Ideally we would have headed up north but once again the forecast was pants, wet and a rather gusty wind, so I suggested to my usual companions we head south. George wasn't available but Parminder was game for another laugh and even offered to drive.
We arranged to meet at Straiton at 7.30 and what a treat it was to drive along the Edinburgh City Bypass without all the commuters getting in our way. I was rather early as you just never know what the traffic is going to be like!!
We arrived at the car park for Criffel and were on our way at 9.30.
Criffel, 2hrs, 5km, 506m
Early morning shot of Criffel, unfortunately covered with cloud on the higher slopes
Fair sized car park, but I would imagine it gets busy in the summer
The way ahead - doesn't look very inviting
Much better surface now
First view of the Solway Firth
Parminder marching off uphill
A cracking path that gradually gains height
Looking back, once you reach this wooden contraption, the path ends and the bog begins
Luckily as it was cold, some of the boggy bits were frozen and fairly firm
Not a bad view looking back, Loch Kindar
View to the left as we trudge uphill
Parminder looking up at the trig, Knockendoch in the background
Trig in the distance, doesn't look promising view wise!
The large cairn on the summit
As we were in cloud I didn't take my usual video, it was also rather blowy and cold. We descended a bit on the south side to see if we could get views below the cloud, sadly that was a waste of time, so we tried to retrace our steps back down the hill. Somehow we missed the path back downhill and were too far west, however this worked in our favour as we descended following an animal track which was superb to head downhill on also avoiding the icy boggy path. Once out of the cloud we could see exactly where we were heading.
Out of the cloud and we are heading towards the loch
Looking back across the wooden contraption and back uphill
The way down, Parminder leading the way whilst I took some photos
Looking across to the car park
Woodhead Hill, 1hr 15mins, 3.5km, 175m
Parminders parking spot, plenty of room for other vehicles, even tractors to get past with ease
The way ahead to Woodhead Hill
After following the road towards Woodhead we turned left and then past an isolated house, then right onto the forestry track
After about 300m we left the luxury of the track and headed uphill across the felled tree debris, luckily we were able to walk in the tracks left by the forestry vehicles
Now we need to turn right to follow my plotted route
We headed through the gap in the wall, then turned left
Parminder wondering what he had signed up for
That is where we are heading
Parminder looking impressed, little did he know it was going to get worse
Looking south
Once we reached the top of the debris a cycle path appeared - as it was slightly better terrain and going in our direction it would have been foolish not to utilise it
After a short restbite it was back onto the debris which was taking us back uphill
Parminder getting used to this now, the cycle track is this side of the trees
The way ahead
Parminder picking his way slowly uphill
A bit of a mess
Yes we are actually heading into there
Parminder ducking and diving, not far till we reach daylight again
More like an obstacle course at times
I can see now how and why I ended up with bits of twigs down my back and stuck to my top
Out of the forest now and not far to the summit
Plenty of future Christmas trees
Looking SE
Look what we stumbled across, a path!
Looking south from the summit (ish) area
The HUGE summit cairn, the stump to the left does look higher but Parminder wandered all around the summit, standing on a few tree stumps and agreed with the cairn
Video taken on the summit of Woodhead Hill
We opted to try out the path for our descent, it doesn't feature on a map so we had no idea where it was taking us
About to head into the forest
Slight obstruction
I checked my phone to see where we were in relation to my plotted route and the path was going in the wrong direction so we turned back and descended via a different route
Spot Parminder, just as well he wasn't wearing green
Looking southish again
Our descent route kept us to the left of the forest, we now follow vehicle tracks downhill
The cycle path is this side of the forest ahead
Parminder picking his way downhill carefully
The cycle path again
Any cycling experts able to explain what this all means?
Once we reached the above sign we turned left downhill over the usual debris
Not far to the forestry track, we descended without venturing into the jungle
Not much more to endure now Parminder
See Morris Hill, 35mins, 2.8km, 110m
Once again we kept our boots on as it wasn't too far to our next parking spot.
We left the unclassified road and turned left up a smaller unclassified road that takes you to Riddingshill and then eventually up to the top of the hill where the large mast is.
Parking spot
The way ahead
Just past the house on the left there is a locked gate
As you can see the gate is well and truly locked
The mast and the summit in the distance
Friendly small flock of sheep, must of thought we had food
They were thinking about following Parminder
Dumfries in the distance
Not far now
Arty shot
Plenty of dishes attached
We heeded the warning
The area around the mast is well fenced off so we had to walk round to the trig
The buildings inside the fence were fairly substantial
The trig peeking above the grassy slope
Looking northish
The mast and buildings
Video on the summit of See Morris Hill
After the usual photo's it was time to descend.
These few sheep stayed ahead of us for the majority of the descent
This turned out to be another cracker, the only down side was the lack of views on Criffel as apparently the views of the Solway Firth and beyond are supposed to be rather good. Parminder can now be classed as a jungle veteran having experienced forestry navigation for a second time. A huge thanks to Parminder for driving again.
