free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
I'm attempting to climb all 140 Donalds and Donald Tops in aid of charity. 'Donalds for Donald' is a personal challenge in memory of my late father, Donald, and in aid of Mesothelioma UK. After the round in this report, my total is currently 47/140, and I aim to complete them by 15th November (his birthday). I'd better get walking...I’d decided to start this round of hills at the tiny village of Carsphairn, and though it is only some 106 miles from Newcastle, I had to allocate most of Saturday just to get there. A train to Carlisle, a train to Dumfries, a bus to St John’s Town of Dalry, then another bus out to Carsphairn. I was the only passenger on the latter, and enjoyed chatting with the driver about the usual suspects - wind farms, underused bus services, cuts to community funding, the madness of hill bagging, that sort of thing.
But, importantly, the weather was glorious, and it looked like I might be in for my first views in weeks. Perhaps there’s more to walking the Donalds than mist, bog, and uncomfortably wet nights…
From Carsphairn it was about a 1km walk out to Bridge-end, then straight onto the farm track, past the intriguing Green Well of Scotland (apparently an old pagan site repurposed as an early Christian baptism pool), and gently climbing towards Cairnsmore of Carsphairn, which would be my 23rd Donald and my 9th Corbett. Where the track faded-away under Dunool, the ground became soft and wet, but the presence of rock on these grassy slopes meant there would be none of the incessant squelching I’ve become accustomed to lately. The pull up to Cairnsmore from about the 450m contour was pretty steep, the wind was growing stronger, but the views were gorgeous looking back over my shoulder, as the sun got a little lower in the sky.
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The late start meant I would have to get a spurt on if I was to stick to my plan. Very strong wind meant I didn’t hang around at the summit, and headed down over more rock-strewn slopes to the Nick of the Lochans, and quickly up to the Donald Top that is Beninner. It was already beginning to get dark, and I raced back down towards the Nick and headed down the rough hillside to Pt.465 to avoid any burn crossings (dry feet today, I wanted to keep it that way!), made my way up to the estate track and slogged my way up Moorbrock Hill. It was dark by the time I reached the summit, and I pretty much retraced my steps rather than risk another one of my rough, downhill plods in the dark. This added more time to the walk, but it didn’t matter because I was looking forward to sleeping at Clennoch Bothy rather than finding a place to camp.
The bothy was a welcome sight, but I laughed when I realized there was a little ford – and I’d tried so hard to stay dry.
My second ever night in a bothy, and for all there is no stove at Clennoch, I enjoyed a cosy night, alone, with no phone signal, and just a few gigantic beetles and spiders for company. I read the comments in the bothy book, planned tomorrow’s walk, and enjoyed a good night’s sleep, pleased to have taken a 4-season sleeping bag.
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Up early the next morning, I stepped out of the bothy, stretched my legs, and admired the hills surrounding me. The whoosh of what felt like a million wind turbines up above created quite a sound, but the wind itself had died down and once again, it was dry. Small pleasures!
Climbing from Clennoch, I followed the estate track toward Hog Hill, then left the track to head up to the summit of Keoch Rig, complete with its hardware. Is there a summit in this area that hasn’t been gifted a turbine, mast, or other such piece of equipment?
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
From Keoch Rig it was back to the grassy track, across slightly boggy ground, and up to the summit of Windy Standard. The scale of wind farm operations here is quite staggering, and what must be hundreds of turbines lay across almost the entire vista from the trigpoint, where I stopped a while and had a snack. I noticed a cherry-picker at one of the turbines, and before long a van sped up the track past me. I gave the workmen a wave, but they grimaced and looked the other way. I shrugged, and plodded on towards Millaneoch Hill, which was quite a steep little descent. Before Millaneoch, I turned and followed the fence down across boggy and wet ground, then on towards my next Donald, Alhang. It looked pretty impenetrable and steep, but once on the slopes upwards it didn’t seem too bad. All the same, I find these Donalds quite tough at times, and it was with some relief I arrived, huffing and puffing, and via a little fence crossing, at the summit.
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
It was here that I got my first glimpse of Afton Reservoir below, and I descended towards the source of the Afton, where for some inexplicable reason I found myself reciting Burns in a voice that sounded something like Brian Blessed. Onwards to Alwhat.
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Between Alwhat and Meikledodd Hill the ground was boggy and the going a little slow. The sphagnum moss made the landscape an almost impossibly bright shade of green, but I nearly lost a boot on more than one occasion. Superglue moorland. A couple of brief bog hops and plank crossings brought me to the tarmac road and the pylons that sit above the reservoir, and a after a quick breather I stormed my way up Blacklorg Hill. An unremarkable summit in itself, but it was nice to look back across all the hills I had walked – a rare treat.
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr
From Blacklorg it was down into another soft and wet no-man’s land, but fortunately it didn’t last long and I was soon plodding slowly up Blackcraig Hill. By now I was pretty tired, and I found myself having to stop regularly for little breathers. Eventually I gained the sprawling and rocky summit, and enjoyed the views in a very cold wind. I seem to recall Blackcraig Hill was the last hill in Percy Donald’s own round of ‘his’ hills, so I smiled to myself and raised a water bottle to him.
There is a well-trodden path away from the summit trigpoint, down to a cairn and on to Quintin Knowe, but it took longer to descend than I had planned, and eventually I joined the track which would take me all the way down the hillside to Blackcraig Farm in Glen Afton. Lots more wind turbines on the hills ahead, and signs of more tracks being constructed, presumably to build more turbines.
Tired but pleased to have completed this round in good time, I then took a leisurely walk along the road all the way through Glen Afton, stopping at the lovingly cared-for Burns Cairn, and into a very grey and sleepy New Cumnock, where I made for the station. Just fifteen minutes later, my train arrived and just like that, another glorious adventure in the hills was over. 47 Donald/Donald Top summits attained so far, 93 to go…
The Glen Afton Donalds by
Christopher Watson, on Flickr