Southern Upland Way: The Lowther Hills

Friday 26th May 2023

When I reached the village of Sanquhar the previous day I asked at the Tolbooth Museum about possible camping locations and I was directed to Newark Farm where the proprietor, the lovely Francis Barbour, offered me bed and breakfast instead and the temptation of a shower and a comfortable bed proved impossible to resist. The previous night I had camped surrounded by millions of midges, which had left me traumatised and covered in bites, so I was grateful for the chance to recover and, after a lovely night and an even lovelier breakfast, I set off from Sanquhar. The weather was again stunning with hardly a cloud in the sky and I reflected about how extraordinarily lucky I have been with the weather in Scotland in recent years, just not at Easter in the Yorkshire Dales. A steady climb took me out of Sanquhar up grassy hills and between Conrig Hill and Willowgrain Hill before descending to the delightful Cogshead, which is a quiet, secluded valley. Hidden there on the trail is a hoard of treasure revealed by the word “ultreia” on the trail post coming down into the valley, but I could not find any sign of the kist that contains the specially minted coins for the Southern Upland Way that should be at Cogshead. When I reached the word “ultreia” on the other side of the valley I dumped my bag and retraced my steps to hunt for the treasure, but eventually I had to give up. This was the second kist on the Southern Upland Way that I had not been able to find, but I was happy with the ones that I had found so far and at least it won’t add to the weight of my rucksack!

Soon, I was climbing out of the valley again and over the grassy hills north of Glengaber Hill before descending on an excellent well-graded path that took me into the valley of Wanlock Water with the village of Wanlockhead, the highest in Scotland, clearly in view. At the bottom I slowly made my way up the valley passing the relics of lead mining that used to be carried out in this area. Information boards described what used to happen in the valley and I stopped to read them all, fascinated by the industry, and the labour intensive process that was required to extract the lead. The track became a road and after a while the Southern Upland Way branched off onto the route of an old tramway that took me up into Wanlockhead. This is a fascinating area, which would merit spending some time there. The official schedule for the trail stops at Wanlockhead after walking just eight miles specifically to give you time to explore, but I wanted to keep going, though a return visit would be a very good idea. I passed through the village and was struck by its Alpine feel due to being the highest village in Scotland, which I was seeing at its best in fabulous weather. I’m sure it doesn’t look so appealing when the mist in down. I continued to climb up the hill, out of the village and towards the golf ball, a radar station, at the top of Lowther Hill.

The views got better and better in all directions, across the Lowther Hills, as I climbed. My attention soon moved away from the views over Wanlockhead to those north towards Shortcleuch Reservoir, east towards the top of Lowther Hill and south down the Mennock Pass. I slowly continued the climb, crossing the access road for the radar station several times, while the view prompted me to stop many times to take pictures until eventually I turned to pass just the south of the summit of Lowther Hill and cross the slopes past a metal box-shelter, known as the lunchbox. This is the highest point on the Southern Upland Way, easily beating the previous highest point so far, on Benbrack, by about a hundred and fifty metres. There were extensive views south into wide, tree-filled Nithdale while east the Lowther Hills continued over a complex range of grassy hills. The views north-east were less appealing across the vast Clyde Wind Farm where hardly any of the turbines were turning. When the weather is as good as this it is fabulous to be at the top of a hill and to take in the awesome views. The path took me slowly down the hill before climbing up to the top of Cold Moss and along the ridge to descend to another col where a final climb took me up Laght Hill.

Half way up I came across a trail post with the word “ultreia” hidden at the bottom, which I thought was rather sneaky as the word is usually at the top of the post, just underneath the trail symbol, so I kept my eyes peeled, but all I could see was the broken wall beside the path. Eventually I reached the top of the hill and there I found the kist with its hoard of coins, however with hindsight I have realised that the coin I took should have been at Cogshead, so maybe both hoards were there? I’ll have to return sometime. The trail continued over the hill and steeply down to reach a road, which was fast, but quiet and eventually I left the road to cross fields and reach the Potrail Water. After crossing a bridge I stopped and threw up my tent beside the burn in a lovely spot not far from the edge of a conifer plantation. I had been feeling as if my wild camping spots so far on this holiday had not been very enjoyable, especially the night before Sanquhar when I was besieged by midges, but this site was recommended by the ramblingman.org.uk website and in this weather it was divine. And there were no midges! This was an amazing walk as it was great to up high on the Lowther Hills in sensational weather and Wanlockhead was interesting so it would merit a return visit and that was the first time I’d thought that on this trail.

Southern Upland Way: The Scaur Hills

Thursday 25th May 2023

My overnight camp before this walk was a big mistake. I had miscalculated how much food I would need so I had to get to the village of Sanquhar before the end of the day or I would not have anything to eat for dinner. To that end I had set off again along the trail during the evening and eventually stopped beside Blackmark Plantation as the sun was setting, but I was besieged by midges that followed me into the tent and again the following morning as I tried to have my breakfast and get ready. After this horrible end to the day and an even worse start to the next day I consequently had many midge bites around my face so I was more than happy to get away from the savage beasties. Since I had never done any walking in the Southern Uplands before, in my naivety I thought midges were only found in the Highlands, but now I discovered that there are plenty of midges there and they come out earlier than further north. Cloudless skies and no wind was encouraging the midges so I broke camp as quickly as possible and set off again along the Southern Upland Way, crossing the Stroanfreggan Burn and taking a path that climbed through boggy, grassy moorland as I gradually approached another conifer plantation. Thanks to the lack of wind the turbines of Wether Hill Wind Farm were barely turning and I was soon getting hot from the climb until eventually I crossed the fence into the plantation and continued the climb through the trees into the Scaur Hills.

The trail followed the top of a ridge that escapes the conifers and initially climbs to the top of Manquhill Hill, which at 421 metres was easily the highest point on the Southern Upland Way so far. The western slopes of Manquhill Hill were decorated with cotton grass which provided me with a great foreground to the views across to Cairnsmore of Carsphairn, one of the highest peaks in Scotland, south of Glasgow, while behind me were extensive views to the Galloway Hills, but I was more concerned about the view before me towards Benbrack, which was a steep hill that soon I was going to have to climb. The ridge descended for a bit before starting the ascent up grassy slopes where I stopped frequently to admire the views behind which were dominated by Cairnsmore while the Galloway Hills became rather hazy. Eventually I reached the summit where there is a trig point and a huge sculpture of an arch made of stone. At 580 metres above sea level, Benbrack is one of the highest hills on the Southern Upland Way and I was thankful that I was there with clear skies overhead and enjoyed the feeling of being up high as I followed a fence along the ridge passing over Mid Hill and up Cairn Hill to reach Black Hill where I turned north. The trail now began to descend and entered a conifer plantation, though large areas were felled.

After passing Allan’s Cairn the path plunged into a dark covering of conifers where some fallen trees had to be negotiated until eventually I emerged on the other side where the descent steepened taking me all the way down to the Chalk Memorial Bothy near Polskeoch. This had originally been my planned overnight stop, but since my second day on the trail I had been a couple of hours ahead of schedule and following my mad dash the previous evening it was now lunchtime so instead of stopping overnight at the bothy I stopped there for lunch. I wish I had stayed there as it is just a single, large room, which would have made for a great atmosphere, though it is not far from a road so the people who stay there may not be serious walkers. After a rest and refilling my water bottles I set off along the track that soon became a road and into the valley of the Scaur Water, which lends its name to the hills in this area. At first I thought the valley was very bleak with bare, grassy slopes, typically British, but once I finally came off the road and began to climb the side of the hill I was able to see the whole valley and appreciate its charms. Beautifully decorated trail posts with encouraging messages down one side directed me across the side of the hill where I had good views down the valley which steepens pleasingly, especially around Glenwhargen Crag, which looks stunning.

Meanwhile, below Cloud Hill, my attention was arrested back to the path because I had just come across the word “ultreia” on a post which indicates that a hoard of treasure is ahead concealed in a kist, one of thirteen on the Southern Upland Way. So I kept my eyes out and soon I saw something that didn’t look natural and when I investigated I found something marked with the thistle trail sign and inside the kist were specially minted coins. After pocketing one I returned to the footpath and soon entered an area of recently planted conifers before finally climbing up to the top of the ridge and up to the northern slopes of Whing Head. Now I had a long, gradual descent with the broad valley of Nithdale and the village of Sanquhar in the distance ahead of me. I was in no hurry and enjoyed the descent that eventually brought me into Sanquhar where I briefly walked beside the River Nith before passing Sanquhar Castle and along Castle Street into the village. This was a very hilly day on the Southern Upland Way as I crossed the Scaur Hills which includes the highest point on the trail so far. With hindsight I shouldn’t have done my mad dash the previous evening as I could have just gotten up early and so avoided my nightmare overnight camp. Though my day didn’t start well, once I got going I had clear blue skies which made for great views and so long as I kept on drinking I was able to have an enjoyable walk.