Galloway. September 1994 — From Malawi to the hills of Bonnie Gallowa'
The hills of Galloway may be thousands of miles from Malawi, but they're linked by a common factor — the Mulanje Expats Three Peaks Society.
Made up of ex-patriots [sic] who either have lived or currently live in Malawi, the society — known as Meths — gets together for a major outing at least once a year, and holds occasional 'mini-meets' on a more frequent basis.
This year's expedition, to the Glencoe area, was held from 30th August to 3rd September.
But after the trip to the Highlands, seven members of the group were invited by member Ian Mason, 2 Philip Avenue, Newton Stewart, to visit the Galloway hills.
Quite coincidentally, the group held its inaugural meeting in the Galloway area, but has since visited places as diverse as Switzerland and the Three Peaks area of Yorkshire. It plans to return to Switzerland next year.
Mr Mason, who worked in the insurance business in Malawi for five years, is now retired but through the group keeps in regular touch with the friends he made in Africa.
Some 25 members of the group — whose members live in 16 countries across the globe — visited the Highlands, and a party of seven travelled south to take in the Galloway hills.
Mr Mason explained that, with a far from favourable weather forecast, the party set off with some apprehension for the Merrick (2,764ft). Two hours after leaving Glen Trool they were on the summit in thick cloud. Navigating by compass, they made their way down the Redstone Rig, where halfway down the cloud lifted dramatically; it stayed clear for the remainder of the day.
After a somewhat draughty lunch on Mullwharchar (692m), the Pulskaig Burn and Gala Lane were forded before the party made the long slog to Meikle Craigtarson. After that, it was an easy walk to Corserine (2,668ft/814m) before taking the standard route down via the Folk Burn to Forest Lodge.
'All in all, it was a superb day', said Mr Mason. 'The newcomers were most impressed by the grandeur of the Galloway hills. For those in the party with umbrellas, it was an exhilarating spinnaker run all the way.'
From the Galloway Gazette, 16 September 1994
© WDYFO, 1994