:: Monday 14th May

THE CRADLE OF SCOTLAND'S INDEPENDENCE

Glentrool and its environs are described as “The Cradle of Scotland’s Independence” by Andrew McCormick in his authoritative book “Galloway: The spell of its Hills and Glens”. This walk starts and ends at Bruce’s Stone overlooking one of Scotland’s finest views, Loch Trool.

This walk is not particularly arduous but as with all Galloway upland areas due respect should be given to the terrain, weather and time of the year.

It is assumed that anyone attempting the walk has suitable clothing and the ability to navigate should the need arise. Before leaving your car make certain it is locked and nothing is on view that could attract the unwelcome attention of thieves who, sadly, do target our beauty spots.

However, on with the walk following a route that arguably gives some of the finest views of the four ranges in the Galloway Hills.

We take the path to Bruce’s Stone and as you read the inscription imagine that it is March 1307 and you are Robert the Bruce, high on the lofty grandeur of the hill at your back, the Fell of Eschoncan. You watch the march of the English soldiers along the narrow defile that skirted the opposite shore of Loch Trool walking into the ambush set for them at the Steps of Trool, lying at the foot of the 1800 feet steep sided Mulldonoch. You sound the bugle that resonates around the glen signalling an avalanche of boulders on the unsuspecting soldiers. Those who fled eastwards ran straight into your men who put them to the sword.

Somehow it is difficult to equate the tranquillity and beauty of this area with the spilling of blood, not only in 1307, but also in 1685 during the Covenanting times.

When Bruce traversed the hills around Loch Trool they were covered with native deciduous trees affording him total cover. Today the hills are denuded of oak, rowan and birch replaced in 1947 by the fast growing Sitka Spruce. The village of Glentrool did not exist until 1953.

As we look eastward towards the broad valley of the Glenhead Burn the remnants of the native sessile oak fringe the first mile of our walk along a track to Glenhead farm. We cross a bridge over the Buchan Burn built in 1851 by Randolph, Ninth Earl of Galloway. An inscription from Sir Walter Scott’s poetry appropriately reads:

“Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,
Land of my sires ! what mortal hand
Can e’er untie the filial band
That knits me to thy rugged strand.”

The farmstead at Buchan was built in 1856 in the style of a turreted baronial-looking small castle, and although it does look out of place it adds a romantic touch to the glen. The Buchan and Glenhead, along with a number of other former homesteads, gave shelter to many a traveller, and I have been privileged to read one of the guest books revealing an interesting insight into the type of person who passed this way in the past two hundred years, including the odd well known literary figure.

A few hundred yards before reaching Glenhead we branch right over the Glenhead Burn to join the Southern Upland Way, the 212-mile footpath running from Portpatrick in the west to Cockburnspath in the east. It is now twenty years since this long distance footpath was opened, and I recently again viewed Jimmie McGregor’s television programme and it certainly did justice to the beauty of Loch Trool. The next stretch follows the Southern Upland way for two kilometres and on leaving the trees your right hand is dominated by Bennanbrack and Culeywee with the ridge of White Hill running towards, the still out of sight, Loch Dee. Continue to the watershed at Dargall Lane where you leave the comfort of manmade roads and strike up the ever-steepening ridge leading to the high point of our walk, Craiglee.

If we are fortunate enough to be blessed with a clear day the surrounding vistas are quite magnificent. Looking back to our starting point the appetite is whetted to what only gets better further into the walk. Due south are the Minnigaff Hills, south easterly the white sands of Loch Dee glisten and beyond Clatteringshaws. In the northeast the Rhinns of Kells seem to extend forever with Corserine their highest point. Swinging our gaze a little further anti-clockwise the Cooran Lane takes our eye to the boggy Silver Flowe, a Sight of Special Scientific Interest where a number of people have perished. Looking due north the rugged granite of the Dungeon Hills lie starkly bare, and in the distant north west the Awfu Hand Range peeks its tops over the Buchan ridge with the Merrick proudly standing above all others.

The walk now follows the high ground overlooking two of Galloway’s hidden jewels, the Glenhead Lochs, shimmering in the afternoon sun, and in the distance the pendant of all the lochs running southerly from Loch Doon, Loch Trool, but from the elevated position the sheer magnificence of the view takes the breath away. The route continues along the Rig of Jarkness, a name that is believed to have both Gaelic and Norse derivations, and can mean ridge of the lonely desolate waste, or ridge of the head of the cataract. Both are equally descriptive. Walking along the Rig to your right hand are Loch Narroch, Loch Valley and Loch Neldricken where the Murder Hole, immortalised in S. R. Crockett’s “The Raiders”, can be found.

The next part of the walk can be dictated by the quantity of water flowing from Loch Valley into the Gairland Burn. McBain in his “Merrick and the Neighbouring Hills suggests that some form of dam existed at the outflow of Loch Valley, and during the salmon run the sluice gates would be opened enabling them to swim upstream from Loch Trool. This hypothesis is most unlikely.

If the Gairland Burn is running high the safest route is to remain on the east bank and follow it downhill to Glenhead and retrace your steps along the rough road to Bruce’ Stone. However, if it is safe, cross the Gairland Burn a short distance from Loch Valley and take the well trodden, but often muddy, path around Buchan Hill. By taking this route the final kilometre to Buchan Farm is gently downhill with “The Cradle of Scotland’s Independence”, Loch Trool, as your final backdrop.

This walk is a good introduction to the Galloway Hills giving a variety of terrains and certainly a succession of wonderful views, and if you look carefully wildlife abounds in the air and on the ground.

Depending on our meanderings the total distance could be ten miles.