On Saturday, we decided to tackle the Merrick (2764 feet), the highest mountain in southern Scotland. The closest car park for sat nav is the Loch Trool Visitor's centre. But you'll want to keep going along the tarmac road until you reach the car park for Bruce's Stone. It's not signposted but it'll be pretty obvious when you get there - you can't drive any further! This two-way road is very narrow so do drive carefully as you will meet oncoming traffic.
Walk up the road from the car park for around 70 yards, then climb the bank on your right hand side to find Bruce's Stone, which overlooks Loch Trool. The stone marks Robert the Bruce’s first victory over an English army in 1307 during the Scottish Wars of Independence. It's also considered to be the start of the Merrick trail.
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| Another view from Bruce's Stone |
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| Buchan Burn and kissing gate
Around 30 minutes later, we reached this clearing and spotted the Culsharg bothy, a cottage that was once used by shepherds and is now a shelter for walkers. The trees in the distance mark the next stage of the trail. I believe this area used to be more heavily populated with trees but a massive outbreak of disease has forced the Forestry Commission to perform drastic felling. Just look at the difference between these two photos.
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| Culsharg bothy Next, we headed through what was left of the forest. This was a fairly steep, but less rocky, climb which took us out of the 'forest zone' and into the 'montane zone.' At certain times of year, the montane zone marks the start of a beautiful area of flora and fauna. Being early April, there was very little to see. |
Now we were onto the toughest, steepest part of the whole trail. Calves were starting to burn as we made our first ascent, but a quick stop for a can of Irn Bru provided much needed rejuvenation. Finally, the end was in sight. The peak of the Merrick is at the top right side of the picture and is around 25 minutes walk from this point. Phew!
There was still a bit of snow at the summit, and the wind noticeably picked up. It was cold, but we found shelter behind a large rock to eat our lunch and drink our restorative can of irn bru.
Then it was time to do the return walk downhill. I didn't find this too hard on the calves but my companion did complain occasionally, so I'll leave that one open to debate. There is a different route you can take back but it's known for being boggy. More information can be found online if you're interested.
On the way back to Newton Stewart we stopped at The House O'Hill hotel. I was pretty chuffed to discover they sold Farmer Jims cider as the Dumfries and Galloway area is not known for it's independent choice of drinks. Sadly, I think the box was left over from a recent beer and music weekend. But I hear they do those regularly so if you're a cider fan you might be in luck. The House O'Hill also comes highly recommended for locally sourced food and we were disappointed not to have the time to try it. We would definitely recommend fitting this pub into your Merrick climb.
