Wigtownshire ramblers. Craignaw/Merrick circular. June 2012

First hill was Snibe.

Memorial to the American Airmen killed in 1979.

Was he trying to hail a bus?!!

Two of the walkers discussing the view from Craignaw.

"Devils bowling green"

Lunch stop (look who is on his phone)

Starting to get spread out.

One of our many stops.

The views from here are stunning.

Today's group.

I was the walk leader today.

Today Saturday June 2nd I went to Glentrool to meet my mother group to lead them on a fairly strenuous walk in the Galloway Hills.Sixteen members turned up and to be honest given the severity of the walk I was pleasantly surprised at the large turnout. Was it the calibre of the leader I wondered to be told no it was such a nice day everybody decided to get up and about.Anyway once we left the car park at Bruces Stone we went up the Gairland Burn on a breezy cloudy morning passing by Loch Neldricken on our way to Snibe Hill. We now walked up a small gulley to the memorial of the American airmen who lost their lives in 1979 when their plane crashed into the mountain. On the summit of Craignaw (641M)  the views of the surrounding hills which were opening up now the sun had started to shine. A leisurely lunch stop was taken at the side of an area known as the devils bowling green which is a large granite slab left over from the ice age. A steep descent took us down to Loch Enoch where four of our group decided to take an easier route back to the start over the Buchan Ridge. Thanks must go to Madam Chairlady who kindly volunteered to lead this small group. The rest of us did the very steep climb to the summit of the Merrick (843M) which is the highest hill in South West Scotland. Unfortunately one of the group had a muscle problem with her leg on the way up which slowed our progress to the top. Once on the summit she thought it had just been a wee bit of cramp and  was now fine to continue. However after a short distance on our way to the Naive of Spit it became clear she was injured perhaps a pulled muscle. My main prority then became to get her safely off the hill and back to the start. We were planning to go over Bennin Hill but due to our wee incident I decided to cancel the last part and allowed several of the experienced walkers to carry on down on the tourist route whilst four of us  remained with our casualty to guide her  safely down albeit at a fairly slow rate. Once  on  to a more level surface and the effects of a couple of painkillers started to work she managed a lot better and we got her back to the car safely. Trust you will not suffer any lasting injury Madam and by the time you read this wee blog you will be well on the road to recovery and will come out with me again on one of my grade "A"walks  in the very near future. Thanks to all who ventured out  with me today on the  12 mile trek around the hills I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I hope you all did bar one walker for obvious reasons. Must also thank my back marker for all his patience and assistance today it was none other than the man I keep referring to in almost all my blogs these days . "The Teacher"