seven go up Cairnsmore

Seven of us (four women and three dogs) squashed into Fi's wee car and headed towards Newton Stewart, to climb Scotland's most southerly "big hill" ( ie. over 2000 ft). On a nice clear day, apparently you can see the Isle of Man and Snowdonia from the summit; today was a dreich day and my extra shows what it was like up at the top. Needless to say we did not have a view.

There's a memorial to no less than 8 planes which have crashed into the slopes of Cairnsmore of Fleet, seven during WW2 and one (a USAF McDonnell Douglas Phantom) in 1979.

This hill was also made famous with a starring role in John Buchan's 1915 novel "The 39 Steps". Richard Hannay tries to escape a gang of evil German spies and flees across the wilds of southern Scotland, heading up Cairnsmore of Fleet.

Nothing quite so exciting happened today, although the walk had its moments :-) We didn't stay long on the cold, wet summit, but hurried back down to the car. 

Jess is now snoring under the table...