Criffel

Premiere inn  lodges had a deal on so i booked a room for £19 in carlisle with Liz. We drove up sat night and watch tv with a few beers. The next day we planned to do a walk up a mountain just across the border into scotland called Criffel, its just south from Dumfries close to one of the 7 stanes bike trails maybe. We parked in a car park next to ardwall farm which lyes beside loch kindar, the weather was cloudy but with no rain forcast it was going to be a good day. From the carpark we walked through a gate along a landrover track and took the next right leading past the farm. This path then takes you along side craigrockall burn to the edge of the forest line which looks like its in the process of being felled at the moment, from here you hop over a fence and your straight into boggy land, luckily for us it was frozen solid. The path leads steeply up to the summit cairn and trig point where the views are ace across the solway firth to the northern lakes and to the west of the rugged south scottish coastline. Although the mountain isnt high at just under 1900 feet it was steep going from the start and really is hard for a 4 mile walk. Well worth it for the views alone. On the drive back we stopped of at the remains of an abbey which was pretty cool to look at

Path near the start

the summit

view to the lakes

view out to sea

view back to the start

new abbeys abbey remains