SOUTHERN UPLAND WAY
NEW LUCE TO BARGRENNAN

A fuller description of the SUW can be found in the official guide, which is available in most good bookshops in Dumfries and Galloway. This section goes through moorland and forest with interesting historical locations that can be visited.

Much of this route is off road and in wet weather underfoot conditions can be slippery therefore walking boots are essential. Transport from Newton Stewart to the start at New Luce is provided.

The first few kilometres are in open country and are a mix of roads and paths but the remains of Neolithic man can be found at Kilhern and a hut circle a kilometre beyond Balmurrie. This section is on what was the old packhorse route and indeed was a route used by pilgrims on their way to Whithorn. This area was home to the Covenanters during the reign of the Stuarts in the second half of the twentieth century and many secret conventicles took place. Many covenanters, including an ancestor of one of the walk leaders, were murdered during what has been called “the killing times”. Services are still held in some of these remote locations.

The Rev Alexander Peden was one of the leading covenanters and for a time was the minister at New Luce. The path now leads into the forest passing the Laggangairn Standing Stones, two prehistoric monoliths, and a few hundred metres further on can be found the Wells of the Rees.

The Standing Stones and the Wells share a common history of paganism and Christianity. It is also probable that a leper colony also existed in this area. On Craigmoddie Fell to the east of the Wells is a Covenanting monument, Linn’s Tomb, erected in the memory of Alexander Linn who was shot in 1685.

Somewhere in this locality we will have a break for lunch and absorb the history of what is around us. We soon pick up a forest road that leads past Derry, Polbae, Tannylaggie and Waterside and a small settlement at Knowe is reached.

From here another short section of forest is negotiated before open moorland greets us for the final four kilometres. We pass Glenruther and from the high point overlooking Loch Ochiltree a magnificent panoramic view of all the Galloway Hills can be appreciated over a cup of coffee.

A short distance from the finish at Bargrennan can be found the House O’ the Hill Hotel where suitable celebratory drinks may be obtained before transport returns you to Newton Stewart.