Читать книгу Walking in the Southern Uplands. 44 best hill days in southern Scotland онлайн

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And what water! Loch Enoch – it’s the Loch Avon of the Southern Uplands. It’s ‘Eskwater’, supposing Lakeland’s majestic Upper Eskdale had the lake it so richly deserves. In March the whooper swans stop off at Loch Enoch – when you’re on your way north to Iceland in one mighty flap, nowhere else quite cuts it.

Acting the goat on the granite and bog? You’re not alone – several dozen actual goats leap about on Craignaw and the Dungeon Hill (Walk 6). A bit defeated at the end of the day? You’re in good company – Robert the Bruce gave the English a bad bashing in the woods above Loch Trool.

But before the rigours of the granite, the Ayrshire coast offers a gentle day out on some very odd rocks (Walk 1), and a boat trip halfway to Arran (Walk 2).

WALK 1

Girvan and Grey Hill

Start/Finish Girvan, south end (NX 183 964) Distance 21km (13 miles) Ascent 750m (2500ft) Approx time 6½hrs Terrain Grassy hills, track, foreshore (rugged in places) Max altitude Grey Hill, 297m Maps Landranger 76 (Girvan); Explorer 317 (Ballantrae) Public transport Girvan station. Bus 54 (Girvan–Stranraer) stops at Lendalfoot to allow a linear walk. Parking Free car park with toilets and snack shack

Walkers spend the morning high up, for the sea views; the afternoon along the coast path, for poking in the rock pools. Grey Hill is a perfect little ridgeline – grassy to walk, with outcrops of odd lumpy rock for decoration. Lurid gorse clashes with a vibrant blue sky. At the trig point, peculiar pink stones form a grassy nook to gaze out at the island of Ailsa Craig.