Walk: Screel Hill – rocky ridge, wide views

📌 Palnackie, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★

🛠️ Ascent route has some signposted diversions due to storm damage (believed to be on ascent) (checked April 2024)

Screel Hill is a smallish dollop of a hill served with an extra large helping of character. Rocky knolls dot the prominent summit ridge, with excellent views of Castle Douglas from the top and of Rough Firth from the ascent. Much of the lower slopes are wooded, but this is no monotonous swathe of forest: instead, varied vegetation (with colourful arrays of fungi in season) and an rough but interesting path winding up through it add up to an enjoyable climb.

📷 Chronological photo guide

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish on minor road just off A711 2 mi south of Palnackie

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NX 800547

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 54.872837,-3.871388

🚌 Bus stops on A711 at hill turnoff

🚗 Car park

📝 Key info

▶ 5 km / 3 mi | ▲ 330 m | ⌛ 2 hr

Features: △ Screel Hill (344 m)

⬤ Moderate | Track for first 400m and most of return; rough paths for remainder, wet on summit ridge and briefly very steep on descent. Ascent path wrongly marked as a track on O.S. 1:25,000 maps.

➡️ Anticlockwise lollipop circuit: start – east end of summit ridge – Screel Hill summit cairn – Glen of Screel Burn – track junction on outward route – return to start by outward route

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Fungi, blackberries.

Weather: Hazy sunshine, especially at summit; lightish wind, temperature just into low teens.

October 2015