#6: [22-May-15]

#4: [01-Apr-11]

#3: [27-Aug-05]

#1: [12-Jan-02]

#2: [11-Jul-05] (incomplete)

03-Aug-2011 -- The day began cloudy and we decided for a round trip through the southwestern parts of Scotland with a visit to the Mull of Galloway. The starter to our day trip should be the complete visit of CP 55N 5W in the Galloway Hills, close to the ferry terminal of Cairnryan. 6 years ago I had to abort my first attempt when approaching from the west and did not find any access into the impenetrable spruce forest.

For this time I studied some aerial photographs in advance and discovered a forest track, leading from Cairnryan to the north and passing the CP just a few hundred metres east of it. With the car we tackled the first part of this steep and stony track in the first gear. Passing a little stone pit we had to open a gate before carrying on with the car.

Behind the gate some grazing cows were waiting and watching us curiously, but after a few minutes they decided to give us a little space and we could continue in our first gear pace. Already up on the plateau and overlooking Loch Ryan we were stopped by another gate. Here we had to leave our car behind and to cover the remaining 2.6 km by foot.

On the latitude of 55°N we left the track in western direction and followed a forest aisle for the last 400m. The ground was boggy and covered with grass and heather but easy to cross. Some grazing red deer were surprised by the unexpected visitors and flitted back into their shelter from dense spruce trees. Another 150m we followed a southbound aisle and now we were just 30 m away from our destination.

The spruce trees were grown a lot higher since my first visit and it crystallized as less difficult to dive into the branches and to localize the CP near a narrow drainage ditch.

We took the same way back to the car, of course, and may have missed the spot of Gordon’s lifeguard’s chair (or Christopher’s hunter’s chair? … ) – anyway, we did not find any remains of a misplaced ladder-like construction.