Walk: Boreland Hills on foot from Fleet Street

📌 Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★

Despite their name, the Boreland Hills are anything but dull. This low but intricately rugged area of grass and woodland is dotted with an array of memorials, monuments and historic sites, all joined by a meandering path network starting on Fleet Street(!), Gatehouse of Fleet. Whether your interest is in Pictish carvings, rural and riverside views, local ministers or fortified tower houses, there should be something here for you – but take a map, as navigation is surprisingly complicated.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish on Fleet Street (B796), just west of bridge over Water of Fleet, 5-min walk west of Gatehouse of Fleet village centre

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NX 597561

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 54.880282,-4.188617

🚌 Bus to Gatehouse of Fleet

🚗 Street parking

📝 Key info

▶ 5 km / 3 mi | ▲ 140 m | ⌛ 1.5-2 hr

Features: 🏠 Gatehouse of Fleet ★★; 🪨 Trusty’s Hill Pictish Stone, summit & hillfort ★★; △ Boreland Hills (84 m); ✞ Rutherford’s Monument; Cardoness Castle; 💧 Water of Fleet

⬤ Moderate | Clear paths, lanes & pavements for most of route. Descent north off Trusty’s Hill can be overgrown (avoid by using ascent route). Scrubby heathland descent from Rutherford’s Monument with confusing web of paths / animal trods before eventually joining a track.

➡️ Anticlockwise circuit with various detours: start & Gatehouse of Fleet – Trusty’s Hill (final ascent from southeast side, descend north side) – Boreland Hills trig pillar – Rutherford’s Monument – descend south, east then south to B796 – Cardoness Castle – start via path along Water of Fleet

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Free ranging cows, red kite, thrushes & other small birds.

Weather: Sunny, 22°C & humid, mostly with a welcome breeze.

June 2023