The Southern Upland Way: Scotland's Coast to Coast

From our wild campsite on Manquhill Hill to Sanquhar

Friday 6th April
Manquhill Hill to Sanquhar


A pond midway between Manquhill Hill and Benbrack provides a good viewpoint across to the wind turbines opposite.

We open the tent flap and groan as we see great clouds completely obscuring the sky. On further examination we notice that there are blue patches. We pack up the tent quickly and we are away by 7:32am, a very impressive feat for us! Two hours earlier than usual. Last night, exhausted, we must of hit the sack at somewhere between 9:30 and 10pm.

As we descend Manquhill Hill we can see the thick clouds rolling in from our left. The great hump of Benbrack sits before us, the highest hill so far on the SUW, and we aim to reach the top before we have our first break of the day. At the lowest point between the two hills, we pass what must be a manmade pond, an attempt to make this ridge walking section a bit more interesting.

Nearing the top of Benbrack, we dream of eating delicious peppermint slices and of brushing our teeth, as we have furry, greasy horrid mouths. Leaving that early in the morning did not allow time for a bite to eat or a freshen up. We arrive at the top of the unattractive hump of Benbrack with its trig point, handful of observing sheep and a fence which symmetrically divides the hill in two across the summit. Having said that, the hill affords a spectacular panoramic view. A style leads us over the fence to continue our ridge walk over the hills. We desperately want to stop for a break but find the hill top a little too windy and exposed, so continue on by following the fence down the shoulder of Benbrack. The clouds have well and truly covered the sky by this point after 6 days of pristine blue skies. It really looks like it could rain soon. Alan, who used to be scared of sheep - especially the ones with horns, finds that they are all woolly wouses.


We continue our ridge walk over several small hills.	The phallic shaped structure that is Allan's cairn.

The path leads us on a circumnavigation of several wee hills - make sure you pick up enough water before you head up in the first place as the path sticks to the high ground away from any streams. We have to avoid brushing our teeth in order to conserve our water supplies until we reach a stream. Maybe it's just the bad weather, but this group of hills appears to be quite grim going, really just sheep grazing land, and a ridge walk guided by fences. Fine views back to the Galloway hills though.

Again we find ourselves navigating through a forest fire break in a plantation, having stayed clear of the forest while crossing Cairn hill and Black Hill. It's mundane stuff. After a short climb we find ourselves in a clearing with Allan's cairn before heading into the forest again. Allan's cairn is a memorial to a George Allan and Margaret Gracie who were shot somewhere near here, and the memorial lies on the junction of three parish boundaries. We are nearly half way to Sanquhar, and its only 10:30! We get our first spits of rain before finding the route of the SUW blocked with a diversion in place due to forestry operations! We feel we have to take the diversion as it is the middle of a weekday, though we are gutted that the new route will avoid Polskeoch and the chalk memorial bothy. We set off on the diversion route over recently felled forest, the going being hard due to the large amount of brash underfoot. Alan thinks all of the hills since Manquhill Hill have been totally naff, and ugly and drab and boring. Jo begs to differ. While traversing over the diversion route we catch a glimpse of a white building and wonder if it is the chalk memorial bothy - Jo is unconvinced and believes it to be another building.

On descending to the valley bottom we notice another walker in the distance, walking along the road from Polskeoch bothy. We wonder if they back tracked along the road to the bothy, or if they spent the night there and just left very late. We later discover this to be the Aktoman who catches us coming down the hill in one of his photos. Having almost rejoined the proper route of the way, we cross Polskeoch burn, but choose not to fill our water bottles since this river has flowed down from near the bothy. Instead we vow to find the first tributary to it and fill up on water there. We are now entering the forestry commissions Polskeoch area - a red squirrel conservation area. We rejoin the route proper, which happens to be on road at the moment.


We rejoin the route of the SUW and look towards the big loop of route which we missed. We don't see the chalk memorial bothy.	Why is Jo so happy, and where did she get that Southern Upland Way badge?

Roads are not meant for walking. It's not meant for walking for several reasons. One reason is that it is hard on your feet. Another reason being that it is as boring as hell! We wind our way along a bleak desolate valley of farmland and fences. We look out for some water so that we can cook some lunch. On the plus side, other than a few spits of rain the weather has remained dry.

The topography of the valley itself is quite interesting. We have a nice meandering river to our right, a U-shaped valley with quite high steep sides, though it's still pants. The reason why its pants is because we are walking beside a fence which doesn't just have one electric line on it but several, there are power lines going down the valley, bits of farmland furniture everywhere, and the ground has that kind of skanky brown-yellow marsh grass look to it. This is not a trail; this is a road through bleak farmland machinery. By machinery I mean the workings of farming, farmland included.

We turn off at Polgown farmhouse and manage to fill up on water at a tributary here. Joining the path up the side of the valley, we cross a very exposed electric fence - be careful you don't slip and straddle it! A fox darts off between the sheep, who don't seem to notice it. What separates Long distance walking from a pleasant walk in the hills is that long distance walking can at times feel more like a man hauling operation. Lugging cargo across the flipping moors from one side of Scotland to the other! It strikes us that it is very important to be ultra lightweight as this makes the difference between a man hauling operation and a pleasant day walking.

We stop for lunch part way up the valley side and cook up some pasta with lamb and mint sausage again. Jo meanwhile gets a foot massage from Alan's sunburnt hands. The food this trip is a great improvement on previous trips now that we have agreed to buy food on route and make use of our frying pan! We wonder who the better navigator is for morale. The optimistic navigator (Alan) who constantly underestimates the distances or the truthful navigator (Jo).


Towards the top of the pass.	We look down into the next valley and see our first view of Sanquhar far down below.

Towards the top of the valley is a good feeling of airiness and some good views making this a nice part to the walk. We're no longer walking next to barbed wire electric fence. On reaching the watershed, we see our first views down towards Sanquhar, and stop to take a rest next to a stone marker. Sanquhar is still 1.5-2 miles away. Just as we stop we hear some voices behind us and turn to see a couple of French mountain bikers screeching to a halt. They have been zooming there way along the SUW, and started at Portpatrick yesterday morning. They have cycled in almost 2 days what has taken us 7 days; mind you they are using the baggage transfer service. They've had to carry their bikes in a few places especially along the coast with the cliff hugging paths. They shoot off down the track, bunny hopping on the bumps as they go. Alan looks after them enviously.

As we near Sanquhar, we pass Whing burn woodland, an RSPB conservation area, with an information board. They are planting native tree species next to the burn in order to encourage rare species such as black grouse to return to the area. The fence surrounding the area has black things hanging from it at regular intervals. This is apparently because black grouse don't have very good sight and often can accidentally kill themselves by flying into the fences and hitting their heads. The black markings on the fence make them more visible to the grouse.

We pass wee groups of lambs all huddled together, as many as 6 at a time. Some nuzzle their mother's undersides trying to get fed.


We stop for a rest by an odd stone marking the top of the pass.	Some little lambs get in line behind their mommy.


By the river on the edge of Sanquhar	Sanquhar bridge

Watch out for golf balls in this area! The route into Sanquhar takes us near a golf course, and we have a near miss with a golf ball which bounces off the road, flies 20feet high and lands in a nearby field! We make it into Sanquhar at about 5:30pm, and stock up on food, making a mental note to go to the chemist in the morning when it is open and buy some meths. We indulge ourselves in some local takeout food - an eat-in chippy - and Alan proceeds to order two chippy's for himself. He then has to run after the waitress to explain that that was for him and Jo was still to order! The chippy was typical of small town chippies in that they have to fire up the whole system to serve someone, and the food is unnecessarily dipped in extra thick batter. Some wee kids trail us all around town saying that they want to come with us on our trip, and they are going to follow us. They catch Alan while Jo's in the toilets, and ask, "has your women got a big pack like that as well?"

Sanquhar is a bit of a dive to be honest, though having said that it is a Friday night. There's youths drinking around the corners, and going past in their chav cars with music blaring. The young kids who follow us tell us that they are "hard" because they have gone and broken windows and done similar vandalism. The locals are quite friendly though, a woman stops us on the street and tells us that we look lost and could she help with directions. We find the campsite which lies opposite Sanquhar castle, and only then realise that someone has deliberately tried to re-route the SUW through the centre of town and that the real route goes round the outskirts. When you come over the bridge you need to stay by the river and not follow the road signs which take you to the centre of Sanquhar then fail to direct you further.


Sanquhar campsite	Sanquhar castle looks most impressive at night when it's all lit up. During the day it just looks like a very run down pile of old stones.

There really is not much left of Sanquhar castle, and it looks most impressive at night and even then only from a distance! Up close the ruins have a massive 6 foot fence round them with double barbed wiring at the top, and are surrounded by a green area covered with litter and dog dirt. A raised mound of earth lies in front of the castle in order to hide the fence from view when looking at the castle from the main road. Sanquhar castle was made by Lord Sanquhar.

The campsite owners let us camp for free as the campsite wasn't really properly open at that time of year therefore there were no hot showers, just a basic toilet. The campsite itself is very small, and most of the space is for caravans. Some of the caravans are clearly fixed for renting out to people throughout the year. A railway line cuts through behind the campsite, and the odd freighter trundles by on it.

The Kist

This sections kist lies between St John's Town of Dalry and Sanquhar. When Alan notices the ULTREIA sign, he sneakily stands beside the post thereby obscuring it. We continue on to find an ULTREIA sign facing the other direction without noticing anything made by a ceramicist. We drop our packs and head back a short distance and discover that the kist is hidden from sight when walking in the West-East direction, but is noticed fairly easy when travelling in the opposite direction. Though still not totally obvious, it does stand out as unusual in its surroundings. Unfortunately the lid of the kist is broken. We find SUW 21st anniversary badges in the kist along with the usual waymarks, so we proudly attach them to our tops. Nothing like a bit of advertising!

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The Southern Upland Way: Scotland's Coast to Coast

From our wild campsite on Manquhill Hill to Sanquhar

Friday 6th April Manquhill Hill to Sanquhar

Friday 6th April
Manquhill Hill to Sanquhar