The Cairnsmore of Fleet is the most southerly two thousand foot hill in Scotland and a magnificent viewpoint for the Cree Estuary and the Solway. It makes for a popular and fairly straightforward hillwalk.
Wood and forest paths and tracks, then excellent hill path over moorland. Boggy on final approach to summit.
None to start.
Signed parking along track side near Graddoch Bridge.
To reach the start, turn off the A75 at Muirfad just south of Palnure. The road bends sharp left to cross the Graddoch burn bridge, after this continue a short distance until a parking sign indicates a track on the right - the parking area is in several bays along the left side of this track. Begin by heading to the far end of the parking lane and turning left onto surfaced track towards Cairnsmore House.
Keep right at each of two forks (the second one being the entrance to Cairnsmore House), passing to the right of the Walled Gardens. Just before reaching the buildings turn right onto a signed path. When this meets a track at the edge of the woods turn left along it. After passing through a gate in a wall turn right to climb the grassy field beside the wall, then left along the top of the field to reach another gate where the route enters mixed woodland.
Soon the route passes through another gate; keep right at the path junction beyond this, signed for Cairnsmore Summit. Pass through a gap in a drystone wall to follow the path up through denser forestry plantations, making use of a firebreak. Eventually emerge at a track with a granite memorial seat to a Rosemary Pilkington, originator of the forest plantations here. Go straight ahead across the track, passing the seat to continue uphill.
Finally the path leaves the trees for the open hillside. It climbs diagonally across the flank of the hill, on an excellent old path with the remains of old pave slabs in places.
Soon there are stunning views looking back over the Cree Estuary and out to sea, as well as over Newton Stewart and Creetown. The path steepens a little and has a few zig-zags. Higher up the old path has become more eroded and there are a few boggy patches as it leads up onto the summit plateau.
Just before reaching the summit cairns a giant block of stone stands as a memorial to airmen who have lost their lives in the nine airplanes which have crashed into the Cairnsmore. Beyond this is the trig point, square windshelter cairn, and a large, ancient cairn. The views are superb, ranging over much of southern Galloway, and across the Solway Firth with the Isle of Man particularly prominent.
The most enjoyable way back is to retrace your steps using the excellent path. More experienced hillwalkers who like a bit of heather bashing might prefer to vary the return by a rougher, pathless route over the Knee of Cairnsmore - for this head across the plateau to this outlying summit, keeping above the much craggier eastern side of the hill. Once at the bronze age cairn descend roughly southwest down rough, pathless slopes, eventually picking up a track that leads on and descends just south of the Craddoch Burn. This track leads back down towards Cairnsmore House where the outward route can be rejoined.
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