Trip report – Penninghame House, Newton Stewart

By Alex Cameron

Located a few miles north of Newton Stewart, Penninghame House is a grand countryside retreat set within peaceful sprawling grounds adjacent to the River Cree. This somewhat out of the way corner of Scotland is a few hours drive from the A74(M) whether coming in from either the east or north, so therefore is a really handy spot to be based at for a multiple night stay with many choices for hills to tick off spread about close by. There is also the option to get here by combinations of public transport too; which is just how I found my way along on Friday afternoon riding a very pleasant scenic rural bus service down from Girvan.

Saturday morning started out rather gloomily in Glen Trool, but as I slowly gained height it brightened up delightfully with superb long range visibility southward as far as the Isle of Man, Cumbrian Fells, and even across to a distant dark outline of the Northern Ireland coast. My first top of the day was the fine Dodd Bennan Hill where I had time to sit enjoying the midday sunshine for a short while whilst Chris Ottley made his way over from Millfore which he had climbed separately from the Newton Stewart side.

Next was a very steep pull up to the lofty 674m Hump summit of Curleywee, and from then on it was straightforward easy going terrain to continue along to the Graham highpoint of the day Lamachan Hill. The approach to Garlick Hill was much less of a pleasant stroll however with the terrain reverting to the expected Galloway type of knee-high tussocks, deep heather and mossy grass. Views were still grandstand and very wild though, with the early evening sun dipping low above the undulating no-mans-land that stretches westwards towards Loch Ryan and Stranraer.

It proved wise to make the best of the fine conditions with a big walk on Saturday because Sunday morning turned out to be just only good weather for ducks!! We were still very determined to make the most of supposedly less-worse hours in the early afternoon; and so an eager group of seven us headed up to the Nick of the Balloch moorland road for a rather soggy round of Craigenreoch, 565m, plus two further Donald Dewey tops. The final of which being the brilliantly named Haggis Hill, that by a curious alignment of the hill bagging Powers That Be somehow happened to be my personal 400th Dodd climbed.

We were all far too bedraggled and windswept up there to contemplate hanging around any longer than was needed after taking a few misty group photos at the high point. These thoughtfully crafted verses penned by Kathy Duval do recount the whole experience and ordeal far more eloquently than I can possibly give adequate justice to right now.

On Haggis Hill there stands a stone
Close by the summit, all alone
And seldom does a passer-by
Observe it pointing to the sky.

Rain was streaming, wind was lashing,
Through the mist there came splish-splashing
Seven walkers, some half-dead.
“He’s done four hundred Dodds” they said.

No wine was drunk, no cake was eaten.
The figures all looked weather-beaten.
Of haggis, hiding in their lair
There was no sign of hide nor hair.

On the top they did not linger:
“This way!” cried one, with outstretched finger.
They passed the stone with little heed
And headed down the hill at speed.

To the river, rushing down,
Where some were lucky not to drown.
The lonely stone, it stands there still,
The sentinel of Haggis Hill.

To sum up then, this was a really great value long weekend in Southwest Scotland together with excellent company and no shortage of tops for everyone at different stages of their Relative Hills journey to go at. Fingers crossed this won't be just a one-off event RHSoc organising an autumn/winter get together at this top notch bagger's basecamp. Big appreciation must go to Jonathan Woods for his efforts in finding the venue and coordinating all of the email preparations in advance of the stay (extra especially so given the unfortunate turn of events that Jonathan was unwell the morning we were due to arrive and then subsequently decided to stay at home to avoid potential risk of passing anything on to anyone through the remainder of the weekend).