Galloway & the Southern Uplands

Galloway and the Southern Uplands are the quiet end of Scottish hillwalking. The Merrick (843m) is the highest point in southern Scotland and the centrepiece of the Galloway Hills — a compact group of rounded granite summits above Loch Trool that includes the best hill walking south of the Highland Boundary Fault. The terrain is heathery, boggy in places, and genuinely enjoyable in a way that doesn't depend on superlatives. On a clear winter day, the views from the Merrick south over the Solway Firth to the Lake District and north to the Arran skyline are exceptional.

The 7stanes mountain bike trail network — Glentress, Mabie, Kirroughtree, Glentrool, Ae, Dalbeattie, and Innerleithen — has put Galloway on the map for cyclists and given the region a tourism infrastructure that wouldn't otherwise exist. Glentress near Peebles is the flagship site and one of the finest trail centres in Britain. Kirroughtree near Newton Stewart is the Galloway Hills specialist, with trails that work through open moorland as well as forest. The 7stanes as a whole are the reason there are decent cafes and bike shops in small Dumfries and Galloway towns.

The Galloway Forest Park Dark Sky Park is the largest in the UK. The area has some of the lowest light-pollution levels in Scotland, and on a clear winter night the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. The observatory at Kielder is technically just over the border in England, but the Galloway Dark Sky Park Visitor Centre at Clatteringshaws Loch is the Scottish base for stargazing events. Winter visits for dark-sky watching, combined with the surprising mildness of the Solway coast, make Galloway a genuinely compelling shoulder-season destination.