The Southern Upland Way: Scotland's Coast to Coast

Day Three: Beehive Bothy to Bargrennan past Loch Derry and Loch Ochiltree including a Scottish Panorama

Monday 2nd April
Beehive Bothy to Glen Trool Campsite at Bargrennan


The Standing stones of Laggangarn where supposed to have marked some pilgrimage route and are faintly inscribed with crosses.	Wells o' the Rees, or a pile of stones round some points where water seeps out of the ground. Wouldn't want to drink that water.

As we pack up our tent, a lone hiker, who arrived to stay in the Beehive Bothy late the previous night, passes us and we talk for a short while. This leads us to the conversation of whether or not we would want to hike alone. We both decide that it is better to hike together as you get to share the adventure and the experience. We wonder if it was the lack of motivation from a fellow hiker which resulted in the lone walker arriving so late last night.

Taking a quick look at the route before we leave, it becomes apparent that part of today's route has been changed from previous years, and the Southern Upland Way now climbs over the top of the hill, Craig Airie Fell instead of going around it by a forest track. We set off into the shade of the woods and pass several points of interest as we travel the short distance to Craig Airie Fell. First we come to Laggangarn Standing Stones, which have faint, barely visible etchings of some Celtic crosses carved into them. An information plaque tells us that they once marked a pilgrimage route (hence the crosses), though the stones themselves are much older.

The next point of interest we come to is the Well's of Rees, a cairn of stones over some points where water seeps up from the ground. Though there is little to see, the view from this point is fairly spectacular, particularly since most of the trees around this point have been felled. Continuing on we pass a cairn, which provides another viewpoint, before starting our steep climb up the sparsely forested slopes of Craig Airie Fell.

The view at the top is superb - we can see the wind turbines that we came past yesterday, and the Galloway hills, as hazy silhouettes in the distance, as well as Loch Derry which we will soon pass. In bad weather this could be quite a miserable place due to the exposed nature of the hill, though there is a semi-circular wall of stones which acts as a wind shelter. We huddle in the small amount of shade provided by these stones, rather regretting that we did not pack sunhats. While we stop for lunch on the top, we discuss how we would rate the different long distance walks we have done, and find that the SUW is the clear winner given the diversity of its habitats and the feeling of a sense of adventure. We also find that there is a lot of interest on the walk, such as the standing stones and Well's of Rees.


A cairn on a mound of rock provides a good spot for views across the moor.	Almost at the summit of Craig Airie Fell.

As we descend the hill, we notice that the ground is quite marshy, and we are surrounded by marsh plants and butterflies. We get down onto the long windy forest track which we could see from the top of the hill, meandering past Loch Derry. It might be a forest track, but all the forest around here has been felled. We can see the Galloway hills ahead of us to the East, which we will pass through tomorrow. A signpost points to Linn's Tomb on the right, a kilometre walk off route, to a tomb with 4 walls, which we figure is not worth the effort to see. We pass by Derry Loch, a kettle hole lake left by glaciers, which provides a beautiful electric blue contrast to the yellow planes in the background. Round a U-bend in the track amid the smell of freshly cut wood, we descend towards Derry farm. The track heads into dense forest after Derry Farm, and soon turns into a more solid road.


Alan takes a lot of photographs in order to make a panoramic view of the area.	Loch Derry. A kettle hole such as this was formed at the end of the last ice age, when a large lump of ice was left behind as the glaciers retreated. When the ice eventually melted it left behind a depression in the landscape filled with water.


The road section, which is mainly through forest, is rather boring, but affords occasional views through gaps in the trees	A small village by the name of Knowe, has rows of daffodils lining its road.

A jet plane zooms in and quickly disappears out of view across the dense forest. This section can only be described as a 4 mile long, rather boring forest walk along road which is agony on the feet. We turn off right by a farm and head into mixed forest with pine, birch and Rhododendrons, before emerging from the forest above the river Bladenoch. The forest opens up into a number of clearings beside the road. We pass some farm buildings, with cows and pony's, through another couple of fields, across the river and past Waterside cottage. We figure this is just a linking section of the SUW as its very bland, and not much scenery at all. We seek some shade under a solitary tree to recover from the sun, and come close to demolishing a very large bar of chocolate as we recline. Alan takes off his long johns and reminds himself that long johns are for winter use, and not for a hot spring day. We indulge ourselves on a snack of oatcakes with cheese and onion spread, dried strawberries and chocolate. After our break its more road walking with a view of the ever closer Galloway hills, until we eventually join a B road which takes us through to a small daffodil lined village of Knowe. We finally turn off the road!


The lush green forest	They really need to create a decent path through these woods, as a few times our progress is slowed by a quagmire of mud as wide as the gap in the trees

We take a left up through the heather and undergrowth, before entering a lush green forest. The SUW had been dropping out of our favour after the long road walk, but it is now climbing again. Indeed we are now ambling our way along a totally deserted and pathless break through the forest. We enjoy the very deep green of the forest floor, where the grass is obviously thriving. There are a few muddy bog areas in the forest, some of which cannot be avoided and we find ourselves sinking knee deep! The forest turns us out into a field, across which we join another road at Glenruther lodge. We find ourselves on a high plain with great views, and surrounded by wee lambs and pregnant ewes.


We catch our first proper glimpse of the Galloway Hills, now distinguishable rather than hazy shadows.	Loch Ochiltree dominates the view while climbing Glenvernoch Fell

After a short stretch of road we join the grassy path up the Hill of Ochiltree, which is crowned by a pure white cairn. Its late afternoon, and the evening sun gives the landscape a golden colour. The views are extensive, from Loch Ochiltree below us, all the back to the wind turbines we passed yesterday, and all the way ahead to the Galloway Hills which have taken shape. We take a break on the summit in the knowledge that it is only a couple more miles to the campsite tonight, and enjoy some early evening sun. Alan comments on the number of perfectly manicured dry stone walls and how it makes the photography more interesting.


The summit of the Hill of Ochilree is a great place to sit in the evening sun.	The path winds its way down towards Bargrennan and the East.

We head down the hills towards Bargrennan on an easy path, the soft grass underfoot a relief after all the road walking done today. The majority of our journey down the hill is guided by styles at opposite ends of fields with no path to speak of in between. This cross country walk adds to the sense of adventure on the SUW. On the lower slopes we pass knarled trees which glow red in the evening sun.


In places the path is non-existent, and the way is purely marked by styles at opposite ends of the fields. Needless to say that we got a bit disorientated at times.	The evening sun bathes the landscape in a reddish glow.


Do we dare go in the direction of the marker, or should we give the cows a wide berth?	The moors glow red in the evening sun as we approach Bargrennan.

We briefly rejoin the road before finding our next way marker in the middle of a herd of cows. Alan insists on a detour around them even though it doesn't look like there are any bulls in the field. We soon reach the road at Bargrennan and briefly stop to look at the SUW notice board, which tells us that tomorrows walk will mostly be beside river all the way up to Loch Trool. According to the notice board the rivers banks have been lined with native trees to try and restore habitats.

We spend the night in Glen Trool Holiday Park, which is a mile off route along the road. It really is a beautiful place, with a large pond in the middle of the designated camping area. We make full use of the facilities and enjoy hot showers. Jo gets caught in the dark while showering as the motion sensitive light fails to pick up movement in the showers! She obviously took to long showering.


We finally reach Bargrennan, but its another mile or so along the road to our campsite.	Glentrool Holiday Park has a rather uneven spot for tents situated next to a pond. Beautiful but a bit uncomfy!

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The Southern Upland Way: Scotland's Coast to Coast

Day Three: Beehive Bothy to Bargrennan past Loch Derry and Loch Ochiltree including a Scottish Panorama

Monday 2nd April Beehive Bothy to Glen Trool Campsite at Bargrennan

Monday 2nd April
Beehive Bothy to Glen Trool Campsite at Bargrennan