Wigtownshire Ramblers Rowantree/Haggis Hill Circular June 2012

It's Saturday the last day of June 2012.I'm heading out for a tough walk with the group in South Ayrshire.

We're a group of eleven intrepid walkers who meet up at the Bell Memorial Car Park.

We move the cars on half a mile down the Balloch road to park underneath Rowantree Hill which will be our first objective.

Today's leader is Slew with the 'Teacher' as back up. They had better weather for the recce.

                                             Knowing how unfit I am, I'm not sure how I'll get on.

Ready for the climb, it's quite cloudy but dry at the moment.

It's straight into climbing from here. Wish I'd bought those Andrea Boldrini Apache climbing shoes now.

Looking north.

Most of the distant views are in haze or mist, so I'll be enhancing them with my Picasa software.

Looking south from Rowantree Hill.

That's Loch Moan below. A favourite Osprey nesting site.

Heading west we're approaching Craigenreoch Hill.

My fellow bloggers Alex and Bob's Blue Sky Scotland climbed up here back in 2010.

The weather wasn't good that day either.

Here at the trig point atop Craigenreoch our leader points out far off places of interest.

I've zoomed in to get this picture of Ailsa Craig.

From Craigenreoch it's an undulating and quite boggy track that takes us over Polmaddie Hill to Pinbreck Hill.

We get a view of the distillery down by Girvan.

The clouds are closing in.

Here's one of our favourite hills, Knockdolian.

The rain fairly tipples down as a heavy shower passes over.

Now from Pinbreck a change of direction takes us up and over Changue to Haggis Hill.

I zoom in again towards Girvan.

Grant's Distillery

The windy Balloch Burn looks a picture from the slopes of Haggis Hill.

It's a steep descent. Some walkers zigzag down, others take the direct route.

I zoom in back uphill to take a couple of snaps of  those on their backsides.

I'll save them any embarrassment by not publishing said pictures.  

After a quite dodgy crossing of the Balloch Burn we settle down to a lunch break.

Our leader and deputy admire the flora and fauna.

Time for a group photo. I too get in a group shot, it's over on Slew's pages

After lunch we follow the Balloch Burn for a while before taking to the slopes of Glengap Hill.

Walking on a slope like this is tough going. 

I suggest to the walk leader I take the shortest route to the road when we reach the Corrn Roy, the burn that flows down the 'Nick of the Balloch'.

The parting of the ways. At the Corrn Roy, our leader gives us the choice of  climbing up to Witches Bridge, or following him south up the burn.

Six of us head up to the bridge to walk the road back to the cars, suffice it to say that those who went with the leader chose the more gradual route home. 

You live and learn !

It's been pouring down with another very heavy shower as we get into the cars. Shorty's boot was swimming with water back at Newton Stewart.

Despite getting wet it was a great walk.