need a rest. Merrick re-appeared behind Benyellary, still trying to shake off the last cloud of the morning.

The Culsharg Bothy comes with complimentary chairs, apparently? Or maybe there were people staying there for the week and we were accidentally invading?

The biggest climb of the day was from Culsharg to Benyellary, but the path was still great. I'm sure I saw proper red-and-white toadstools here in 2012, but can't remember if I did in 2018.


Benyellary. I didn't even know what Donald Tops were in 2018, but here's one.

The Merrick is a very dramatic hill when you reach the last section, the ridge-walk from Benyellary.


A classic Galloway view.

We reached the summit just after 12.30pm (2hrs 15mins from leaving), to find some cloud trying to cling on.

No Snowdon view today (far too hazy in the long-range views), but there were some other hillwalkers at the summit, looking quite confused at us bringing out a full-size tripod.

Looking from the trig point towards Shalloch. I think. I hope my colleague is checking the focus on the proper photos more than I'm checking on my camera phone.

Ok, now watch this drive.


After 20 minutes or so talking summit photos, it was time to strike off into the wilds over Little Spear (check out the autumnal shadows there). Kirriereoch Hill used to be a Corbett but was relegated years ago, so I had never got round to it before. The ridge from Merrick to Kirriereoch looked good, but the descent from Kirriereoch to Tarfessock looked ridiculously steep from the map.


Basically once you reach Benyellary, everything is on a grand scale.

Kirriereoch Hill straight ahead.


I *think* there was a trace of a path the whole way (the new WalkHighlands map says there is), but the terrain was always going to get a bit rougher after leaving the summit of The Merrick, even if the biggest actual climb was done. My colleague was still insisting on carrying the tripod.


Just after 1.40pm (about 50 minutes after leaving The Merrick), we arrived on the summit of Kirriereoch Hill - my first new hill of the day, and a Donald. Shalloch still looked a *looooong* way away.
It was still quite hazy in the mid-distance, but the photos would be usable, fingers crossed. The sunshine was incredible all day. Already I felt very lucky to be out of the office.


Looking back towards Little Spear and Merrick.

Finally Tarfessock appeared over the hill, but that meant the steepest bit was approaching us. What goes up must come down.

Aw jeez...

I'm sure one of us slipped at least once, but can't remember who. It was some relief to reach all the lochans between Kirriereoch and Tarfessock South Top, which made for some nice photos too.


Yeah, that be *steep*.

Glad that's over.



Tarfessock and Shalloch.

I can't remember if we literally walked over the highest bit of ground on Tarfessock South Top, mainly because I had no idea at the time that it was a Donald Top. It's not prominent at all, and not even named on the OS maps. But the new WalkHighlands map seems to suggest that the faint path heads straight over the top, and that would seem logical. I certainly don't remember skirting round the top in a semi-circle or anything.

A couple of deer, eyeballing us.

We took a round of proper photos at the summit of Tarfessock. We've never used them, but I figured it would be daft not to, in case it becomes an official viewpoint at some stage. When in Rome, see the view (literally).

The photos slowed down after Tarfessock, which suggests I was starting to flag by this point. My colleague was *still* insisting on carrying the tripod, which was quite bizarre, especially considering that I'm younger (if not necessarily fitter). But we were nearly at the last big summit, and this would be quite an emotional one for me, after almost summiting in 2003 with my Grandad.

The autumnal shadows sweep across the hills towards the wilderness between the Range of the Awful Hand and the Rhinns of Kells.

Am I here? Am I finally here? That's the trig point in the background, only 7m lower.

I think this tiny cairn means I've done it. Just after 4.10pm, just under 6hrs from leaving Glen Trool, and 15 years after "summiting" my first mountain with Grandad, I've finally actually climbed Shalloch on Minnoch. One or two things have happened in the interim, but it's always a good feeling to properly finish a job.

Just five minutes after leaving the cairn we were at the trig point. Why didn't I just wander over there in 2003?

Maybe my grandad said no, and at 16 years old I wasn't going to overrule him.

In November 2020, in amongst the darkness of Covid and Lockdown 2 and everything else, my Gran and Grandad passed away. Officially it was from Covid, but really they started to fade away quite badly in 2019 with other issues. One of my final proper conversations with Grandad was to tell him that I had finally gone back to Shalloch on Minnoch and finished the job. He was a proud Englishman but lived most of his life up here and developed a (kind of) Scottish accent; married a Scotswoman; loved the Scottish hills and countryside, and enjoyed his retirement with Gran by listening to loads of Runrig with Mum, Dad & I, and regularly touring Skye and the Highlands. I miss them both every single day.

We headed past the other cairn to the North of the trig point. We took some rounds of photos here as well, just in case. My colleague was *STILL* insisting on carrying the tripod. It was essentially his personal property by this stage.

The sun caught the light on a big building behind Caerloch Dhu and Dersalloch Wind Farm. Probably something in Ayrshire - maybe Prestwick Airport (or Ailsa Shipyard in Troon)?

Another lochan, but this time in early evening light. By now we were retracing my steps from 2003, heading back (finally!) towards my car in the lay-by.

I remember making a point of deviating off from the path at Caerloch Dhu to walk over the absolute highest bit of grass. My colleague asked what I was doing: "It's in case this ends up on a list!" And what do you know, at Christmas 2022 WalkHighlands added Donald Tops to proceedings. They've always been a concept but I never cared too much about them until recently. When all the controversial chat about G****ms / Fionas started up, it led to a chat about the significance of Donald Tops, and I think I read that the SMC don't accredit you with compleating the Donalds unless you compleat the Donald Tops too. Including the Tops, today was a mammoth seven Donalds, although four of them were duplicates (or three - depends if I count my teenage climb of Shalloch...)

Looking back up from Caerloch Dhu to the lower cairn at Shalloch.

Ok, this light is starting to look very, very...eveningy? It's just gone 5.30pm, but we've still got to head over Cairnadloch and back over the moor to the car. Getting lost in the dark would be quite a twist at the end of an emotional rollercoaster...

A lonely Christmas tree. We were both flagging by now. I pointed due North and promised my colleague: "Right over the brow of that hill...is my car." I'm not sure he believed me by this stage. He was
*STILL* insisting on carrying the tripod though, so he must have had some energy left.

And finally, at 6pm, we reached Cairnadloch and saw my beautiful car again, in the fading of the light.

Just in time!

There was time for one last twist, of course. I was carrying the camera (since my colleague was *still* insisting on carrying the whole massive tripod), and I lost the lens cap somewhere near the wee burn crossing right at the end. We retraced our steps back to the stream and had a right old look, but to no avail. There was no way we were going back to Cairnadloch (because lol of course not), and my colleague said it would cost the company about a fiver to replace. Not the best note to end on, but we had homes to go to, and lives to lead, and the sunset was turning the hills red.


My car. I could hug my car.
It's possible I'll end up climbing Merrick or Shalloch on Minnoch for a third time, if work sends me back up there one day. But it'll never be a day like this. I usually prefer solo walks, because I can clear my head a bit (and I enjoy the freedom, and love the lack of chat with humans about awful human stuff). But today was one of the big exceptions. The sun shone, everything went well and I got to tick off a box that had been half-ticked since 2003. For me, the Range of the Awful Hand was anything but awful.........
