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Back in May 2006 I walked the Rhinns of Kells as part of the Newton Stewart walking festival. We started at Garryhorn & followed the main ridge to Meikle Millyea, then descended to Forrest Lodge to get our transport back to Newton Stewart. A fabulous day out on the hills, & a great way to walk this entire hill range.
There were a couple of problems though, the walk didn't include the outlying hill of Cairnsgarroch, which is one of the Donalds. As I'm now hoping to climb all of these hills, it meant a return to the area to climb this hill. The other small issue for me was missing the highest point of Meikle Millyea. Though this was only a short walk from the main cairn & trig point, I never went there. So that's another reason for me to return sometime in the future. Not that I'm complaining, the Galloway Hills are remote, wild & some great walking, if you don't mind the very rugged & tough terrain over much of the area. With few paths, & often never meeting anyone else, it's a real wilderness experience, a great place to escape to.
For this walk I decided to climb Cairnsgarroch, but I didn't really want to climb up from Garryhorn repeating part of the walk already done previously. The return route, back to Garryhorn, also sounded pretty hard going, if some of the other walk reports are anything to go by. So for my trip I was looking for an easy, not too strenuous way to get to the top. I decided to start at Polmaddy in Castlemaddy Forest, & approach the hill from the east. I knew it was going to be a long day, having a four mile walk to reach the foot of the hill, before beginning the climb proper.
I set off at 8 am, which was just starting to get light. The forecast was for a beautiful calm sunny day, with a touch of frost, & temperatures not getting much above zero. Soon the sun came up & it remained so for most of the day. Perfect for a good walk.
- Sunrise
- Valley of the Polmaddy Burn...Cairnsgarroch on the right
- View back over the misty Castlemaddy Forest
- Cairnsgarroch near Shiel of Castlemaddy
Two hours later I reached the foot of the hill near Shiel of Castlemaddy. From here I'd to find a way off track through the trees & onto the open hill. From the map I found three possible forest rides, which I hoped would be walkable. I'd looked at Google maps when planning this, & from the satellite imaging, I could see that the second of these rides appeared to have a temporary timber extraction track running along it. The area here was all newly planted after clear felling. This track ran alongside the hill, then turned left up onto the open hillside. This looked to be clearly the best route, but I decided to take a short cut along the first forest ride. Again it started by going along the hillside, turning left to join up with the second of these forest rides. This started off pretty boggy, but improved after turning uphill.
- The boggy forest ride, with a nice view of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn to keep my spirits up
- Start of the climb proper, for me, begins here
Soon I joined the old extraction track, which is no more than a path now, but made for very easy walking up to the top of the tree line.
- The old track, with a view of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn
- Top of the tree line
After this, the paths all disappeared, as I made my way up to the edge of more trees at the very top of the forest.
- View to Carlin's Cairn
- Top of the forest. This is where the third of the forest rides joins my route
I next reached a fence running along the hill, leading slightly uphill. I followed this for a bit as there was a good path beside it. Eventually I'd to cross the fence & make my way over rough ground to reach the summit.
- Cairnsgarroch from below the fence I followed
- Almost at top. View to Corserine and Carlin's Cairn
The views from the summit were outstanding, seeing as far as the hills of Arran.
- Merrick, Kirriereoch Hill and Meaul
- Corserine and Carlin's Cairn
- Bow and Coran of Portmark
- View over the Glenkens
- Cairnsmore of Carsphairn from Shepherds' Cairn
Had lunch here before starting the descent. To vary my return I headed south past Craigchessie, before re-entering the forest once more.
- Starting Descent to Craigchessie
- Craigchessie
- Castlemaddy Forest from Craigchessie
- Goat Craigs from Craigchessie
- Looking back up alongside the forest
I went through a break between trees on one side, & a clear felled area on the other. The felled area was fenced off, behind which there was a nice new path. A gate part way down alongside the fence, gave me access to this path, which took me to a forest road.
After another break for refreshments, the forest road took me all the way back to Polmaddy, by which time the sun was setting. I reached the car shortly after 4 pm, a long day, & a long walk...but it had been a brilliant day...so worthwhile & enjoyable.
- Polmaddy Gairy with Corserine behind...a fine view for my break
- The abandoned farm of Castlemaddy...I past this on way back to the car park