Three Marilyn Days in Dumfries– Part 1

[McMole]

A long weekend of walking in May had been arranged with Jaywizz several weeks in advance. The plan was to sample some of the many Marilyns we had yet to visit in Dumfries and Galloway. As the date neared we found that it was a bank holiday weekend so accommodation was scarce and we ended up in a wee hotel in Dumfries instead of further west in Newton Stewart. Still, I'd not done any of the nearby hills while Jaywizz had only been up Criffel so no regrets there. I spent some time researching the dozen nearest Marilyns for walking routes and car parking, with the latter proving the harder to decide. Other Walkhighlands reports provided a good start, but some hills didn't have any!
When the weekend arrived it proved to be the hottest of the year so far, with the temperature hitting 24C every day which didn't encourage rapid progress. Despite that we set ourselves a target of ten summits over the three days. This report is for the first day and includes the two hills that had no previous reports on Walkhighlands - Wauk HiIll and Mochrum Fell.

Day 1 - Saturday 26th May 2018
Wauk Hill: 4.5km, 270m, 2.2hr

After a two hour drive from near Edinburgh we arrived at the foot of Wauk Hill at a point where Google Streetview had shown the A702 widening at a field entrance. Success! It proved wide enough to get the car completely off the road.

Parking on the A702 for Wauk Hill

The field had a herd of cattle in it, but to our relief they were all at the north end well away from our route. We headed east to the corner of a wood where a taut barbed wire fence awaited. Once over it and into an apparent cattle-free zone we headed northwards to a high dry stone dyke that led us east. The patch of woodland shown on the current 1:25,000 map to the south of our path is no more. It has been clear-felled. On the way to the summit there was a wall to cross, but protruding stones made that simple, and we found more later allowing us to cross the other wall to gain the summit and its trig point.

Crossing made easy

The trig point in view

Like most of the hills we climbed over the weekend the views from the top were spoilt a bit by a heat haze. Our next objective for the day - Bogrie Hill was clear and to its left the small indistinct hump is, I think, Mochrum Fell which was to be our third Marilyn of the day.

Bogrie Hill with Mochrum Fell to its left

After rehydration and photos we reversed our route to find the previously cattle-free field was now occupied by cows and calves with more arriving from the south as we watched.

We cautiously skirting the felled area and were prepared to leap over the fence if any of the cows resented our presence near their calves. We did disturbed two more calves in a hidden dip, but they just ran off to join the others. Moving to plan B we decided to head round the southern end of the wood between us and the car. Then we arrived at a feeding station near the old quarry. Three calves there promptly ran off towards the southern end of the forest. Plan C was then activated and we headed straight down through the trees instead of round them.

This was much easier than expected. The cattle had obviously had free run of the area and must have snapped off the lower branches of the conifers. The fence along the bottom of the forest was also lower and much easier to cross than where we'd encountered it on the way up. The cattle in the lower field had not moved and we arrived back at the car having survived what we suspected was going to be the first of many bovine encounters.

Bogrie Hill: 3.2km, 214m, 1.6hr

Less than half an hour later we parked on the roadside verge near the turnoff for Shillingland Farm.

Parking for Bogrie Hill

While the direct route to the summit appeared inhabited only by sheep, there were cattle just to the west. We therefore kept to the east and headed to Cats Craig where we found and followed an ATV track almost to the top.

After another leisurely stop we headed back down to the car finding what appeared to be a fox's skeleton by the roadside.

Next we had the choice of either Fell Hill or Mochrum Fell, but only time and energy for one. We first looked at the start of the route to Fell Hill. Neither of us relished pounding along the track to it. We could have driven along it past an open barrier, but it would have been more than embarrassing if we'd returned to find it padlocked! So we left it for another day – perhaps with bikes - and continued to Mochrum Fell.

Mochrum Fell: 3.1km, 143m, 1.5hr
I had read that it was possible to drive to the foot of this hill - and so it proved. There were no warning or restriction signs and plenty of space to park the car.

From the car a short 0.5km walk past Mochrum House led to a junction with another track at NX 7254 7468. Straight across it an overgrown track heads gently uphill and runs between the old mature forest on the left and, part way along it, much more recent planting on the right.

The overgrown track

About 400m along it an opening in the new plantation at NX 7218 7471 leads uphill to run below the summit area.

Turn right for the route to the summit

Just east of the summit we turned left through a sparsely planted area to meet another break in the trees.

Jaywizz about to head to the left

About 50m west along this found us 30m from the summit, and a short climb through the trees arrived at the trig point.

Arriving at the top

While there Jaywizz called my attention to a tree pipit that flew above us then sung as it performed its parachuting act back to a perch. It was her first sighting of that species this year. On the botanical front as we retraced our route I noticed some fine bracket fungi - Polyporus squamosus ('Dryad's Saddle') - on a fallen trunk near Mochrum House.

It was now about 5pm and having achieved the day's objective time to head for Dumfries and find our hotel.

Did we achieve our ten summit objective? - continued in Part 2!

[Broggy1]

Interesting.

I’ve stayed in Parton every year for the last 30 years and only recently found out about Mochrum Fell - being more interested in the fishing or the main Galloway fells.

I think surely a visit is in order one evening next time I’m there and your route, with parking, looks perfect for a quick jaunt before dark.

[iangpark]

A great little series this (when I checked a few months ago, Wauk Hill was the only hill in Southern Scotland on WH without a public trip report so you may well have been the one to finalise it!) I am still acquainting myself with these three - have done them all in your Part 3 report and am only missing Bennan in your Part 2. Great to have as a resource, with good photos and maps too. Cheers!