Wigtownshire Ramblers - Craignelder - August 2012

I'm leader today.

The walk report will be after the pictures.

This is today's hill - Craignelder.

Monument at the Red Deer car park to John McDonald.

"John McDonald memorial, he was a ganging-body (itinerant worker) who died 1878 by the old Brockloch Bridge. When the bridge was replaced in the late 1970s this memorial was built to house the former bridge-side plaque."

Forest road above Craigdews

View to Craigdews. The prominent crag is part of the Wild Goat park.

Ruins of Dunkitterick Cottage, Alexander Murray's Birthplace.

The first bog

Mossy Bank 

Through the forest at Sleekit Knowe and on to the rocky slopes of Craignelder

Views back down to Murray's Monument and Craigdews

Zoomed in goats

I persuaded these lovely ladies to pose...

....and the other two as well (don't get me wrong, they're lovely too)

Final scramble to Craignelder Summit

Millfore Hill Summit

Overlooking Loch Grannoch

Views to Clatteringshaws, Benniguinea and Cairnsmore of Dee

By-passing Craignarget down to Craigenskulk and Millstalk

The butterflies were out by the time we got back to the car park.

Wigtownshire Ramblers Walk Report

Saturday the 25^th of August 2012

A dreich morning saw ten intrepid walkers meet at the Red Deer Car park for the start of the walk to the summit of Craignelder.

The forest road opposite the car park was accessed for the first section of the walk. Colourful Bell heather, Ling and Willow herb (fireweed) grew profusely along the roadside. A wren, a merlin or hobby and swallows were spotted in flight. After a gradual incline, the right fork at a road junction was taken leading down to the remains of Dunkitterick Cottage, the birthplace of Alexander Murray. One of Galloway’s most famous sons, and the son of a shepherd, Alexander Murray learned to read in several languages from a very early age and went on to become a Doctor of Divinity and Chair of Oriental languages at Edinburgh University. Sadly Ill health dogged him most of his life and he died at the age of 37. Murray’s Monument was prominent for much of the walk.

After leaving the cottage, a burn and a bog had to be crossed to reach the next forest road.

The euphoria of being on solid ground was short lived however as a forest ride signified the start of what was to be quite a strenuous climb.  Boggy in places the forest ride was followed up through the braes of Sleekit Knowe.  One ridged, moss covered dry section was delightfully like an oil painting.

After exiting the forest and crossing an old fence, a diagonal route over the boulder strewn hillside led to the rock climbing crags of the Fleshmarket and Big Gairy. This was a slow painstaking climb via tussocks and granite terraces.  Gradually the granite outnumbered the tussocks and the going got easier. Mountain goats were seen above on granite outcrops. 

 A lunch break was taken in a sheltered rocky depression. Midges which had been troublesome in the forest and the lower slopes were happily absent from the dinner table.

Sustained and refreshed after a leisurely break the summit of Craignelder (601) was soon reached. A break was taken to identify surrounding mountains and landmarks. The weather was improving, but distant views were still hazy. The adjoining Meikle Mulltaggart looked especially majestic across the Louran Rig and Deers Den.

Next came one of the highlights of the walk. Family groups of Ravens numbering 12 or 13 passed overhead giving a wonderful aerobatic display of turns and tumbles.

A path passing a mountain lochan now led across to the bigger cairn on the summit of Millfore Hill (602), its higher namesake now in a clear view to the north. Another break just below the summit opened up views to the east and the Lochs Grannoch, Fleet and Clatteringshaws.

The group now began the descent down the Stey Green of Kitterick avoiding Craignarget Hill. More heather and fewer tussocks made the going easy enough till reaching the boggy quad track at Craigenskulk.  A forest ride now led to the forest road at Millstalk. This road now led down to the junction near the Palfern Burn to complete the circuit.

The short distance back to the cars completed what was a more strenuous, but ultimately satisfying walk than was expected.

The next walk on Saturday the 1st of September is a 6 mile cliff top walk from St Ninian's Cave to the Isle of Whithorn.

Meet for car sharing at the Breastworks, Stranraer 9.00am,the Riverside, Newton Stewart 9.30am or the walk start at St Ninian's Car Park (NX 431 366) at 10am. For further details or if going to the start please phone the walk leader on 01988 840268. New members are always welcome.

Wigtownshire Ramblers Murray's Monument Circular October 2011

Saturday the 22nd of October 2011.
Todays walk is a slight variation on one we did in November 2008.
2008 Walk
The weather forecast is a poor one with rain expected in the afternoon.We'll be keeping up a reasonable pace to try and miss it.

There's 14 of us today as we climb up to our first objective, Murray's Monument

No matter how dull the weather there's always a wonderful view from here.

We continue on the through path to join the Talnotry path.

A short walk back downhill gets us to the path which will take us in a south westerly direction over the Black Craigs.

After a steady climb we reach the Talnotry Hill viewpoint.

Directly across the glen is Craignelder. I'll be proposing a walk up there next summer.

We continue along this snaking path keeping a close eye out for mountain bikers.This section is part of the 'Black Route' of the 7 Stanes Mountain Biking Trails

Today we'll give a miss to the Loch of the Lowes. 

(  I walked to the Loch of the Lowes back in March when I got some video of Golden Eye ducks.It's on this post here.Drumlawhinnie and Loch of the Lowes ) or just the video on YouTube at Jimzvidz1 )

Reaching the Old Edinburgh Road we head north east.It's still fairly overcast,but it's staying dry.

Now we reach the adit of the old Talnotry Nickel mine.I apologies for getting it wrong on the walk and saying it was a lead mine. 

Here's some technical information courtesy of Springerlink

Nickel-copper mineralization occurs near the base of a diorite intrusion close to its contact with hornfelsed Ordovician and Silurian shales and greywackes. The principal ore minerals are nickeline, gersdorffite, pyrrhotine, pentlandite and chalcopyrite with minor amounts of molybdenite, tellurobismutite, gold, sphalerite and argentopentlandite. Pyrite, marcasite, violarite and goethite also occur but are interpreted as later alteration products. Much of the pyrrhotine-rich mineralization at the base of the intrusion is in the form of blebs and interstitial aggregates with amphiboles, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, chlorite and quartz. Chalcopyrite-rich and nickeline-gersdorffite-rich mineralization occurs above this and immediately below unmineralized diorite in the form of patches, lenticular masses and stringers along joints and fractures.

Whole rock and ore analyses and electron microprobe data on the silicates, sulphides and sulpharsenides are presented.

The unmineralized diorite has low SiO2 and high MgO contents compared to typical diorites and relatively high Cr, Ni and Ti trace element values. In the mineralized diorite, platinum-group elements occur in very low concentrations in the pyrrhotineand chalcopyrite-rich assemblages but Pt, Pd and Au show significant enrichment in the nickeline-gersdorffite-rich mineralization.

A magmatic origin for the mineralization is proposed rather than formation by hydrothermal solutions or metasomatism.

With a watchful eye on the weather, we decide to have lunch in the relative shelter of the mine entrance.  

After lunch we continue along the old Edinburgh road to reach Black Loch.

As part of the 'Art in the Forest' project,this tall conical art construction was built by Colin Rose (1997) and named  the ‘Eye’. It is covered with a mosaic of small pieces of stone.

A short way along the forest track we access the path to circle the loch.There are ruins of a small stone
structure.Too small to be a sheep pen, it's use was the subject of some speculation.

Our leader,a forestry expert himself points out the girth of a felled Sitca Spruce.
It's roughly 30 years old judging by the rings.

The path takes us down by the beautiful Tonderghie Burn.
The glen further up will be explored by myself sometime in the near future.

Now we retrace our steps back to the Grey Mare's Tail burn where we take the path south.

The next group of pictures are of another part of the 'Art in the Forest' project.

This is the Quorum.

Hidden in an old sheep stell is the ‘Quorum’. This is a group of stone heads carved from local material and set into the walls of this enclosure. Created by Matt Baker and Doug Cocker a few years ago these heads were just the start of a 3-year project called ‘Art in the Galloway Forest Park’.

I managed to fit a few of the faces to those of today's walkers.Quite complimentary I thought.

Further down the path a couple of our more senior walkers recalled bathing in the pool below the upper Grey Mare's Tail waterfall.

We're almost back to the cars and it's still not raining.What a righteous bunch we must be.
It's a shame it's been so dull, a brighter day would have accentuated the wonderful colours.

A final snap on the bridge concludes another excellent walk in the best of company.