South
West Scotland Hill
Walking Routes - with
Maps , Photo Galleries and Local Information for every route,
also Coastal Walks in the three local National Scenic Areas.
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South
West Scotland is a haven for the hill walker who wishes to be alone, or
with a friend or two in spectacular scenery well away from the over-used
routes you find elsewhere. There are also coastal paths to walk in 3 National
Scenic Areas and amid places of considerable historic interest.
This website is mainly aimed at the active potential visitor who is looking
for practical and informed local knowledge. But, for those who can't get
to Scotland's outdoors, the virtual walks in the web galleries offer the
chance to see what it is like to walk in this less frequented area of Scotland.
The walks are described using plenty of pictures that take you sequentially
along the routes from start to finish - with maps; where to park; historical
and navigational information; and an attempt to convey the difficulties
and joys of walking wild country - in a country that has enshrined in law
the right to roam at will. |
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South West Scotland has
4 large areas of hill country as shown in the accompanying map.
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The most spectacular of these for size and remoteness
is the Galloway Hills. Here
you can find many routes which will give you a good hard full day's walking
with plenty of spectacular views of hill and loch.
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The
Borders Hills area, like the
Galloway Hills, is extensive and has several distinct ranges within the
area, probably the most popular of these being the Moffat hills where there
are some walks which would be hard to beat anywhere for visual interest
on a 5/6 hour walk. |
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Scaur Hills are probably the
least frequented and least known about. They are mainly small in scale though
quite shapely and make for relatively easy days on the hill. |
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Lowthers offer more of a challenge
than this but with a good mixture of easy and full day routes. |
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is a Chart of hills over
600 metres with links directly to web galleries in which they appear |
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National Scenic
Areas
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are 3
National Scenic Areas in the South West of Scotland. You will
find them listed together in Other
Walks Since these walks are away from the main hill ranges they are
ideal if you are looking for something less strenuous. Some involve almost
no hill climbing at all. |
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This area of Scotland
is very much steeped in the history of the nation.
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example the national bard Robert
Burns is buried in Dumfries,
the Galloway hills have been called the "Cradle of Independence"
because of the Robert
the Bruce connection, St
Ninian brought Christianity to Scotland at Whithorn around 397 A.D.,
the Ruthwell Cross
is one of Europe's outstanding sculptures of the early 8th century. The
south west of Scotland was the heartland of the Covenanting
movement of the 17th century. Even in the 20th century Garlieston
was a centre for the development of the Mulberry
Harbour. We include such references as we go along. |
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Freedom of Access
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| Freedom of access,
the right to roam where you choose, was written into the Scottish Constitution
by the new Parliament
in Edinburgh in 2002, prior to that it had been an unwritten right by
custom. In the Southern
Uplands of Scotland there are plenty of wild places in which to exercise
this right. |
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Core Paths in Dumfries
and Galloway and the Borders
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Under the Scottish
access legislation, each access authority (local authority and national
park authority) has a duty to draw up a plan of core paths in their area,
after consulting with local communities, land managers and path users. These
core paths are signposted and are likely to be the most popular paths in
local areas. They are often a good way of discovering routes you might not
find otherwise.
Dumfries
and Galloway's Core Path Page and Scottish
Borders Core Path Page |
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