Tarfessock South Top

Sitting on the wild ridge of the Range of the Awful Hand, this subsidiary summit is defined by a scattering of small, high-altitude lochans. It offers a remote, craggy character typical of the Galloway wilderness, providing a quieter vantage point between the loftier peaks of Tarfessock and the bulky Kirriereoch Hill.

• •The name is likely derived from the Scottish Gaelic Tarbh-fhasach, meaning 'the bull's pasture,' suggesting these rugged slopes once provided summer grazing for cattle.
• •The hill is part of the evocative Range of the Awful Hand, a series of five ridges that resemble the fingers and thumb of a hand when viewed on a map.
• •From this plateau, you get a particularly sharp perspective of the Nick of Carclach, the deep col that separates this ridge from the craggy face of Kirriereoch Hill and the massive bulk of the Merrick.
• •The land was historically part of the extensive Galloway holdings of the Marquess of Ailsa, whose name is more commonly associated with the volcanic plug of Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde.
• •Despite reaching over 2,000 feet, the South Top is often overlooked by peak-baggers because it lacks a specific classification, making it a place of rare solitude even by local standards.