Shalloch on Minnoch, Tarfessock & Kirriereoch, the old way!

[37201xoIM]

Now this is rather odd: since I did this walk, and wrote this report (but have only just had time to fix the GPX file and sort out some halway usable phots!), the Walkhighlands walk description has disappeared! The route I did is the one that was described on the route until October 2016, starting from the Bell Memorial. It’s certainly still viable – and I rather enjoyed it. So the references below to the description are to the one that now seems to have vanished – I’d intended my report as an update but suppose there’s nothing for it to update now! Nonetheless, as I say it's still a decent if occasionally mildly rough route.

The GPX track I've posted is adapted from the one that was formerly posted with the WH description, but modified to show my little detour after Shalloch on Minnoch farm, as described below.

So here goes…

I fairly closely followed the route suggested here, though with the odd tweak - also perhaps I can add a bit of detail to the notes given on the page for that route. One or two bits of the description are also out of date too.

Needless to say there was plenty of space at the "Bells Memorial" car park at 09:30 after pottering up from Newton Stewart, despite the beautiful autumn weather. (I couldn't be bothered to check the monument itself to see whether the lack of an apostrophe was in any way justifiable, but I fear the worst...)

The first km or so from the road turn-off, past Laglanny (which is no longer derelict - not just the garage has been done up now!) and to the Minnoch Water are through what's now a heavily felled area, so not the most visually appealing, but at least the forest track makes for quick progress.

Laglanny, now de-derelictified...

And the two oddly positioned caravans are pleasingly reminiscent of the Father Ted episode, "Hell", but fortunately without evidence of Graham Norton riverdancing inside...

Not quite Hell...

Mind, it always feels a bit wrong to be starting a walk going downhill (oh, and you finish this one going quite a long way uphill too...).

When you meet the Minnoch Water, you're also initially following it downstream, until you turn left towards Shalloch On Minnoch farm itself, when I'm glad to say you do start ascending along the Shalloch Burn! Shalloch hill itself is obvious, if not exactly looming dominantly, ahead as the (in this case still abandoned!) farm is approached.

Approaching SoM farm, with the eponymous hill rising on the horizon

The route description here reads:

"The track crosses over a bridge. At this point, do not continue on the forest track but follow an old track south alongside the burn until it heads towards the now defunct Shalloch on Minnoch farm. The old track to the farm has eroded into the river slightly but a path can be followed up to the farm."

The first bit was a bit confusing at least to my dense brain... What is meant is that you need to follow the track over the bridge over the Water of Minnoch, and then turn immediately right - which is actually what the track marked on the OS Map (Explorer 318 as at 2006, that is!) does. Also, note that until the farm, the track is all in good repair and very easy going - the reference in the description to it being partly washed away is out of date.

At Shalloch on Minnoch farm it gets less straightforward... The description advises following the Shalloch Burn onwards, but as I pottered about deciding what to do, a very friendly bloke who was busy culling deer (I suspect somebody's got to do it!) took a moment to wipe the gore off his hands and recommend a different route, as apparently following the burn for the next section (I suspect it's about 6-700m?) is really hard going. So I took his advice, as follows:
• Instead of following the burn, turn left, roughly NE, and cross the fence at the stile you will see.

The stile...

• Follow the very faint track, or otherwise just make your way over the rough open land for a couple of hundred metres NE until you reach a gate and the edge of the (still!) forested area, at a wide ride.

Through this gate and up that gap between the trees...

• Follow said wide ride; it's moderately rough but only slightly plodgy in places and easy enough going - it gradually curves from NNE around to ENE
• When you reach the open area, the Shalloch Burn is pretty much straight in front of you and should be fairly obvious.

Head down towards the burn, with the way forward on the other side clear

• It's very easy to cross the burn at this point, right opposite a further ride on the other side.

And cross it here - not hard today!

• Once across the Shalloch Burn, follow that ride away (at right angles) from the burn. You're now going roughly SE.
• After another maybe 150m along this ride, you reach the Shiel Rig Burn.
And that's where you join the described route again.

Easiest, I found, to stay on the left of the burn, until shortly before the edge of the forest.

Once onto the open moor, it's pathless and just a case of making your own way up as best you can. (In fact, most of the rest of this walk is more or less pathless from here!) As the ground is moderately rough, it's a bit of a slog, and I found myself drifting a bit southwards, but obviously gaining height is the main thing here, and it's reasonably obvious where you need to be going!

Anyway, the views open up quite nicely behind you, especially once past what definitely isn't the Holy Stone of Clonrichert (Class 2 Relic) - a good excuse for stopping for a rest that I definitely wouldn't have needed otherwise, honest!

Not a Class 2 Relic

With my various faffages, consultations, errings, circumambulations and photo-stops, it took me nearly 2h45m to get to the top of Shalloch on Minnoch, but I'm sure it could be done in less! The views are certainly most pleasant, stretching from Ailsa Craig around the Galloway, with the starkly contrasting near-wilderness of the Merrick and the loch-pocked lands to its north... So slightly tedious that I then seem to have forgotten to switch my phone's camera onto HDR mode, to stop contrasty images invariably coming out too dark... doh!

Better late than never, anyway...

Anyway, not much time to linger, given the length of this walk and the promise of hard going ahead, so a matter of picking my way downhill - and to be honest following the GPS track as closely as possible over the pathless and bouldery terrain was a pretty good bet, if unimaginative behaviour! This takes one quickly down to the splendidly named Nick Of Carclach, from where it's a very shortly climb up to Tarfessock. A harmless enough little hill, and one scratched off the list - well, some lists anyway...

Looking back north up to Tarfessock and SoM

By now I must admit I kept looking ahead to Kirriereoch Hill and assuming that I was missing something, and there was an easy way up it... because it actually looks quite daunting from this angle, despite having the greater bulk of The Merrick behind it... Well, there isn't!

From Tarfessock, you drop down really rather further than you'd want to (again fairly rough and bouldery), losing well over 100m altitude. Crossing the fence (shown on the OS map), it's then back up again.

That'll be this fence, then

This is definitely the most tiring bit of the walk, up the northern scarp slope of Kirriereoch Hill. It's not technically difficult or at all scary, nor is it a scramble really (though I used a bit of manual assistance at some points!), but it's very steep and quite a thrash, picking your way past the boulders. The technical term is "a bit of a b****r", I believe.

Eventually of course it eases onto the surprisingly spacious and plateau-like top of Kirriereoch Hill. Now in my view, despite having been sacked from its former job as a Corbett and being one of those with a slightly ambiguous top, this is actually a more pleasing hill than Shalloch on Minnoch was. I suspect it's because, at least from this angle, it feels like a proper climb - but also because the views are in my opinion better, both back towards the Shalloch and eastwards, as well as the coast - but also because the Merrick is so striking from the north (more so than from Neive of the Spit, I think).

From the top of Kirriereoch Hill looking south onto the shoulder of The Merrick

And there's a further reward, in the next section: the route as described (and GPS-d!) takes you westwards, gently losing height in a far less sadistic fashion than the ascent imposed... all the while with the Merrick's crags looming to the left.

The north flank of the Merrick

This is easy going on a gentle gradient with what could almost, but not quite, be described as a path which follows an old wall for over 2km, until, just after crossing the wall as it bends off to the left (SSW) and is replaced by a fence, the Carnirock Stone is reached.

Following the wall, and then the fence... straight ahead!

Disappointingly, Bishop Brennan's office indicate that this is not even a Class 3 Relic, failing to exude any holiness at all.

Another non-holy rock

I thought that the next bit would be difficult, but while a rougher, steeper and slower descent, way-finding is really easy: the OS map suggests a fence-line going off NW-ish from the Holy (or otherwise) Stone - while that doesn't exist as such, some splendid soul has left metal fenceposts at a frequent enough interval such that there's never any doubt as to which is the right way.

The way down...

Eventually, trusting to said posts (OK, and also to my Blackberry, truth be told), the Cross Burn is reached. The clue is of course in the name: do so!

Again, not a difficult Burn to Cross (what a witty pun!)

For the next 150ish m following the fence-line westwards along the edge of the forestry, it's a but plodgy again but not too bad.

Along this bit until you can see a ride on the right...

Then a wide ride becomes obvious, heading NW-ish into the plantation. I followed this... It would also, I think, be possible instead to keep following the fence-line for about another km until the forestry track is reached, but I suspect that's probably harder going.

The ride to your right looks like this

However, this ride is not great: it's followable, but gets rapidly to be a bit of a pain in the posterior due to heavy felling - however, just as I started swearing at Walkhighlands, I realised that the forest track was right in front of me, and took it back: the rough section of ride was all of about 50m; it's just that you can't see the track there!

Suddenly it gets rather easier, for quite a long way...

After this, it all gets much easier: you turn left, of course, and just keep going, and going, and going... initially westwards, then south. While the route shown doubles back on itself a little, I suspect that trying to cut across wouldn't be worth it, as the felled forestry would be pretty awful going as against the smooth track.

Anyway, eventually you do indeed come out past Tarfessock Farm to the Water of Minnoch, and it's not difficult to find a place just north of the old bridge abutments to ford it; on the other side, keep the wooded area to your right and you'll quickly reach the old (now dead-end) lane up from the former bridge, taking you to the "main" road (well, it's all relative, isn't it...).

Last plodge of the day, through the Water of Minnoch

Keep these trees on your right until you reach a recognisable road

And from here, all you need to is walk the remaining 2.5km-ish back north up the road, giving you plenty of opportunity to curse the fact that you're now about 100m below the level at which you left your car... in mitigation, the road is of course very quiet, and the views across to the line-up of Shalloch on Minnoch, Tarfessock, Kirriereoch and The Merrick provide a good perspective from which to feel slightly smug about the day's work.

All in all: a very satisfying potter - definitely one that feels as though you've been doing something by th time you're finished! Fairly rough going in quite a few places, but, though damp and plodgy here and there and with a few burn crossings, not as boggy as suggested - naturally that might of course differ though by weather and time of year.

But I still don't forgive them that apostrophe.

[Gordie12]

I wish I had met the same guy at SOM farm last month, he wasn't kidding when he told you it was a bit rough through the forest.

That looked like a really good circuit.

[PeteR]

I agree with Gordie.........the previously stated rout ip SoM is very rough indeed. I'm currently tempted to return to these hills tomorrow with the view of tackling them from the new route (only managed SoM when I did it in wintery condictions a few years back and vowed never to return to the previous WH route ) but the forecast currently suggests mist

[37201xoIM]

Must admit, I was initially curious about what the 'correct' route was like... but the guy who'd left Bell's' Memorial to climb SoM by essentially the same route as me apparently received the same advice from the same guy, but elected to stick with the 'published' route... I met him at the summit of SoM, and he told me it was indeed pretty rough the way he'd gone!

I'd be really interested to hear the views of any others doing this route - as I say, a bit of a rough slog in places and fairly lengthy, but I enjoyed it and thought it made for a satisfying day away from it all!

By the way, I took more phots than the maximum you can upload with one post (of course!), and if you are doing the little diversion after SoM farm, the path once you have crossed the stile and the open area, then gone through the gate, the ride looks like this:

until it opens out above the burn to look like this - you go straight ahead to reach the burn:

Once you've crossed the burn, once again you're following a ride, and it looks like this;

And you turn left (into another ride) when you come to another burn, which runs alongside the said ride, initially on its right....

... up which you potter until you reach the tree-line:

Hope this helps!

[rockhopper]

Walked these hills a couple of years ago almost to the day - same way out but added the Merrick and came back via Benyellary. Hadn't realised that you could get through the trees using your route. Think my report made the forest section you avoided a bit more straightforward than it actually was (bad habit of mine ). Only have one photo of that section which follows up by the Shalloch Burn and you can see below what it was like. Think you definitely made the right choice ! - cheers

[37201xoIM]

Walked these hills a couple of years ago almost to the day - same way out but added the Merrick and came back via Benyellary. Hadn't realised that you could get through the trees using your route. Think my report made the forest section you avoided a bit more straightforward than it actually was (bad habit of mine :roll: ). Only have one photo of that section which follows up by the Shalloch Burn and you can see below what it was like. Think you definitely made the right choice ! - cheers :)

Hmm, doesn't look the easiest. That must have made for a really long day with the Merrick in there too!

[rockhopper]

Hmm, doesn't look the easiest. That must have made for a really long day with the Merrick in there too!

Not too bad - essentially dawn to dusk at 8 3/4hrs. A wee bit tricky at the end of the day as well because a ford marked on the map didn't exist. Once up high it was OK - cheers