| Merrick from Glen Trool Merrick |
| Estimated net time | 4-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty | The whole route is in general very easy. | ||
| Drinking water | You will find drinking water in the lower part of the valley. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (May 2015). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head car park. | ||
| Start height | 145 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 865 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 12.8 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Garvin, on the Scottish south-west coast, drive 33.0 km (20.5 mi) to Bargrennan. Drive another 2.2 km (1.4 mi) and turn right towards Glen Trool. Drive 1.1 km (0.7 mi) and then 5.3 km (3.3 mi) to the upper car park in Glen Trool. Park wherever you find a free parking lot, or drive down to the lower car park.
From the upper car park locate the Merrick trail sign. Follow this path the first 600 metres and then head a little uphill. Follow the path 1.5 km further and turn a little right, and then pass through a gate. Take on the slightly steeper hill and continue up to Benyellary. From here turn a little left and descend 55m, followed by the ascent to Merrick's 843m in 1.6 km.
From the summit descend your ascent route.
Erling and I had decided to hike Merrick on this grey and windy Sunday, and set off from Glen Trool just after 12:30. We found a good route up towards Benyellary and from here it was as straight forward as it could get. The hike took us just under three hours, and with a little bit of additional time we just broke the three hours barrier.