The Rhinns of Kells is a ridge of hills which runs north/south along the eastern border of the Galloway Forest Park. It is some 17km long as the crow flies and offers several very impressive days' walking from a variety of starting points. Routes which we have used are shown on the "Map of the Rhinns" page which will print onto an A4 sheet, not to be used as the map which you will navigate by but as a handy reference to get the overall feel of the place in your head.
There are three ridges running north/south in the northern half of the Galloway Forest Park - the Awful Hand, The Dungeon Hills and the Kells Range. In many ways this whole area comprised of these ridges, the lower land between them and the rivers and lochs you find there is the real heart of the Galloway Hills. This area has been called the "Cradle of Scottish Independence" because it was there that Robert the Bruce took refuge when being hunted by English armies and their "Scottish" sympathisers in the early 14th Century. Since 1300 is only 234 years after the Battle of Hastings and the ensuing period between the two dates is dominated by Norman power politics, the terms "English" and "Scottish" as far as the main power brokers of nobility go take a bit of unravelling - many of the leading Scottish nobility having Norman lineage, lands and loyalties in England. Bruce himself fitting into that scenario.
I have provided a map of this area so that you can get a feeling of the relationship between these three ridges and the hills and lochs they contain. I have called it a "Map of North Galloway (Cradle of Independence)" and this map will again print on A4 paper.