Introduction The Mull of Galloway is a wild and serious place to climb at the southernmost tip of Scotland. The crags out on the Mull itself are mostly very big, loose and with the added problem of being tidal. King of the routes here is definitely the full 4km sea level traverse... which took several days to pioneer.! However the area just south of West Tarbert, known as Carrickcorie has more amenable climbing , with shorter routes on generally OK rock.
Access To get here follow the A77 or A75 towards Stranraer then the A716 down the east shore of the Rhinns to Drummore village. From here follow signs for the Mull of Galloway Visitor Attractions. West Tarbert beach and parking spots are at the obvious isthmus before the final ascent, and the Carrickcorie climbs area bout 10 minutes walk from here.
Guidebook For a definitive list of all the climbs here see the SMC published Lowland Outcrops guidebook.
Dangers These are greywacke sea cliffs with large areas of poor rock and areas where there is more vegetation or bird-shit than rock. Many of the routes require abseil approaches, so are very serious in nature and can be difficult to locate from above. This is a very open stretch of coast so climbing here will be hazardous in big seas or high winds and the area is very open to rapid weather changes. Dangers
Several areas are described briefly below, from north to south, generally with deteriorating climbing conditions but increasingly spectacular scenery!.
Benwee
There are two climbing areas on either side of the narrow, grassy Benwee promontory, just 5 minutes form the road along the shore southwards form West Tarbert, where a wooden sheep fence joins the cliffs. The north side has some V.Diff's and Severe's that are hard to get to and hard to photo. The more accessible south side pictured below has some reputedly good E routes.
Carrickcorie North
Another area that is hard to photo, and in my experience the rock here was none too good. This area is about another 5 minutes walk south of Benwee, where a very small and oozing stream goes over the cliff by a nice short grassy area - look for the moss rather than the water. The Carrickcorie north crag is just north of this stream, get to it by descending immediately right of the stream down a very nice Easy/Moderate ramp and slab - much better quality rock than on the climb themselves!
Pictured above are Linda Biggar on the arête of Slaritbartfast - nice line and nice climbing, but slightly dubious rock - and seconding the loose and unpleasant slab of Zaphod Beeblebrox (the leader cheated).
Carrickcorie Main
Get to the Carrickcorie Main crag by descending towards the sea about 30m south of the stream mentioned above, an easy un-graded scramble. Then traverse easily southwards along the foot of the crags, which won't be possible in heavy seas. The north end of this Main Crag is just a few tens of metres from the descent route. Look for a very obvious and very polished rectangular grey slab, two metres high, which is the start of Hula.. This area has some pretty reasonable rock (for Greywacke) and is certainly the most relaxed place to climb at the Mull. The routes are quite short and the names are a bit long though. So they have been abbreviated here out of sheer laziness - try to guess the endings before looking them up in the SMC guidebook.!
Just round the corner to the south the crag steepens and gets bigger, there are a couple of good looking VS's out on the prominent nose of the main buttress. Access as above or abseil to save time.
Mull of Galloway
Some of the biggest cliffs in Galloway are located here just by the lighthouse and visitor centre. However the cliffs are heavily populated by seabirds and are much bigger, looser and scarier than those at Carrickcoire... ..best just to have a Latte in the visitor centre cafe and chill out.!
The cliffs of Gallie Crag, where Galloway's first seacliff route, Vomit, was recorded in 1971.... Meet the local residents, most probably responsible for the name (though actually pictured on holiday at the Old Man of Hoy in Orkney).
The only route I have done so far out near the Mull itself is the underside of the descent route on Kennedy's Cairn, at about Diff., but strenuous for the grade. Note the specialist leisure footwear.
For information on tourist services in this area see the Mull of Galloway website.
