Walk No 15

Cairnsmore of Carsphairn

For this walk among some of the highest hills in the Southern Uplands we again head for the wide open spaces of the upper Ken Valley. We starts from Craigengillan farm high in this lonely glen of mixed open moor land and regimented rows of spruce trees. This walk takes in a considerable amount of high and rugged hill country and it should only be undertaken by a fit and well prepared hillwalkers. Help is a long way off and carrying as mobile phone may be a sensible precaution even if obtaining a signal can sometimes be difficult.

From Craigengillan a track goes up to Mooorbrock farm, once home to the shepherd poet Tammas Murray, and meanders around the lower slopes of Moorbrock Hill on its way to Clennoch bothy and beyond to the Carsphairn Forest. We don't go as far as that and turn off to the west at the high point on the track between Mooorbrock Hill and our intended peaks of Beninner and Cairnsmore of Carsphairn. There's an old rhyme about the three Cairnsmores in Galloway. There's Cairnsmore O' Fleet and Cairnsmore O' Dee and Cairnsmore O' Carsphairn is the biggest of the three. It certainly is the longest haul to the top of this one but it is well worth the view. Crossing the high and sometimes boggy watershed we come to a steep south-westerly ascent to the saddle between Beninner and Cairnsmore proper.

We can now head up south-easterly to the Beninner which gives amazing views over the Rhinns of Kells and down through Galloway's bonnie Glenkens a land of forests, rivers, lochs and craggy hillsides. The Solway Hills and the Lake District Fells lie off to the south. To the northwest Arran bristles across the Clyde and to the north the blue Highland hills catch the eye. This is a grand place to linger on a good day but Cairnsmore beckons to the northwest. Returning to the col between the two peaks it is a stiff 150 metre climb to the bouldery flat summit of Cairnsmore.

Legend has it that gold was once gathered on the face of Cairnsmore by and illicit coiner called Mr Dodds. Dodds is said to have made counterfeit coins from gold collected at the Gold Wells of Cairnsmore. When the authorities got on to him he is said to have dumped his coining machinery in a deep pond near Carsphairn called the Green Well of Scotland. Dodds was tried in Edinburgh but his fate is unrecorded. In later years the pool was searched by metal detector and a William and Mary coin was found. The only gold that I have seen on Cairnsmore is the plumage on the golden plover that sometimes haunt the summit plateau.

Again this is a place to linger a while. To the north the wind turbines on Windy Standard catch the eye and off to the west the Merrick, highest hill in the Southern Uplands, can be seen rearing over the intervening ridge of Corserine and Carlin's Cairn on the Rhinns of Kells. There are few wild and lonely places left in Dumfries and Galloway but this is one of the best. Sit down and enjoy the view and relax a while to take in the fantastic atmosphere. There can be few better lunch spots in Dumfries and Galloway.

Return is made back via the saddle to the Beninner and on down and across the watershed to the Mooorbrock track. From there it is downhill all the way back to the car. This route is almost 10 miles in distance with an ascent of 2600 feet. Landranger Map Sheet: 77

Dave McFadzean