Mountains in the Range of the Awful Hand

Summary

Merrick & Benyellary are mountains on the south side of the Galloway Forest Park near Dumfries. They are one of many mountains in the Galloways and is said to be the highest in the area! Usually, the hike is an out and back route, starting and finishing from Bruce’s Stone at Loch Trool. The trail is 4 miles uphill to the summit, passing through a small steep forest sections, along with excellent views of nearby lochs such as Enoch and Arron. There is also an option to make the route into a loop down to the lochs from the summit, but be cautious, there isn’t any visible path from Merrick until you reach Loch Enoch.

Also, the descent is extremely steep. I would recommend following the animal tracks on the descent.

The Hike

We began the day a bit later than usual, mainly because I found out I had a flat tyre that morning. Also, there was a road closed in the Galloway Park due to resurfacing. This set us back almost a full morning! It felt like we weren’t supposed to climb this mountain. Eventually, we arrived at Bruce’s Stone. This is where the beginning of the 4-mile climb started from, sign posted ‘Merrick Trail’. The path climbed high above the valley below, through a plantation of ferns, and alongside a noisy, but picturesque waterfall. Whilst we continued on the narrow-rugged surface, it was great to feel like we were somewhere completely different.

The terrain and landscape made it feel wild and remote.

Meanwhile, the route brought us to a derelict bothy at Kilsharg. From here, the path continued upwards, climbing steeply through the trees. This was quite challenging due to the path being so uneven, however, this was the steepest section of the hike, taking us onto the forestry track to the first summit of ‘Benvellary’. As the track gradually climbed higher, the clouds began to set in, making visibility poor. It was wet, cold, and extremely windy. We couldn’t see a thing. I was slightly annoyed; I could see the faint ridgeline that would take us to ‘Merrick’ and I knew there would have been great views here. By this point, it was late on in the day. A good excuse for some lunch. The wind was howling, giving us no choice but to shelter behind a wall. It was a complete white out, until suddenly, the clouds blew passed.

“Wow! Look at that!” I said

We both quickly jumped up, taking in the outstanding views of the Lochs and rolling terrain that were hidden. The silence of the passing clouds felt dramatic.

After lunch, we continued on upwards along the ridgeline up to ‘Merrick’. Unfortunately, the summit was still covered in cloud, so we didn’t see much. Beyond the summit, it wasn’t until we began to descend to Loch valley that things started to become interesting. To reach the valley there wasn’t a path, I had to use my compass and map just for direction, but still, there wasn’t a visible path on the map. The hillside started to fall away right beneath us. It was clear why only a handful of people go this way; it was extremely steep. I could see a faint path at the bottom of the Loch, but this seemed to be miles away. We didn’t realise how high up we were.

Meanwhile, we arrived at the foot of the Loch. I started to panic slightly; I couldn’t see a path. We were in the middle of nowhere and slightly lost. Eventually, we found a very narrow path alongside the Loch, which involved a lot of guesswork. The path was barely visible. As we continued, the path rose upwards to a wide valley. The track became less and less visible, and I was beginning to think we had gone wrong. Unfortunately, we had!

As we continued, conditions became extremely boggy, whilst we navigated our way through heather, thick patches of peat, and over a river crossing. It was awful! It took us hours until we were on a track. We both felt exhausted and couldn’t wait to get back to the car. Hours later when we arrived back, I looked on the map on Strava and it turned out that we had missed the trail by metres at Loch Enoch. Although I was frustrated about not completing the full route, I had to remember it will always be there and is one to definitely come back and do again. However, if you are going to try and complete this route, make sure you know exactly where you are going when you arrive at Loch Enoch. Otherwise, you will have a nightmare of a descent like we had.

It’s what makes it part of the adventure when things start to go wrong.

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