Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, 75 miles to the west on the Irish Sea coast.
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of southern Scotland.
Annandale is a strath in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, named after the dale of the River Annan. It runs north–south through the Southern Uplands from Annanhead to Annan on the Solway Firth, and in its higher reaches it separates the Moffat hills on the east from the Lowther hills to the west. A 53-mile (85 km) long-distance walking route called Annandale Way running through Annandale was opened in September 2009.
The Southern Uplands are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas. The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to collectively denote the various ranges of hills and mountains within this region. An overwhelmingly rural and agricultural region, the Southern Uplands are partly forested and contain many areas of open moorland - the hill names in the area are congruent with these characteristics.
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale is a constituency of the House of Commons, located in the South of Scotland, within the Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting. It is currently represented in Westminster by the former Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, a Conservative, who has been the MP since 2005.
The Southern Upland Way is a 344-kilometre (214 mi) coast-to-coast long-distance footpath in southern Scotland. The route links Portpatrick in the west and Cockburnspath in the east via the hills of the Southern Uplands. The Way is designated as one of Scotland's Great Trails by NatureScot and is the longest of the 29 Great Trails. The Southern Upland Way meets with seven of the other Great Trails: the Annandale Way, the Berwickshire Coastal Path, the Borders Abbeys Way, the Cross Borders Drove Road, the Mull of Galloway Trail, the Romans and Reivers Route and St Cuthbert's Way.
Scotland is the most mountainous country in the United Kingdom. Scotland's mountain ranges can be divided in a roughly north to south direction into: the Scottish Highlands, the Central Belt and the Southern Uplands, the latter two primarily belonging to the Scottish Lowlands. The highlands eponymously contains the country's main mountain ranges, but many hills and mountains are to be found south of these as well. The below lists are not exhaustive; there are countless subranges throughout the country.
The Range of the Awful Hand is a range of hills in the Galloway Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The most westerly of three parallel ridges, the range is neighboured to the east by the Dungeon Hills and the Rhinns of Kells. The Minnigaff Hills also lie southeast. In total, these four ranges are part of the Galloway Forest Park. The ridge is split between South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.
The Moorfoot Hills are a range of hills south of Edinburgh in east central Scotland, one of the ranges which collectively form the Southern Uplands.
The Annandale Way is a 90-kilometre (56 mi) hiking trail in Scotland, which is officially designated by NatureScot as one of Scotland's Great Trails. It follows the valley of the River Annan from its source in the Moffat Hills to the sea in the Solway Firth south of the town of Annan. The route, which was established on 12 September 2009, has been designed to be traversable in four to five days as a continuous walk but it also offers several day-walks. Overnight stops can be arranged in small market towns and villages along the route such as Moffat, Johnstonebridge, Lochmaben, Lockerbie, or Annan. The route has been developed by Sulwath Connections and local communities, with the support of local estates and farmers, to help promote Annandale as a new area for walking. Its trailheads are near the Devil's Beef Tub in the Moffat Hills and on the Solway Firth just south of Annan, in Newbie.
The Moffat Hills are a range of hills in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. They form a roughly triangular shape with a west facing side, a north facing side, and a south-east facing side. It is 17 kilometres from east to west across this triangle and some 16 kilometres north to south. The highest point is White Coomb at 821 m (2694 ft). The town of Moffat lies just south of the Moffat hills and along with Tweedsmuir, at the northern extremity, is the only centre of population around these hills. In some older maps, the northern part of the Moffat Hills is called the Tweedsmuir Hills, but can also be known by the title Manor Hills.
The Lowther Hills, also sometimes known as the Lowthers, are an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, though some sub-ranges of hills in this area also go under their own local names - see "Hillwalking" below. They form a roughly rhomboidal or lozenge shape on the map with the acute angles being to north and south. It has river valleys along its boundaries to north east (Clydesdale) and south west (Nithsdale) which carry the two largest arterial routes northwards into the west side of the Central Belt of Scotland. A string of small towns have long since developed along these routes. Most of the Lowther Hills lie in the Administrative County of Dumfries and Galloway, though part in the administrative county of South Lanarkshire moves into them around the village of Leadhills and the Daer Reservoir.
Croft Head is a hill in the Ettrick Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It offers unobstructed views to the Solway Firth, the fells and mountains of Cumbria and the Pennines to the south and east. To the north, the major Moffat Hills are close by and to the west, Queensberry, the Lowthers and many of the Galloway Hills can be seen. Its summit is easily reached from Moffat by taking the Southern Upland Way path east from the Moffat water bridge near Craigbeck. A quite dramatic ridge loop is possible by climbing north on the forestry fire road shortly after Craigbeck Hope cottage via Gateshaw Rig to Croft Head's summit and descending via Cat Shoulder to the junction of the SUW and the Selcoth burn pass.
Under Saddle Yoke is a hill in the Moffat Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Despite its name, it is 10m higher than its neighbouring top, Saddle Yoke. Located in a dramatic position on a small, grassy ridge in between two deep glens, Blackhope and Carrifran, it awards excellent views into the rest of the Moffat Hills and the Ettrick Hills opposite. Although incomparable to the Scottish Highlands and not particularly precipitous, the ridge between and atop the Yokes is the narrowest summit ridge in the Southern Uplands. The electric fence that comes out of Blackshope and crosses the ridge to the north of Saddle Yoke and then continues down into Carrifran hasn't worked in 40 years. A popular round known as the Hart Fell Horseshoe begins near Blackshope and normally ascends Nether Coomb Craig first, then passing over Swatte Fell, Hart Fell and looping round Hartfell Rig to the Saddle Yokes before the descent.
Blackhope Scar is a hill in the Moorfoot Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It lies to the northeast of the town of Peebles and is the second highest of the Moorfoot Hills after Windlestraw Law.
Annanhead Hill is a 478-metre (1,568 ft) summit in the Moffat Hills of Scotland. It lies on the boundary between the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Moffat, in the Southern Uplands.
Swatte Fell is a hill in the Moffat Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It lies north of the town of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, south of its parent peak, Hart Fell. It is gently sloping on three sides of the hill, however the east ridge is steep and craggy and features a deep corrie known as Blackhope, from which a popular rock climb, the Coomb Craig ridge, originates, finishing near the summit, and was featured on the OS Explorer 330 map front cover. The normal route is from the southern ridge and can be extended to include a full loop of Blackhope, finishing on Saddle Yoke, known as the Hart Fell Horseshoe.
Whitehope Heights is a hill in the Moffat Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The lowest Donald hill in the range, it is separated from Hart Fell by a steep grassy cleuch known as The Gyle. Like its neighbour, the Dumfries and Galloway-Scottish Borders border runs along its summit. The southern slopes of the hill are part of the Corehead hill farm, an area owned by the Borders Forest Trust for the purposes of habitat regeneration; as a result, a large deer fence lines the boundary. East of the Devil's Beef Tub and Annandale Way, it is most frequently climbed from this direction, but ascents from Hart Fell are also common.
The Rhinns of Kells are a range of hills in the Galloway Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. The most easterly of three parallel ridges, they are neighboured to the west by the Range of the Awful Hand and the Dungeon Hills. The eastern portion of the Minnigaff Hills range lies immediately southwest of the range. In total, these four ranges are part of the Galloway Forest Park. The ridge is located entirely within Dumfries and Galloway, with the base of the western flanks being a northwestern boundary of the county.
The Ettrick Hills are a range of hills, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. They are neighboured to the northwest by the Moffat Hills and are located mainly within the Scottish Borders, however the Dumfries and Galloway border covers the south and southwesterly flanks.
