Participants - Just me, there were too many sheep and lambs about to take Ben
Where - Cairnkinna Hill, 554m/1,817', Sub-2,000' Marilyn, Map 78, NS 791018
The weather forecast suggested that heavy showers would build throughout the day so I left early and was booted up and on my way before 10 am. This was a new area for me, I had never been up the valley of the Scar water before, The road was single track but well surfaced and there were a few places to pull in close to the start of the track to the house at Woodend. As I left the car, the long south ridge of Cairnkinna Hill was above me.....
The track led across a field and then through a small wood before reaching the house, although on the outward leg I left the track before the house and headed steeply up to the ridge. There were lots of 4WD tracks on the ridge and as it was also grassy, there was no problem underfoot, unlike my last two outings. It was also quite a gentle ascent after the initial steepness was out of the way and it was just a case of heading for the obvious top of Woodend Craig; the main top is further to the right and you can just make out the cairn in this photo.....
The weather was performing as the forecasters had said; showers were pushing in from the west coast and it was looking a bit black over the hills of north Galloway. I stopped to take a picture in that direction and as I did so realised that there was an object showing up on the lens that shouldn't normally be there......
So I quickly put the camera to zoom and took another one.....
I've no idea what type of plane this is; it was completely silent so I hadn't noticed it coming. Very unlike the usual sound barrier breaking jets that you normally see from the hills. And what it was doing spying on the upper Scar valley also remains a mystery!
With the clouds gathering I carried on to the trig and cairn- yet another massive cairn for quite a small hill.....
The Lowther hills are in the background. I thought that the rain might reach me on the descent but although the head of the valley was obviously catching a shower, it remained dry for me and indeed brightened up again. There was a good view to Criffel and the Solway on the way down.....
This is probably the last of the sub-2k Marilyns that I have to do in this area that I can reasonably do in a day trip from home. Everything else is getting to be too far away. Pity as the south of Scotland is often clear when the weather up north is grim. Still, there are a few that I have walked before that I have not yet blogged that certainly deserve another visit.
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