Loch Doon runs six miles along the border of Ayrshire and Galloway and is the largest freshwater loch in southern Scotland. On its western shore stands a castle with an unusual history: it is not where it was built.
The castle that moved
Loch Doon Castle is a curtain-wall castle of the late 1200s, probably built by the Earls of Carrick — Robert the Bruce's family. Its distinguishing feature is its plan: eleven sides, an irregular polygon, because the walls were built to follow the shape of the small island they originally stood on out in the loch.
In the 1930s the loch was dammed and raised as part of the Galloway hydro-electric scheme, which would have drowned it. So the castle was taken apart stone by stone, every block numbered, and rebuilt on the western shore where it stands today. That is why an island castle now sits on dry land, and why the walls describe a shape that fits no ground around them.
It is roofless and open — a ring of high curtain wall with a gateway — and it takes about twenty minutes. Free, and open all year.
The Carrick Forest Drive
The best way to reach Loch Doon from Girvan is the long way. Take the B741 up the valley through Dailly to Straiton, then the forest road south from Stinchar Bridge past Loch Bradan and Loch Riecawr to Loch Doon — roughly seven miles of gravel forest road through the middle of Galloway Forest Park, with red deer, big views and almost nobody else.
It is a forest track rather than a road: it is seasonal, may carry a charge, is unsuitable for low-slung cars, and can close. Check it is open before setting out. The alternative approach is the surfaced road up from Dalmellington, which is fine in any car.
The loch itself
There is fishing, a watersports centre has operated at the northern end, and ospreys have nested in the area. The road along the western shore is a fine cycle. Above all this is dark sky country — remote, high and with no light for miles, so if you can stay after dusk on a clear night, do. See stargazing.
The remains of a First World War aerial gunnery school lie at the north end, an odd and rather melancholy thing to come across in the hills.
About 30 miles from Girvan by the forest drive, and part of our Galloway forest loop.
