The Black Loch

One of our favourite short walks is a loop into the Galloway Forest from the Queen’s Road between Newton Stewart and New Galloway. The route starts with a steep pull up to Murray’s Monument. The impressive monument was erected in 1835 in memory of Alexander Murray, a local shepherd boy who later became Professor of Oriental Languages at Edinburgh University. The path goes off behind the monument then continues steeply up to join a forestry track leading to the Black Loch. On the edge of the loch is an 8 metre high conical sculpture called ‘The Eye’ made from fragments of terracotta tile fragments. It was created by Colin Rose in 1997 as part of an art project in Galloway Forest Park.

On the return part of the loop there is another sculpture installation built into the stone walls of an old sheepfold. This one, called ‘Quora’ was created by Matt Baker as part of the same art project as ‘The Eye’ and consists of several carved granite heads set into the walls.

A short but steep walk up and over a ridge then leads back down to the car park on the Queen’s Road.

Snowy Walk

On Tuesday mornings in the winter months a group of us go for a local stroll to work up an appetite for the Borgue Coffee Morning. We had a surprise in the middle of March when we had a fall of heavy, wet snow while we were out walking. It had all melted by later that afternoon.

Brecon Baroque Festival

After a two year break due to COVID, the Brecon Baroque Festival was back in business again this year. We made the trek down there, via a wet afternoon at the new RHS garden at Bridgewater, and enjoyed five excellent concerts over the four days of the festival. The first two concerts were in Brecon Cathedral and the others were in the Theatr Brycheiniog. We stayed at Camden Lodge, a very comfortable bed & breakfast and also enjoyed some good local food at the restaurants and pubs around Brecon.

Brecon Baroque Festival

We made our second visit to the Brecon Baroque music festival in October 2019. We arrived in Brecon along with some torrential downpours and there was widespread flooding in the area.

The River Usk in Brecon

Most of the concerts went ahead as planned although one of them had to be relocated from Cantref Church due to flooded roads.

Elizabeth Kenny’s theorbo before her concert in the Plough Chapel
Brecon Baroque in Brecon Cathedral

We managed a few walks in the Brecon Beacons National Park, including a circuit of the waterfalls after the flood waters has receded.

Sgwd yr Eira Waterfall
Sgwd y Pannwr

Gerald’s Last Munro

Carn Liath

Gerald was one of our group of friends who meet periodically for skiing, kayaking and other outdoor pursuits. Unfortunately he died from cancer in early 2019 and his family decided that they would like to scatter his ashes on top of one of the Munros. Carn Liath, near Blair Atholl, was chosen as the location and we had a large group of family and friends to make the trek to the summit.

Gabrielle starting up the steeper section of the path

The route up Carn Liath is pretty obvious and the path has recently been much improved with the installation of stone steps along most of the route where there used to be steep scree slopes.

A toast to Gerald on the summit

A Walk through Rusko Woods

We took a walk up the Big Water of Fleet through Rusko Woods to Pool Ness waterfall. There’s a good track most of the way through the woods but it gets a bit muddy in the last section to the waterfall and back up the hillside to the road.

Track through Rusko Woods
Big Water of Fleet
Inscription on rock at Pool Ness
Panorama at Pool Ness

Galloway Beagle Bash

A number of our skiing friends from “Team Beagle” came to visit in September to sample the delights of sunny Galloway. Outdoor activities included kayaking, swimming, walking and cycling. Local history and culture was encountered in Kirkandrews and Kirkcudbright. The Craig Cottage blackcurrant gin was sampled along with a few other tasty beverages and a stroll along to the local Wine o’ Clock session.

The Devil’s Bowling Green

A hike with Cathy and Ros, starting from Bruce’s Stone along the Buchan Ridge into the heart of the Galloway Hills. The walk started with a stiff climb up Buchan Hill, giving good views back down to Loch Trool.Loch Trool

We followed the Rig of Loch Enoch to Craig Neldricken where a short detour leads round to the “Grey Man of Merrick”, a rock outcrop resembling a face staring back down the valley.

We skirted around Craig Neldricken and Craignairy, heading for the Nick of the Dungeon, passing this little lochan with good views across to Benyellary, Merrick and Kirriereoch Hill.

Cathy and Ros with the Nick of the Dungeon and the Rhinns of Kells beyond.

From the Nick of the Dungeon we hiked up to the granite plateau of the Devil’s Bowling Green for a lunch stop. Craignaw is the hill in the background.

We headed down the slopes of Craignaw to skirt around the right side of Loch Neldricken then followed the long track down the valley past Loch Valley and along the Gairland Burn back to the head of Loch Trool.Loch Enoch