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WALK 6

The Dungeon Hills

Start/Finish	Lower car park at Bruce’s Stone (NX 414 803)
Distance	19km (12 miles)
Ascent	1050m (3500ft)
Approx time	7–8hrs
Terrain	Small rough paths, rough grassy hillsides and bare granite slabs
Max altitude	Mullwarchar, 692m
Maps	Landranger 77 (Dalmellington); Explorer 318 (Galloway N); Harveys Galloway Hills
Parking	The lower Bruce’s Stone car park, with a ‘dual carriageway’ layout
Variant	Omit all three hills for a good bad-weather outing or short day past Lochs Valley and Neldricken to Galloway’s central mystery, lovely Loch Enoch – 11.5km (7 miles) with 600m (2000ft) of ascent (about 4½hrs)

Three ridges around the edge of the Galloway Hills include Merrick, Shalloch and Corserine, all with Corbett (2000-footer) status. But these ridges, like the Sanctuary around Annapurna, only conceal the inner hills – Craignaw, Mullwarchar and the Dungeon – and their unique little land of granite and standing water.

The land is home to grey mists, black peat and a herd of shaggy mountain goats, as well as the Murder Hole at the end of Loch Neldricken. There could have been an even more murderous hole in the middle of Mullwarchar, where it was planned to deposit nuclear waste hoping protesters wouldn’t even be able to pronounce it. The Devil’s Bowling Green, with balls as big as sheep, is a ‘green’ that’s actually granite. And there’s a special secret – high, wild Loch Enoch has an island, and that island itself contains a very small loch.

As the clouds descend onto the peaty holes and the rock slabs, in no time at all you’re a lost walker. A lost walker within a (misty) mystery, wrapped within a secret, inside 30km of lochans and bog...

Continue up the road beyond the lower car park for 10 metres, then take a small informal path through woods on its right. After 150 metres this arrives at Bruce’s Stone, perched high above Loch Trool.

Keep ahead towards the loch head to find a small descending path where the peat is eroded down to bare rock. It joins a track descending from the car park to cross a bridge over Buchan Burn, then pass Buchan house. After 250 metres take a field gate on the left, with a signboard for Loch Valley, for the start of a rough path.

Loch Valley outflow

The path slants up through bracken, then curves round into the valley of the Gairland Burn. Where it arrives beside the burn, there’s a comfortable ‘seat stone’ beside the stream. The path runs up to the left of the burn to arrive at the outflow of Loch Valley. It passes to the left of Loch Valley, rather soft and wet. The path here is divided, with the left-hand and slightly higher branch eventually bearing up left to the Murder Hole. The Murder Hole is described in Walk 5.

Short-cut – the three lochs

Even without the three Dungeon Hills, any visit to Loch Enoch is a rugged and rewarding hill day. This direct way to Loch Enoch reverses part of Walk 5. At the corner of Loch Valley, take the more obvious path ahead, about 200 metres to the left of Mid Burn. It bends left as it rises around the flank of Meaul, then joins Loch Neldricken at its southwest corner (the Murder Hole).

Head around the loch corner, crossing a stream, then follow the path up in a straight line, just east of north, with a small stream on its right. Loch Arron is just visible on your right, then the path passes through a tiny grassy pass for the very slight drop to Loch Enoch.

Turn left along the shoreline for 250 metres to the loch’s southwest corner, and here rejoin the main route.

For the main route over the Dungeon Hills, at the corner of Loch Valley look out for the smaller path on the right, which runs up to the left of the Mid Burn. Cross the stream, then follow it up to the outflow of Loch Neldricken.

A very small wet path follows the loch’s southern shore. After 500 metres, opposite a long promontory from the northern shore, turn uphill. Follow a broad spur-line up east onto the ridge of Craignaw. Along the broad crest the going is rather good, with slabs of bare granite leading up to Craignaw summit cairn.

The way off Craignaw is a little awkward even in clear weather. The best way down is to head just west of north (effectively, due north magnetic) over a small rise to find the top of a steep grassy valley. Head down this (still north) for 150 metres until below a band of rocks. Now contour left, with a slight rise onto a flat-topped spur. Here is the boulder-sprinkled slab called the Devil’s Bowling Green. Follow the spur’s flat top northwest, until a small path leads north down off its end to the col at Wolf Slock. Wolf Slock is named ‘Nick of the Dungeon’ on Harvey’s and OS Explorer maps.

Here, at a cairn, the faint path divides. Ahead up to Craignairny takes in a fine view of Loch Enoch, but simpler is to take the path slanting up to the right, northeast. After 800 metres it fades away on the complicated knolly plateau. Keep ahead, to the plateau’s eastern corner, to find the cairned high point of Dungeon Hill.

Descend northwest, over complex ground; but even in mist Mullwarchar is a nice large target to aim for. Pass through the wide col northeast of Loch Enoch and take the grassy slopes of Mullwarchar to its top.

Merrick from the granite slabs of Mullwarchar

In the 1980s Mullwarchar was mooted as a storage point for high level nuclear waste, to be sealed for millions of years in holes drilled deep into its granite lump. Doing anything at all with nuclear waste is a sure-fire vote loser for any party, and the radioactive waste still sits in an evil heap at Sellafield in Cumbria for future generations to deal with.

Descend southwest to cross the outflow of Loch Enoch. A small wet path leads along the loch’s west shore, rising a little above it to arrive just above its southwest corner. Walkers on the ‘Three lochs’ short-cut, as well as those diverting from Walk 5, join at this point.

A fence and wall run up from the loch corner in a grassy hollow. At the top of the hollow, head up onto the ridgeline on the left, Rig of Loch Enoch. A small path follows the crest of this southwest, all the way to Buchan Hill.

A small preliminary cairn is actually the 493m high point, with the main cairn 300 metres further on. The summit ridge bends right, southwest, to a final cairn.

Slant down southwest. The upper slope of Buchan Hill has low crags called Black Gairy. The southwest direction from the summit leads into a wide grassy gap, with a rough path continuing below.

Continue slanting southwest, towards Buchan Burn. After some very rough ground near the burn, it may be possible to cross the burn to a well-used path on the western bank, and this leads down to the car park. Alternatively, if the stream is in spate, head straight downhill towards Buchan house to rejoin the track there and head up right to the car park.