free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
With only 2 Sub 2000's left south of the Central belt I had a decision to make regarding which one to tackle on my way home from Englandshire. I opted for Craignell as it was slightly further west, I did my usual research and as usual there aren't many walk reports to help. Once again I studied McMole's route and loosely followed it (thanks).
I arrived at my designated parking area shortly after 11am and was soon on my way.
Parking layby, never saw a human being and the other 2 vehicles were still there when I returned
Clatteringshaw Loch in the background
The start of the walk looking back along the track
The way ahead, with the ridge containing the summit in the distance
Looking back at Clatteringshaw Loch
Huge area, could even be a car park. For those with a bike you could save a few minutes by bringing it
They don't have to travel far to get the stuff to make the track
The way ahead, not long before I depart and head off piste
Locked gate to negotiate
Time to leave the track, the ground looks like other walkers have been that way, not keen on descending at this time
The way ahead and there is a path albeit faint
Looking back I was heading WSW running parallel to the ridge
Looking back, the path was to the left of the trees
The way ahead, sooner or later I will have to turn right and go uphill
Here we go, time to start going up
Views opening up, the little loch that can be seen is Lillies Loch
Lillies loch and the end of the track is visible, I would be aiming for the clearing on my way down
Lillies loch and the firebreak is very clear
The way I am heading
Looking west and shows the angle of ascent
Cracking view now
A cairn on the summit area, I wondered east trying to ascertain if it really was the highest spot. My altimetre couldn't find a higher spot
Video taken on the summit area of Craignell
Looking across the ridge to the cairn - does it look higher?
A couple of small lochans on the summit ridge
I opted for the direct descent route, not my best idea as it got a bit tricky lower down
Looking back uphill to what I struggled down
Still got a bit of battle before I reach the better terrain
Looking back uphill
Reached the clearing now
Not far to the main track now
Plenty of future work?
Plenty of rotting timber, seems a terrible waste
Looking across to Cairnsmore, the hill behind the mast
I was back the car much earlier than I had anticipated so I made an executive decision which wasn't a good one. I would try and tackle Cairnsmore from the north, I had my route plotted on my phone and as the walk is only a total of 4km it shouldn't be that difficult - WRONG. Here are a few pictures of my attempt.
Nice large parking area, I wonder why there are no other vehicles parked
The rest of the layby with the A712 in the background
Looks OK at the moment, but the way ahead looks too familiar and not very friendly
Someone else must have been here before me, interesting bridge
Still doable
Hmmmm, the way ahead, now the going gets tough
Yes I battled through that, but it doesn't look like improving
It had already taken me about 20mins to do about 400m and that's when I decided to go back to my car. Not only was I being attacked by branches, twigs and other dangling bits, the underfoot conditions were awful too - soft spongy soggy stuff or tussocks
How inviting does this look, not very I can assure you
Cairnsmore isn't going anywhere and will still be there after the latest worldwide crisis is over, I will definitely have to plan a different route.
Yet another cracking day and I am glad I took the opportunity when I did as Covid 19 is now really starting to impact on every bit of our lives and who knows for how long. When I eventually get round to tackling Cairnsmore I will have climbed all the hills south of the Central Belt. One thing I won't miss is the Dumfries & Galloway roads, even the "A" class roads hardly have any straight bits, so you can imagine what the minor roads are like.
Stay safe everyone and let's all do as we are told by the 'experts'. The latest instruction regarding the great outdoors is stay local, so that is what I will be doing.