Galloway Climbing

Galloway welcomes careful climbers - a sign on the A75!

The Galloway Hills lie well off the beaten track in South-West Scotland and, despite rumours to the contrary, offer some wonderful climbing, particularly to lovers of remote solitude. Crag approaches are generally long, though there are some notable exceptions, and the going is exceptionally rough and boggy. A mountain bike, wellies and a cheerful disposition solve these problems to some extent.

All the major crags lie along the Mullwharchar Range, a broken ridge of hills that bisects the Galloway Mountains from north to south. The rock is granite, usually solid, clean and quick drying except where noted otherwise. It is seamed with cracks, often rounded ones, so that on many pitches a double rack of cams is well worth carrying. Midges can be a serious problem in summer - insect repellant and a stiff breeze are advised.

The Round and Long Lochs of the Dungeon with the eastern flank of Craignaw on the right.

It should be noted that the term "lane" in the Galloway Hills means a large and often unfordable stream, rather than an easy means of passage. Thus the term "Gala Lane" does not indicate a pleasant path, though the real path may not be any drier, and in fact probably does not exist at all.

The guidebook required is the SMC Lowland Outcrops (2004), and page numbers given relate to this guide.

For the occasional visitor, the SMC Scottish Rock Climbs (2005) selected guide describes a few of the best climbs on the Dungeon of Buchan and has good colour photo topos of two of the buttresses that are only illustrated by black line drawings in Lowland Outcrops.

Maps required are Ordnance Survey Landranger sheets 77, 79 and 83 or, alternatively, OS Explorer maps 318 and 319 which give excellent coverage of the entire range, though unfortunately forestry firebreaks, so often used for access, are not shown.

These pages give a brief description of the main Galloway Crags as well as details of new routes recorded since the last guidebook and a few that have not been previously recorded properly. It does not cover the Galloway Seacliffs or Dumfrieshire Outcrops - however many of these can be found on John Biggar's website, Climbing in Galloway.

As a general rule, routes that are already described in the current SMC guide will not be described here unless they have been poorly described. This means, I'm afraid, that you will have to buy the guidebook: but as all the SMC's guidebook profits are ploughed back into further guidebook production, or given to worthy environmental and access causes, I hope this will not prove too great a burden.

Merrick in winter, taken from the tourist route.

Every attempt has been made to be as accurate as possible but there will no doubt be some errors. As always in mountaineering, proceed at your own risk. As these notes will form the basis for the next SMC Lowland Outcrops guide, notification of errors or omissions would be much appreciated, as would information on grades and stars of all routes, if only to confirm the current rating is correct.

The map has been provided courtesy of South-West Images who have an excellent website on walking in the Galloway Hills.

Hill-Walking in Galloway
A few good links to the wonderful rugged hill-walking, plus other general information about the area, including links to other interesting information sites and the two local
Mountain Rescue Teams.

The Merrick
Little rock climbing but some good winter routes. Includes Craig Neldricken and the
Grey Man of Merrick.

The Tauchers
A remote and atmospheric coire in the north of the range.
Includes The Slock and Gaw Glen Crag.

Dungeon of Buchan Superb but remote south-facing multi-pitch crag.

The Rhinns of Kells Developing winter venue. Includes Craig Michael.

Craignaw
Little rock climbing but one magnificent winter route. Includes Memorial Crag and Snibe Hill.

Glen Trool & Craiglee
Micro-routes in picturesque settings.
Includes Bennanbrack.

Craigencallie
Easy access crag near Clatteringshaws Loch.
Also includes Clatteringshaws Crag.

Craigdews
Otherwise known as the Goat Park - the full mountain experience only 10 minutes from the road.

Corwar Crag
A small crag of excellent rock near Newton Stewart. Handy for Autumn and Spring evenings.

Loch Grannoch Crag
Pleasant south-facing slabs in a remote setting.

Ski-Touring in Galloway
Lots of possibilities - just add snow!

Clints of the Spout
Very remote winter coire with a tremendous atmosphere.

Clints of Dromore
South-facing easy access cragging in the lower grades.

Craig an Eilte
High mountain crag with remote atmosphere.
Also includes Big Gairy.

New Routes & Comments: This site is maintained by Stephen Reid, to whom all new routes and comments can be sent. (All photos and content © Stephen Reid 2001 onwards unless mentioned otherwise).

Details of all new routes in Scotland and other comments should also be sent to Andy Nisbet who records such information on behalf of the Scottish Mountaineering Club.

Updates since the last Guidebook:	Routes	Date
The Merrick	One new route	Feb 2008
Craigdews	Three new routes	Sept 2007
Craignaw - Point of the Snibe	Numerous new routes	Nov 2006 - Aug 2007
Buchan West - New Crag!	Numerous new routes	June 2006
Clints of Dromore	Two short new routes	September 2006
Craigdews	Pushing the Goat Out	July 2006
Craignaw - Memorial Crag	Numerous new routes	June 2006
The Merrick	Three new routes	March 2006
Clints of Dromore	Three new routes	5th February 2006
Craig Michael	Five climbs from S - VS	July 2005
Dungeon of Buchan	Jailhouse Rock (HVS)	11th June 2005
Rhinns of Kells/Cairnsmore of Carsphairn	New winter routes	Winter 2004/5

Benyellary and the Merrick from Clatteringshaws Loch

Selected Bibliography	Author	Publisher	Date
A Gallowegian Wander	Edred M Corner	SMC Journal	1900-1901
The Merrick and the Neighbouring Hills	J M'Bain	Stephen & Pollock of Ayr	1929
The Galloway Hills	John Dow	SMC Journal	1938
Rock Climbs in Galloway	AG Waldie	SMC Journal	1958
Climbers' Guide to Central & Southern Scotland	Jerry Handren	SMC	1986
Galloway Inner Sanctum	Graham Little	SMC Journal	1991
The Dungeon of Buchan	Stephen Reid	FRCC Journal	1992
Lowland Outcrops	Tom Prentice, Grahame Nicoll et al	SMC	1994
The Spout of Clints and Smear Test	Stephen Reid	FRCC Journal	1998
Dow Spout	Stephen Reid	SMC Journal	2003
Lowland Outcrops: Rock & Ice Climbs (Galloway Hills by Stephen Reid)	Edited by Brian Davison & Tom Prentice	SMC	2004
Dungeon Days	Stephen Reid	SMC Journal	2005
Climbing Links
http://www.johnbiggar.com/	John Biggar	Local activist John Biggar has many pages of information and photographs on climbing in Galloway and Dumfrieshire on his website, including Clifton Crag and Meikle Ross.
http://dandgbloc.blogspot.com/	Craig Henderson	Bouldering in Dumfries & Galloway.
http://www.scottishclimbs.com/	Scottish Climbs	Various on-line bouldering guides.
There are many more General Links on the Walking Page.