Ditrections: Take the B7044 Colmonell turn off the A77 on the S end of Ballantrae. This road is narrow with very few passing places so I stayed on the road for 3.1 miles to park beside a wood. I walked c. 500 yards back towards Ballantrae to the sign for Knockdolian path. The path climbs steeply NW up a field towards a gate which leads to Knockdolian summit ridge. Knockdolian cairn is located on the summit.
I summited Knockdolian many years ago but lost the photos so I had a good excuse for a second visit.
The short steep walk more than compensates the effort required with fantastic 360 degree views including Ailsa Craig to the NW.
Approaching Ballantrae from S, I crossed the Stinchar Bridge and turned right beside the old castle. After 3 miles on the B7044 there is a sign for the Knockdolian Hill path. It is possible to park beside a wood a quarter of a mile beyond this point. Retrace your steps and start the steep obvious ascent up a grass field leading onto a ridge towards the summit.
I was expecting a stonier cairn however the grass cairn at the summit looks like a natural knoll. There are no kerb stones, as noted in Canmore ID 62028 (go to Links), just a few rock outcrops.
I can't find a story for the hill of Knockdolian itself, but I was here in the summer, and it's the most stupendous landmark, looking just like the nearby giant limpet-shaped island of Ailsa Craig from some angles. I liked the hill a lot and I imagine the views from the top would be marvellous. It's topped by a 'grass covered cairn .. composed of large and small stones, with rock outcrop protruding in places.. 2m high.. a few large kerb stones are visible', according to the info on Coflein. But here's some local stoney folklore:
An old family once lived in a house called Knockdolion, which stood on the banks of the Water of Girvan in Ayrshire. There was a black stone at the end of the house, and a mermaid used to come and sit on it, combing her hair and singing for hours on end. The lady of the house could not get her baby to sleep because of the loud singing of the mermaid, so she told her men-servants to break up the stone. This they did, and when the mermaid came on the night that followed she found no stone to sit upon. She at once flew into a rage, and cried to the lady of the house:-
Ye may think on your cradle-
I think on my stane;
There will ne'er be an heir
To Knockdolian again.
Not long after this the baby died. He was the only child in the house and when his father and mother died the family became extinct.
A harsh punishment but you mustn't go messing with stones.
From 'Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend' by Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1917).
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Posted by Rhiannon
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