Cairnsmore of Fleet, at 711m/2,333ft, is the highest point along the Galloway Coast and provides a stunning vantage point and window into the wilder, remoter upland areas of Galloway. The Merrick (Galloway’s highest mountain), the Mull of Galloway (Scotland’s southernmost point), Wigtown Bay, the Lake District, the Isle of Man, Ayrshire and Kintyre are just a selection of what can be seen from Cairnsmore of Fleet’s exposed plateau. By continuing to Meikle Multaggart and around the Knee of Cairnsmore, a real sense of the wildness that is found in this part of Galloway can be experienced. Wildlife such as red deer, peregrine falcon, red and black grouse, and wild goats can be spotted within the landscape; whilst flora including dwarf willow, bell heather, cotton grass, blaeberry, sphagnum moss and common butterwort thrive on the hillside and moorland.
[1] Walk through the car park to a gate, go through and turn left onto a single-track road. Follow this as it climbs gradually, crossing a burn by an old stone bridge, before swinging left to pass Cairnsmore House. The road bears right and then, just before a farm, a signposted path turns right from the road. Follow the path as it meanders through woodland to reach a narrow road. Turn left and follow the road past a farm, continuing straight onto a track to a gate. Go through into a field and immediately bear right, walking diagonally across the field (where livestock may be grazing) and up a hillock, then go through a gate into Bardrochwood Moor (NX474643).
[2] Follow a fine path through oak and sycamore woodland, cross a stile and then climb steeply alongside some saplings. Once through a gap in a wall the path re-enters the wood and climbs steeply to reach a track. Cross the track and continue to climb more gradually through the wood, which can be boggy at times, eventually climbing out of the tree-line (NX492655) onto the heather clad lower slopes of Cairnsmore of Fleet.
Great views along Wigtown Bay to Mull of Galloway await you here.
[3] The path then continues over a stile and climbs steeply to reach the flat plateau near to Cairnsmore of Fleet’s summit (NX502671). Here, the path bears left to continue north.
(A) You will soon pass a monument commemorating several plane crashes and airmen that have been killed on the plateau.
Continue on to reach the trig and cairn.
A sumptuous panorama, with The Merrick and many of Galloway’s wild mountains prominent to the north and west, greets you.
[4] You can retrace your steps from here back to the car park, although to do so would mean missing out on the wilder climes of Meikle Multaggart. To get there, leave the trig and cross a section of pathless terrain in a northeasterly direction. Then descend steep, grassy slopes to pick up a path, which climbs sharply to reach the rounded summit of Meikle Multaggart (NX512678).
This spot really emphasises the wildness of the region, its central position amongst the Galloway Hills providing an expansive and lonely viewpoint.
[5] Retrace your steps back onto Cairnsmore of Fleet, but just before the trig bear left (NX504670) and cross the featureless plateau south-southeast (the spongy grass provides good walking) around the steep, craggy face of the fantastically named Spout of the Clinks (NX506667). Pick up an indistinct path here beside an old fence and follow it steeply down to a col.
[6] A steep climb from here leads to a cairn above the Knee of Cairnsmore (NX509654) and looks to the smaller but equally prominent peaks of Screel and Bengairn, rising above the Solway Firth.
Retrace your steps back towards Cairnsmore of Fleet and bear left just before the summit (NX505665) to pick up the outward-bound path and descend back to the car park.