***This walk is Fully Booked*** - see Cairnsmore via Billy Marshalls Cave as an equivalent alternative

The southwest of Scotland is one of the richest areas in Britain for prehistoric archaeological remains and the area covered by this walk is one of the most interesting in the region.

Don't be mistaken, however, this is primarily a hillwalk involving an ascent of Cairnharrow (456 metres) and Cambret Hill (351 metres). It's just that on the way we happen to pass two superb chambered cairns of international importance, cup and ring marked rocks, cairned burial mounds, burnt mounds, a cist, signs of prehistoric field clearances, hut circles, and no less than three stone circles. Recently found in this area is a stone carving of a stick figure, thought to represent a man with a scythe.

The route starts at the monuments known as Cairnholy 1 and 2 which are very well preserved chambered cairns of the Clyde type dating from nearly 5000 years ago and probably built by the Scotland's first farmers. Cairnholy 1 is by repute the burial place of a once great Scottish king called Caldus. From here we cross the Kirkdale Burn and climb onto the southern flanks of Cairnharrow, then push on to the top where there is an ancient summit cairn. There are fine views from here across the surrounding area and over Wigtown Bay. On a clear day there is a distant view of the Isle of Man.

Next we drop steeply down the northern flanks of Cairnharrow and make our way to a group of monuments in the col between Cairnharrow and Cambret Hill. Here, close to the Cauldside Burn, we see the remains of a stone circle and a large round Neolithic cairned burial tomb. A short distance further, quite hard to locate, is a fine example of a cup and ring carved rock and close by are the signs of an early settlement and field clearances.

We continue on up to the radio mast on the summit of Cambret Hill and from this example of modern technology we descend over some rough heathery ground to an exceptional example of ancient technology on Glenquicken Moor near the Englishman's Burn. Here there is one of the region's finest stone circles dating from about 2000 BC. Although it hasn't yet been excavated similar circles elsewhere suggest that it may have been built by the first metal using communities in the area. There are twenty eight small rough boulders in the circle and in the centre a single huge granite pillar. Nearby it we also visit a stone cist on an adjacent hillside. Probably once covered with stones (which have probably since been used in nearby buildings and dykes) this is thought to be even older than the Glenquicken circle.

The return leg takes us past more cup and ring carved rocks and yet another stone circle. We finish at Kirkdale Church, which relatively speaking is a fairly recent ruin dating from the middle ages.