Clatteringshaws Loch

📌 Galloway Forest Park, Dumfries & Galloway
★★

Clatteringshaws Loch is one of the most attractive spots in the southern chunk of Galloway Forest Park reachable without a long hike. A dam holds back the upper course of the River Dee which drains the Dungeon Hills and Rhinns of Kells mountain ranges, creating a body of water which is the third biggest by surface area in the Scottish Lowlands (after Loch Doon and Loch Ken). There are excellent views across the water from the lochside visitor centre on The Queen’s Way, taking in the little-visited hills of Craignell, Cairngarroch and Millyea. The waymarked trail to the Bruce’s Stone – where Robert the Bruce may have once rested after defeating the English here in 1307 – is little more than a brief leg-stretcher, but more energetic visitors should consider climbing Benniguinea on the opposite side of the road.