Three Marilyn Days in Dumfries – Part 3

[McMole]

Day 3 - Monday 28th May 2018
Bainloch Hill: 5.0km, 242m, 2.1hr
It took forty-five minutes to drive from Dumfries and park at Doonside east of Bainloch Hill. There was plenty of space to park at the road junction about 350m south of the track that was our route to the summit. There is housebuilding under way there, and some interesting construction work in the field to the west.

Any guesses on what is being constructed here?

As we started up the track there was plenty of evidence that cattle had been there, but none were present and only the gate into the forest was closed. The road through the forest has recently been upgraded so I expect felling must be on the schedule to start soon.

A gentle stroll past a pair of annoyed grey wagtails and a glimpse of something larger, greyer and raptorish in the distance took us to NX 8931 5737 where we turned right and headed up a break in the forest to reach the summit ridge after about 150m.

Grey wagtail

From there knee deep heather and shrubbery with the occasional scrap of path led to the summit cairn after another 200m.

Heading up from the forest road

We spent some time admiring the views - spoilt by the ever-present heat haze, before returning the way we'd come. As we finished our walk we met a couple just starting up the track - the only other walkers we met all weekend. We agreed that in such good weather on a holiday weekend we’d probably have had to queue if we’d been going up the Merrick!

Killyleoch Hill: 3/5km, 147m, 1.7hr
This was the only hill where we had real difficulty in finding a parking spot on the road. The couple I'd selected using Streetview didn't look as good when we saw them (95m and 370m north of Killyleoch Farm) so we stopped at the farm where I found the farmer and after a short chat he gave us permission to park on his access track. He also assured us that we'd only encounter sheep on our way to the summit. His cattle were either in his sheds or elsewhere.

This was a simple walk in 24C along a track and through gates to the summit ridge.

Cattle safely in the next farm

The wall there was easily crossed to reach the top and its small cairn.

Summit cairn visible on the horizon

It was in the adjoining farm, but all their cattle were well down the hillside. This summit provided the additional luxury of sitting in the shade of the forest.

Looking towards Killyleoch Farm and Bogrie Hill from the summit

Hightown Hill: 1.4km, 116m, 0.6hr
Our tenth and final Marilyn of the weekend was also the shortest walk. We parked about 200m north of Hightown Farm by a field gate.

Parked clear of a field gate with Hightown Farm visible ahead

From there it was less than 20 minutes to the top, all still in unbroken sunshine though clouds were building up to our north.

Looking back to the road and the car hiding behind the hedge

A final team photo on our tenth summit.

The view northwards to Hart Fell and White Coomb

Queensberry Hill in the Southern Lowthers

It had been a very successful and unhurried three days visiting a fine variety of hills, We finished with some relief that after the first we had no further close encounters with cattle. Thanks to Jaywizz for doing all the driving and to those other Walkhighlanders whose reports helped with the planning. I hope the details in these three reports will prove equally useful.

And to partly plagiarise Fife Flyer's last post's title - 10.5 hours in the car, 15 hours on 10 hills

THE END

[Fife Flyer]

Great to see reports for the "wee" hills and thanks for the mention.

I will study your routes and possibly adopt them in the future, parking details are always very useful.

Thanks for posting.