Most walkers reach the Galloway Hills from Glen Trool, on the far side of the range. But the northern end is closer to Girvan via Straiton and the Carrick Forest Drive, and two hills up there make satisfying half-days without the long drive round.
Cornish Hill
467 metres, about three miles, two hours. From the Loch Riecawr car park on the forest drive — or from Stinchar Bridge if the drive is closed — a waymarked path climbs out of the trees onto the open hill. Long steep slopes on a firm but rough path, with some rocky sections near the top.
It is the easier of the two and the better introduction to these hills: enough of a climb to feel like a hill day, short enough to do in a morning, and with a fine view over the forest and the lochs.
Shalloch on Minnoch
775 metres, about six miles, four hours. The most northerly summit of the Range of the Awful Hand — the ridge that ends at the Merrick — and a Corbett, which brings a certain kind of walker a long way.
It is the easiest of the range to reach from Ayrshire. Park on the Straiton to Glentrool road and climb from there. The going is rough and boggy in places with no constructed path on the upper section, and the summit plateau is broad and featureless.
The view along the ridge to the Merrick, and out west to Ailsa Craig and Arran, is the reward.
Taking them seriously
Carry OS Explorer 318, a compass and the skills to use them. Shalloch in particular is pathless higher up and its broad summit is genuinely disorienting in cloud. There is no mobile signal across most of this ground.
Full hill kit, boots, food and water. There are no facilities at all on the forest drive — the nearest are at Straiton, and the nearest fuel further still.
Check the Carrick Forest Drive is open before setting out. It is a gravel forest road, seasonal, may carry a charge and can close; the alternative approach is the Straiton to Glentrool road. See Loch Doon.
Stay after dark on a clear night and you are in the middle of the Dark Sky Park — see stargazing.
