Galloway should not be a ‘forgotten land’, but these parts are often overlooked. I will admit that although I have been through several times, I have not stopped long. I might have been powering south from Oban and the isles, or heading to or from Belfast, and I have stopped in Galloway and enjoyed it, but was always heading elsewhere.
The lonely coast, the forbidding hills, the colourful houses of Kirkcudbright, should all have said there is more to be explored. I must have taken it in – I even use a picture of the Range of the Awful Hand (in Kirkcudbrightshire) as the site’s frontpage picture. One version of my family tree has me descended from King Fergus of Galloway (like millions of others, I expect).
Therefore I will explore it; and will take in a county top or two as I go if I can.
There are two counties in Galloway – Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. Beside them is Dumfriesshire, also worth a foray.
I might never walk the whole of the Southern Upland Way from Portpatrick to Cockburnspath, but I can sample what are reputedly its finest places. I have read Bede, but not seen the wild places of Whithorn he described bringing light to the Dark Ages. Living as we all do in places with yellow-tinted electric skies, the renowned dark skies of the Galloway Forest must be seen for the wonder of stars (if the skies clear) or the silent, enfolding darkness.
There may be little fame in these places, off the tourist trail, but that does not mean they do not deserve fame.
Maps
Ordnance Survey:
- Landranger 1:50 000 maps:
- Explorer 1:25 000 maps:
Others:
Books
- Dumfries & Galloway Pathfinder Walks Guidebook – Ordnance Survey
- The Southern Upland Way by Alan Castle
- The Southern Upland Way official guide by Roger Smith
- Galloway: 40 Coast & Country Walks by Darren Flint and Donald Greig
- Dumfries and Galloway Curiosities by David Carroll