Minnigaffs from Loch Trool Walking

Curly Wurly: the tangled together caramel strands in their cheerful purple wrapper make a chewy snack for any hillwalker. And the hill called Curleywee is exactly the same. Apart from not being coated in delicious low-cocoa-solids milk chocolate. Link it with the smooth, grassy Lamachan Hill and the even smaller, even ruggeder Mulldonoch for a lively and enjoyable outing above Loch Trool. But first you've got to get onto the things… Spruce plantations, and regenerating wildwood surrounded with a tall deer fence, defend the slopes above the loch. There is one route, devious but do-able, using the remains of a long-forgotten forest track through scrubby undergrowth. Bring a pair of secateurs, as a few snips will make things easier for yourself while helping keep this path open for future walkers. Once on the open hill there's scrambly outcrops, an airy ridgeline, and the chewy snack of Curleywee – "to be enjoyed as part of a healthy, active lifestyle."

Slopes of Mulldonoch above Loch Trool, Galloway Hills  © Ronald Turnbull
Slopes of Mulldonoch above Loch Trool, Galloway Hills

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Detailed description

1
NX4157680452 From the upper parking area, take the short path to the nearby Bruce's Stone, a grand viewpoint across to Mulldonoch. Then turn down left to join a track below. Follow it over Buchan Burn, past Buchan house, and through ancient oakwoods, bearing right to a bridge over Glenhead Burn. Now marked as the Southern Upland Way, the track leads uphill to join a higher track. Keep ahead on this one for 750m, to where it bends left, just before the crossing of Shiel Burn with a waterfall above on the left.

2
NX4352979012 If you have OS Explorer mapping on a smartphone, it will be very useful here, as it marks the former track line. Turn right off the main track on a faint path on stony remains of a former track. It zigzags uphill briefly, then heads to the right, northwest, gently rising then contouring. After 400m the path slants uphill, west, and crosses one tiny stream to a second one. Turn uphill to left of this, making your way up on gaps in the plantation to reach open hill.

3
NX4285779207 Any route upwards now will be a mix of rough grass and small, gently scrambly outcrops. One good line is to slant up and to the right to pass behind the hump marked on Explorer maps as Gawintoms. Keep slanting up and right, to a tiny spur at 450m, northwest of Mulldonoch summit and perched high above Loch Trool. From here turn uphill to the cairned top of Mulldonoch.

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NX4268278497 Now things get easier. Head down southeast through the shallow saddle Nick of the Lochans and up grassy slopes to Lamachan Hill's flat summit. At its far end the small cairn is at the corner of a broken wall. Follow some old iron fence posts northeast to the rocky-grassy shoulder Bennanbrack. Here turn right down the ridgeline towards Curleywee. You can follow this ridge all the way down. However, at a small saddle after 400m, there's an alternative, the airy Goat Path, running along just below the ridgeline on the left side. At the ridge foot cross an old fence for the rather steep climb to Curleywee.

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NX4545476922 Head down southeast along the level shoulder called Gaharn just below the summit. At its end turn left, northeast. A gentle spurline, steepening further down, leads into the pass below. A very rough crossing of the valley floor leads to a reasonable path running down to the left into plantations. Follow it down north to White Laggan bothy.

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NX4660977465 A wide, damp path leads down to a track above Loch Dee. Turn left, now on the Southern Upland Way. As the track rises to a low pass, a stone beside it has runic carvings, being one of the '7Stanes' decorating the same-named set of mountain bike zones in southern Scotland. The track runs down to rejoin the outward route. At the bridge near Glenhead there's the long but attractive option of staying left of the stream, following the SU Way along the south side of Loch Trool, through the site of Robert the Bruce's first small, but crucial, victory. After the former Caldons camp side, cross Water of Trool to a car park. Here a well managed path leads back right, joining the valley road 1.5km short of the Bruce's Stone.

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Further Routes

by Ronald Turnbull



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