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Where: Blackcraig Hill, by New Cumnock,
Ayrshire
When: March 27th 2012
Who: I Parker
Why: good weather so a day out to take some
photos
Weather: Sunny about 20c/ 70f unusually
warm for time of year
Distance: ? miles
Blackcraig Hill is a popular walk as it
is one of the highest hills in Ayrshire at
2,296 feet above sea level, if not the
highest. The area is about 800 feet above
sea level so the actual hike should be
about 1,400 ft. There are another three
hills next to Blackcraig, one over 2,000 ft
and the others just below 2,000 ft. Many
people want to go round the four hills.
Finding Blackcraig Hill is the first
thing to do. Travel to the town of New Cumnock
in East Ayrshire. On the south side of the
town following the A76, you will see a
small roundabout with a turn left to
Dumfries, and a turn right to
Dalmellington. Take the road to
Dalmellington and after only 50 yards, you
will see the sign below pointing to Afton
Road, Camping and Burns Cairn. Blackcraig
Hill is about 4 miles down Afton Road.
Road
Map
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After 4 miles down Afton Road, you will
see a narrow farm road lead off to the left
with a small bridge crossing Afton Burn
(Afton Water). The hill in the distance
below is Blackcraig. Just before the burn
is parking for about two cars only.
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From the car park, as seen below, you
can see the Blackcraig Farm road leading up
to the north side of Blackcraig Hill. You
then cross a field and work your way up
onto the main hill. This is probably the
steadiest way up, but if the car park is
full, or you want a stiffer challenge,
drive on about another mile to a larger
carpark by the west side.
There are no trails to follow, so it is
over moorland with some soggy patches here
and there, so hiking boots are essential.
These are sheep farms, so best not take a
dog, or, keep them on a lead.
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About 1 mile further down Afton Road,
you pass a small farm, then about 200 yards
further on are two cottages with parking in
front of them, as seen below next to two
storage units. This view below shows
Blackcraig Hill steep west side.
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The map below shows the different routes
to hike Blackcraig Hill, and the three
hills on the same range, Blacklorg Hill at
2,234 ft, Cannock Hill at 1,948 ft, and
Craigbraneoch Rig at 1,889 ft.
There are two steep routes onto this
range, one up the west side of Blackcraig
Hill following a gully, and one up the
north side of Craigbraneoch Rig.
The photo tour below is going up the
steep north side of Craigbraneoch Rig,
round the four hills, then down the steep
west side of Blackcraig Hill.
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Below are a few images with information
of the four hills going anti-clockwise from
Craigbraneoch Hill round to Blackcriag
Hill.
At Craig Farm, you take the road south
round towards Craigbraneoch Rig, the one
with the peak, as seen below.
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The direct rout is up the north side, a
steep testing hike that is good and dry.
The view below is from just over half way
up the north side. Once you have walked
about 1 third of a mile along the forest
path, as seen bottom right, and are level
with the start of the north side, you can
follow a fence from the path that leads to
a gate. The gate leads to this route up.
Best only go up or down this route in good
visabilty, as there are a few cliffs either
side.
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The summit of Craigbraneoch gives views
over Afton Dam and the 1,948 feet Cannock
Hill to the south, the next peak.
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From close to the top of Cannock Hill,
looking back north, you get good views of
Afton Dam/Reservoir as seen below. This
view also shows Craigbraneoch south and
west sides are an easy hike compared to its
steep north or east sides. The route across
is a bit soggy at the lowest point, but
nothing too bad.
There are walking signs from the top of
the Dam that point to a path through the
trees, out onto the side of Craigbraneoch.
You have to climb a hundred or two steps to
get up to the top of the Dam, then it is
only about half of an hour from the top of
the dam to Craigbraneoch summit, good dry
hiking. The safest and quickest way up or
down.
Large
Image
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The summit of Cannock Hill, as seen
below looking east, shows the next peak,
Blacklorg Hill at 2,234 feet, 286 feet
higher than this peak.
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The view below is when crossing over at
the end of the glen showing Craigbraneoch
Hill left and Blackcraig Hill right.
Large Image
looking up the glen.
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The view below is after crossing from
Cannock Hill to Blacklorg Hill. The walk
down and across was easy going and dry,
just this hike up was a bit testing.
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The view below is from the side of
Blacklorg Hill looking up Afton Glen.
Large
Image
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The view below is from Blacklorg Hill
summit looking north to Blackcraig Hill at
2,296 feet, 62 feet higher than this
one.
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The view below shows the south side of
Blackcraig Hill after descending from
Blacklorg Hill. Its about 500ft down then
back up. This low area is a bit soggy in
places, nothing too bad though. Large
Image.
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The view below shows Blackcraig Hill
south side when aproaching the summit. The
two hikers here are going round the four
hills clockwise, starting from Blackcraig
Farm at the north side. Large
Image.
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The view below shows Blackcraig Hill
summit from the south side.
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The view below shows Blackcraig Hill
summit looking north towrds New Cumnock.
There are three ways down from here, head
north towards the Wind Farm and down
towards Blackcraig Farm, head north then
follow a stone dyke down the north
shoulder, or go down the steep west side
following a narrow gully.
Large
Image.
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Following the gully down or up the steep
west side is best only done when visibility
is good, as there are high drops not far
off eaither side of the gully. This route
gives the best views though, and is the
fastest. One hiker claimed to have hiked up
this route in about 1 hour.
Large
Image.
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The view below shows the gully where you
have to cross over for the best way
down.
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The view below is from the bottom of the
gully showing there is a little rock
climbing to be done, but nothing
difficult.
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Crossing Afton Burn to get back to the
car park is normally easy, but watch out
for wet stepping stones. If it has been
wet, and you do not fancy crossing the
burn, you can follow the burn up to
Blackcraig Farm where there is a
bridge.
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The view below shows the gully going up
the west side of Blackcraig Hill. There is
a stone dyke that leads up onto the north
shoulder of the hill towards the wind farm,
that is not as steep and safer.
Once you cross the burn it is through a
field up to the road here and car park at
the two cottages.
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These are good hills to hike with not
too many wet spots, and a fairly good road
right to the bottom of them.
From the road leading to the dam, just
past the dam car park, there is a marked
trail that leads up onto the hill named
Windy Standard at 2,290 ft. This hill has a
wind farm on it.
Short Video
of the four hills, the part up between
Cannock and Blacklorg is a great view.
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