Millfore Hill

The 2,152 ft Millfore is situated in a remote area in the Galloway Forest Park, next to the A712 road that runs between the towns of New Galloway and Newton Stewart, southwest Scotland, in the county of Dumfries & Galloway, about 40 miles southeast of Ayr. This road is known as The Queen's Way.

The Queen's Way has a number of interesting attractions such as: Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre with a Bruce's Stone marking a battle site, large dam, forest road with the otter pools, deer park, goat park, platform out over a glen, many biking trails, and many walking and hiking routes.

The image below is of the Murray Monument situated about 5 miles west of the Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre on the A712 Queen's Way road. The car park for the monument, and the hike to Millfore, is just to the right in this image. These images were taken in November 2012.

Murray’s Monument was erected in 1835 in memory of Alexander Murray, a local shepherd boy who later became Professor of Oriental Languages at Edinburgh University. The monument is situated on a 597 ft hill, a steeper hike than it looks. More Information.

Google Road Map Directions .

The image below is from the bridge at the Murray's Monument car park, looking to the 882 ft Craigdews hill. The green and red posts mark the trail from here following the high goat fence up the side of Craigdews, which is a goat park. There are waterfalls next to the car park named the Grey Mares Tail. You can also view the waterfalls from this route over Craigdews.

Just before the goat fence reaches the trees, high left in the image below, the trail to the Black Loch and Millfore leads off left down to a burn.

The image below is of the trail from about half way up Craigdews hill showing Millfore in the distance. The trail leads down here for a few hundred yards to a burn, then follows the burn for about 100 yards to the Old Edinburgh Road, that is now a forest road. I decided to visit the summit of Craigdews on the road back.

Just before you reach the Old Edinburgh forest road, you pass through stone sheep pens with faces cut into some of the stones. Seems these are quite modern art works, part of an outdoor art venture.

The image below is from about 2 hundred yards east along the Old Edinburgh forest road from the stone faces, looking over the Black Loch.

The Conical Art Construction was built by Colin Rose in 1997, named the Eye.

The road to the right here leads back round to the Queen's Way main road. The road to the left past the Eye leads to Millfore, about 2 miles from here. This road also leads past Millfore and runs about 5 miles east to Clatteringshaws dam and visitor centre.

Large Image.

The image below is after walking almost two miles up the winding forest road. There is only one forest road that leads off to the west on the road up to here from the loch, so you cannot get lost? An OS Map should be taken just incase.

You pass a few mountain bike markers on this road, as it is one of the trails that runs between the three visitor centre's in the Golloway Forest Park, Clatteringshaws, Glentrool and Kirroughtree.

The image below is of the the route onto the southeast ridge of Millfore. It was a long, stiff hike up the forest road to here, so was glad to see there were no trees, as the OS Map indicated.

There is a quad bike track through the deep stuff here that leads up onto the first ridge.

The image below is from the first ridge showing this is a fairly long hike. I headed from here to the small cairn on the rocky mound, just right of the main hill.

There is a quad bike track across the low part down there.

Large Image.

The image below is from the small cairn on the rocky mound showing there was still a long way to go. I headed from here towards the cliffs, following the highest ground sweeping round to the left.

The image below is of the route up past the cliffs. I watched a kestrel here for a few minutes, then saw a fox making its way down across the steepest part of the cliffs.

There is a faint trail that runs up close to the cliffs here, or quad bike tacks that run over to the right and up.

The image below is from the top of the cliffs, showing it is still a fair hike still to go. There are quad bike tracks that head up a gully to the left here onto the west side of the summit. The quad tracks did not look a good way up, but looked a fast way back down.

I intended to go straight up here, but on the crossing, noticed a faint track leading over to the cliffs on the right. Those faint tracks took me right under the cliffs, then onto a faint trail up the east side.

The image below is of the east cairn on Millfore summit with the trig point just beyond. There is another cairn just past the trig point as well. When I hit this point, the views north were instant and impressive, as it is a narrow hill south to north.

The image below is from the trig point on Millfore looking north to the snow topped Merrick at Glentrool, highest hill in southern Scotland at 2,766 ft. Round to the right in this image, the 2,671 ft Corserine on the Rhinns of Kells range had a fair amount more snow on it.

The image below is looking northwest to Curleywee and Lamachan hills, also at Glentrool. You can hike across to Curleywee, across the rocky ridge to Lamachan, then down over Mulldonoch to the car park at Bruce's Stone next to Loch Trool. You would have to get dropped off at Murray's Monument and get picked up at Loch Trool for that though.

The click on map link at the bottom of this page leads to a photo tour of the Lamachan Range.

The image below is looking back down the southeast ridge. I decided to head down off the west side of the summit, then follow the quad trail down the gully, past the cliffs, and down to the forest road.

You get good views from here of the hills across the valley, the 1,975 Craignelder and 2,332 ft Cairnsmore of Fleet. The rocky Craignelder can be hiked from the same car park at Murray's Monument. Beyond those hills, you can see the end of Scotland.

The image below is from the first ridge looking towards the forest road with the quad tracks leading through the deep stuff. Right here leads back to the car park, left leads to the Clatteringshaws dam and Visitor Centre.

The first hill across the valley is Craignelder, and behind that, Cairnsmore of Fleet.

The image below is from the goat park looking at the summit of the 882 ft Craigdews hill. The trail back to the car park runs about half way up this hill, so had to visit the top when crossing back over here.

From the trail, you have to follow the high goat fence up to where it meets the forest. You have to go through the forest for about 30 feet, then hop over a lower fence to get into the goat park. I headed for a peak that looked like the top, only to find there was still a fair hike to go from there, as seen below.

The image below is from the top of Craigdews looking west to the car park at Murray's Monument. The cliffs here are a few hundred feet giving cracking views. The view north from here gives great views of Millfore.

The image below is also from the top of Craigdews showing the car park and Murray's Monument above.

The Map below shows the attractions along the A712 that is also known as The Queens Way. The map also shows the hiking routes onto the hills. Green and brown dots are rough sections, green and yellow fairly good trails. The photo tour above followed the first trail up past the Black Loch.

Google Road Map . Change Newton Stewart to your town or postcode to get driving directions.

Make sure and take an Ordnance Survey Map and Compass on these hikes, and know how to use them, as in cloud, these mountains can be deadly. In Winter, make sure you have Crampons and an Ice Axe, and know how to use them.

Hill Walking OS Guide Map

The hike up Millfore seemed fairly tough taking about 5 hours out and back, also taking in Craigdews on the return. There were a few up and downs on the route, adding to what is a fairly long trek anyway. The remote location of this hill, means it is one of the least climbed in the area. The views from the top are hard to beat.

The car park at the monument is about 300 ft above sea level. Some car parks can be up to 1,000 ft above sea level, so it is always interesting to check the car park height to see the actual height to be hiked.