Cornish Hill Galloway Forest Park

Today was a beautiful crisp blue sky December day, almost the first such day of the year. I did my run across the golf course first thing and came across some frost in the sheltered spots but a overall I decided that it was too good a day to miss for a short walk. I immediately thought of Cornish Hill and contacted a friend who had never visited this hill. I knew from previous trips that this was the perfect day to get the best of the views from the top. This is one of the great short walks in a stunning rugged landscape.

Our journey was a nice drive through South Ayrshire heading for the village of Straiton then on towards the park. As we climbed the twisting road the wheels were slipping slightly on the black ice. The temperature on these roads without any sun had dropped to -1 but thankfully only for a short time.

We turned into the carpark and got a very pleasant surprise when a red legged partridge scampered in front of the car and dived straight into the undergrowth. Second surprise was 5 cars already in the carpark, I fully expected us to be the only people around. Must be a ramblers outing or something similar.

This walk is an easy walk for most people with reasonable fitness as there is a good circular path. The variety of flora and fauna are just spectacular, I wish I knew a lot more about these but their numbers are huge, it would be good to have an expert with us. Grasses, reeds, ferns. mosses etc all in their natural place whether shade, light, dampness etc.

The walk can be a straight up and back of around 5km but can be extended. To get the best views I think you start here going into the forest and come back via the short road section. The start of the walk is a beautiful spot. Before you enter the forest section the vista is perfection. A rambling burn cascading down to a spectacular stone road bridge. In the summer the fingerling brown trout rise to the surface.
The next stretch follows a path through the pine forest. The area is covered in these plantations and work has started on deforestation which can leave a right unsightly mess of the landscape.

The forest stretch has carpets of moss and ferns which add to its attraction.
When you break out of the forest you follow the short trail round the hill but keep stopping and looking back as the views extend all the way back to Irvine bay. With the blue skies the water of Loch Braden matched this colour, alongside the autumn colours quite beautiful.

As you reach the summit point a small stone cairn marks the spot. When you reach this point the vista now expands to bring in Cornish loch below you and the rugged crags behind the loch. In the distance the hills behind Loch Doon can be seen.
The trail zig zags down to the waters edge where we enjoyed a snack in perfect silence, only the running water and some singing birds broke the silence. We wandered on downwards alongside the cascading burn, again enjoying the plant life. We spotted movement in the trees, stood for a bit and were rewarded by a pair of bullfinches, the male in particular stunning colours.

We could see the deer trails in and out of the trees and alongside of the path we spotted this small conifer that had clearly had the attention of a stag and its antlers. Although we did not see any today I captured this shy one on my last visit. Sadly I auto-focused and it took the foliage and not the deer. One shot only as it disappeared on the shutter click.

The path now joins a newly packed forestry road. If you turn left you can follow the forest drive which eventually takes you to Loch Doon. Although not signed the small road will take you to Loch Braden where you could extend the walk but study the map first.

However for us today it was back to the carpark. A number of the birch trees along this stretch were covered in a greenish stringy moss like coat. Not sure if this is a fungus killing them, the trees certainly did not look too healthy.
Overall we were on the walk for 3 and a half hours but we were taking our time.
A good walk with good company.