Carole's retirement adventures

• County: Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
• Name of high point: The Merrick 843m ( 2766ft) Corbett
• Date completed: March 15th 2024

I decided to do the route to the summit of the Merrick starting from Bruce’s Stone which has an amazing view over Loch Trool in Galloway Forest Park, a total of 9.0 miles (14.48km) there and back.

The path was a steady uphill climb above Buchan Burn passing some gorgeous waterfalls before going into a forestry plantation and passing a bothy at Kilsharg where I had a well earned coffee break before continuing uphill on a defined path.

The path went gently uphill at this point but the ground was very wet and boggy. The clouds were also starting to close in and I was wondering whether I would get to the summit at all.

I plodded on as the visibility became worse, following the obvious path uphill to the ridge on the steady climb up to Benyellary. I’m sure the views would have been fantastic but unfortunately, I couldn’t see a thing. On a clear day, apparently, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man can be seen.

I now continued making my way along the ridge known as the Neive of the Spit to the trig point at the summit in a crumbling cairn.

It was very wet and windy at the top so I didn’t stay too long and retraced my steps back to the car park at the start of the walk. It was an amazing achievement, especially given the weather conditions and I was glad I had persevered to the top.