The previous day we climbed the Graham, Blackcraig Hill, from Glen Afton so this glen was also our destination for the ascent of the Graham, Windy Standard, and the New Donald, Dugland. Glen Afton is reached from New Cumnock on the A76 Kilmarnock to Dumfries Road. We parked on the east verge north of Craigdarroch.
My walking buddy owned an electric bike, and I borrowed his wife’s, a new experience for me. We set off through open large metal gates onto the vehicle track that climbed gradually SSW to above the Water Works. Here the track turned south then descended south-east to above the Afton Reservoir.
At this point we took the upper track and headed round the south side of Black Hill, the trees in this area having been cleared, to a junction of tracks where we went left.
This track climbed south through some mature trees, crossed the Water of Douglas and turned back on itself, north-west, through another cleared area of forest. Here we were forced to alight from the bikes and push them past a couple of lorries loaded with timber. Further on an electrical sub-station was reached and beyond it there were a few track junctions. We headed up the first one on the left which involved a steep climb through young trees. I skidded on the gravel and came to a halt and was forced to push the bike uphill, which wasn’t easy as these bikes are rather heavy.
Once I started cycling again, we were on the open hillside with wind turbines. The track later swung round to the west then to the south side of Windy Standard to wind turbine WTG P04. Here we left the bikes and in low cloud walked 115 metres across soft vegetation to the trig point marking the summit of the Graham and New Donald, Windy Standard. On my previous visit to this hill I also had no views, but I suppose on a clear day the foreground would just consist of wind turbines and trees.
On returning to the bikes, we cycled back to below the north side of Windy Standard then west, on a slight decline, along the track below Trostan Hill and to the north-east side of Dugland. At wind turbine T13 we left our bikes and walked 140 metres to the summit of this New Donald and Graham Top, marked by a cairn.
The outward route was then reversed, minus the tracks to Windy Standard. At Black Hill, I cycled to WTG 12 where left the bike and walked 40 metres across some tussocky ground to the summit of this Tump. There was no feature marking its highpoint.
We then continued our return route back to the car in Glen Afton.
- Time taken – 4 hours.
- Distance – 30.75 kilometres. (over 30 by bike)
- Ascent – 915 metres.