Dog-friendly walk
Parking at Stinchar Bridge car park, Straiton to Bargrennan Road. No public transport to start point.
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From the car park return to the road (South) and cross over to pick up a footpath straight ahead marked ‘Cornish Hill Trail 5km’. This leads to a footbridge over the River Stinchar. Cross the bridge then turn left (South East). Follow the trail through the forest, gently uphill and out onto open moorland. After 2km of steady ascent you will arrive at Cornish Hill where I recommend taking the short de-tour to the summit by following a faint path to your left (North). Return to the path and turn left (North East) to begin a zig zag downhill to Cornish Loch. From here the footpath follows the Water of Girvan South down past a waterfall and across a bridge. With the Water of Girvan now on your left-hand side, follow the footpath steadily downhill. After 1.4km you will reach a crossroads with a wide gravel track. Continue straight ahead (North West) to emerge onto a minor road. Turn left (West) onto the road and it will lead you back to Stinchar Bridge car park 1km along.
WALK REPORT: 9TH DECEMBER 2018
It was a great feeling being able to finally get around to a walk that had been stagnating on my to-do list for months (years!) The weather forecast predicted a cold, crisp, blue sky kind of day and that seemed perfect for a bit of exploring. On arrival, there was a little more cloud cover than I had hoped and I began to wonder if leaving the waterproofs at home had been a bad move.
From the moment I set eyes on the Stinchar falls I knew this was going to be a good walk! There had been significant rainfall in recent days which meant the cascade was sufficiently impressive!
Across the bridge and into the mossy forest we went. Beautiful! We spotted a couple of fairy doors near the bottom. Not sure whether there are more and we missed them or if there are only two…..
As we emerged from the forest to open moorland, we could see that a lot of deforestation had taken place some time ago. I understand why this is done, but I can never avoid scowling at the ugliness left behind. “This must have been so pretty with all the trees” I’ll often say. There were also loads of uprooted trees; rows and rows of them. Must be a windy place!
After walking for around an hour, we finally got our first glimpse of Cornish Hill. Certainly not as spectacular-looking as others I’ve seen, but the views around us were stunning!
What a nice surprise to arrive at the summit to a view over Loch Cornish, the blue sky reflecting beautifully in the still water. Glad that we opted for the circular route, we headed down to the banks of the loch where we enjoyed some Wotsits next to someone’s discarded Halloween pumpkin. My friend reminded me that leaving them out in nature was what we were supposed to do…. Rather remote we thought, a fair distance to go to discard your pumpkin, surely somewhere more discreet would have sufficed?! Speaking of remote, discreet and discarding things….. at the very start of the walk we also came across someone’s discarded used condom. Lovely…. 😮
To the left of the above photo, a burn can be seen flowing from the loch. There is something that feels special about being at the source of a river: seeing it’s humble beginnings and knowing how it looks further downstream in all it’s wide and raging glory. This one was the Water of Girvan, which I had first experienced in Straiton whilst doing the Craigengower walk. On returning home and doing some research, I found out that Loch Cornish is in fact NOT the source of the Girvan….. the smaller ‘Loch Girvan Eye’ further south is it’s true start point. Damn!
As we followed the Girvan downstream, we took some time to enjoy it’s many cascades before completing the circuit in perfect time to enjoy sunset from the car with a slice of rocky road!
