A local guidebook of walks on Cairnsmore of Fleet describes the route I was to take with unabashed disdain. It is dismissed as “a predictable plod”; it “runs the risk of tedium”; “is little more than chore”; is derided as “this most monotonous of routes” and each time it is followed “its tediousness grows no less”.
I can only assume that the old adage that “familiarity breeds contempt” is the reason behind the disparaging descriptions as I found the walk to have a variety of terrain not found in my recent visits to the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales. It is also a more interesting route than many I have followed in the oft-praised mountains of the Lake District.
Cairnsmore of Fleet is the southernmost Scottish mountain, with a height of 711 metres (2,311 feet) ensuring its classification as both a Graham and a Donald. From a distance, and specifically the view from the peninsula of The Machars reinforces this, this Galloway mountain is basically a lump. But on closer inspection it has character.
the way up from the car park
From
the car park the Cairnsmore estate track meandered its way slowly uphill. A signpost indicated the way resulting in a
short wooded walk accompanied by the many rhododendron bushes which added their
purple brilliance to the verdant pathway.
Another short walk past the farm led to a gate and the first open
country of the ascent; across a field to the base of the forest of Bardrochwood
Moor. The path continued to a forest
road and a carved granite bench, a memorial to a Rosemary Pilkington. I chatted with a couple who were on their way
down and they told me that their energetic spaniel had been covered in ticks
due to its excursions into the forest undergrowth.
in the forest of Bardrochwood Moor 
the path through the forest of Bardrochwood Moor 
the Rosemary Pilkington memorial bench
The
path continued steadily uphill through a wide forest ride and emerged on to
open hillside giving a clear view of the way ahead. The breeze was at my back but no extra layers
were needed as long as I kept moving.
Due to my relatively late start I saw quite a few people heading
downhill but nobody else was in sight moving uphill.
The path was part pitched and was pleasant underfoot, especially up the zig-zags leading towards the summit plateau. The gradient eased and the obvious block of a memorial to eight crashed aircraft and their 25 aircrew came into sight above the horizon. The true summit is ground at the base of a nearby large cairn with the trig pillar just a very short stroll away, situated next to a small walled shelter.
memorial to 25 aircrew 
the summit - memorial, cairn, shelter, trig point 
summit triangulation pillar 
summit cairn, shelter & trig point 
Cairnsmore of Fleet from Cairnsmore
The
way down was simply the reverse of the ascent but despite this, the walk
reinforced to me that guidebook descriptions are written through a judgemental
lens of the author and a rewarding day out can be had on unfamiliar terrain if
you keep on open mind and have half-decent weather.
The lesson to be learnt is – tread your own path.
