There are parts of Galloway I’ve looked at from afar for years and wondered what they were actually like when you got right into them. The Dungeon Hills were one of those places. I’d seen the photographs, studied the maps and looked across towards them from other adventures, but I’d never really had the means to get far enough into the forest to explore them properly. That was about to change.

This was going to be a long ride on Liza, my Carrera Fury MTB. The plan was to start at Glen Trool, head past Loch Dee and follow the Dungeon Hills as far as I reasonably could, including whatever interesting detours distracted me along the way. The slight problem was that I didn’t really know how far that would be, whether I was fit enough to do it, or whether Liza’s battery would actually get me there and back. Only one way to find out.

Leaving Glen Trool Behind

Glen Trool is beautiful, but during the summer it can also be incredibly busy, so my first objective was simply to get past the touristy bit and away from everyone. It didn’t take long. Once I turned into the forest the people disappeared, the trails opened up and it started to feel like the beginning of a proper adventure. There was quite a climb ahead, but the scenery was already getting better with every mile.

I love mountains. I could genuinely sit and look at one mountain all day with a Jetboil, some sandwiches and a few snacky treats and be perfectly happy. I love the sea and forests too, and occasionally even urban scenery, but you really can’t beat a mountain. Before long the Lamachan Hill range appeared ahead, including Curleywee with its magnificent corrie. It’s somewhere I’d really like to climb properly one day, although today I was staying considerably lower and continuing towards Loch Dee.

Loch Dee and a Giant Axe Head

Then Loch Dee appeared, and it was magnificent. There is also something rather unexpected sitting beside it: what looks like an enormous axe head complete with runes. Obviously this means Galloway was once inhabited by giants. There can be no other explanation.

From Loch Dee the scale of what I was attempting became rather more obvious. The plan was to ride around the loch and continue deep into the Dungeon Hills, with the route potentially stretching to more than 30 miles before I’d finished messing about with all my inevitable detours. This wasn’t going to be a quick afternoon spin.

I also passed White Laggan Bothy, although somebody was already there and I didn’t want to disturb them. That’s something I try to respect when I’m out. People come to places like this for peace and quiet, and if it was me sitting there enjoying it, I’d want to be left alone too.

Why Liza Is Just as Much Fun as Lora

Somewhere along here I realised just how much Liza has changed what I’m able to explore. Lora, my ZX-9R, lets me cover enormous distances. She’s ridiculously fast, the acceleration still catches me by surprise and riding her is an experience in itself, but there are places she simply cannot take me.

Liza can. She gets me right into the scenery, into places that would be too far for me to reach on foot and back again in a single day. Although everything happens considerably more slowly, flying downhill on a mountain bike at 30 mph can be every bit as exciting as riding a superbike, especially when the front washes out. It’s fun in a completely different way.

Into the Dungeon Hills

The further I travelled, the bigger everything became. That’s something photographs don’t convey particularly well here. What look like little white dots scattered across the hills can actually be enormous boulders taller than a person, while pine trees that may be 70 feet high look like tiny bushes against the mountains.

At one point I stopped simply because it was too nice not to, and that became something of a theme for the day. I wasn’t interested in setting some impressive average speed or getting from A to B as quickly as possible. I kept stopping because I wanted to actually look at the place I’d made all this effort to reach.

At around seven and a half miles I checked Liza’s battery. 87%. That was surprisingly good. Perhaps this was going to be easier than I’d expected.

Surely This Isn’t Real

Then I reached one of those views. You know the photographs you see online where somewhere looks so ridiculously perfect that you assume the photographer has done something to it? Standing there looking across the landscape, it genuinely didn’t seem real. It looked like a postcard or something you’d see on Instagram, except I was actually standing in it.

The landscape was enormous. Old bridges, waterfalls, mountains and forest stretched away around me, and civilisation suddenly felt a very long way away. By trail, I was many miles into the forest by this point. Get seriously injured out here without a phone, food or the right equipment and getting yourself back out could become a very different sort of adventure. But standing there on a beautiful day, it was unbelievable, and this was exactly why I’d come.

This Is Why I Make Videos

This was also the point where something about XploraLora really clicked for me. I’m not particularly interested in making clickbait videos that get some views for a week and then disappear. I’d rather make something somebody can discover in ten years and still enjoy. There is so much to see in places like this that the videos sometimes have to be long. If I cut everything down to ten minutes, I’d miss most of the reason I came here in the first place.

I’m trying, as much as I can, to give somebody watching the experience of actually being there. The scale, the silence, the little things you notice along the way and those moments when you turn a corner and simply think, wow. That’s why I make videos.

Better Than I Ever Imagined

As I travelled deeper into the Dungeon Hills, it just kept getting better. I found Backhill of Bush Bothy tucked away amongst the hills and immediately imagined what it would be like to buy somewhere like that and renovate it if you were a millionaire. The only slight problem would be popping out for a pint of milk.

The Rhinns of Kells eventually appeared in the distance and the landscape continued changing around me. Scottish mountains have a habit of doing that. From one direction they can look like lovely shapely green hills. Get around the other side and suddenly you’re looking at cliffs and huge rock faces. Nice on one side, vicious and angry on the other.

By this point I was absolutely in my element. This was precisely the part of Galloway I’d wanted to see and hadn’t previously been able to reach, and it was better than I’d imagined by a long, long way.

One Last Detour

Of course, turning around didn’t actually mean going home. I spotted another trail and wondered where it went. You can probably see where this is going. Off I went for one last detour towards the hills, despite knowing perfectly well that every extra mile was using battery I’d need to get back to Glen Trool.

Eventually the ground became increasingly rough, steep and boggy and common sense finally won. There was no point attempting to force my way across terrain near the loch just for the sake of getting a little closer, so I turned back. This time, genuinely, for home.

The Battery Problem

The journey back started easily enough. Much of the route was downhill and I was still feeling reasonably good, although after more than 30 miles I was definitely starting to feel the ride. Then I checked Liza: 41%. Still fine.

Except the battery seemed to behave rather differently once it dropped below about half charge. The percentage started disappearing much more quickly, and the colder weather probably wasn’t helping. By the time I returned to Loch Dee there was only 18% remaining, then 17%. Meanwhile the Action 4 battery had run out, the microphone battery ran out and everything, apparently, had decided we’d been out long enough. I was pushing the limits of battery technology.

There was just one rather important problem. I still had to get back up the hill.

I Don’t Think I’ve Got the Power

After nearly three hours of riding, I reached the climb I’d been thinking about for much of the return journey. I was tired, Liza was running desperately low on battery and even with the assistance turned all the way up to five, I wasn’t convinced there was enough power left to get us to the top.

Eventually I got off and used the walk assist. It wasn’t exactly enthusiastic either, but slowly we climbed until finally I thought, I’ve done it! From there it was essentially downhill to Glen Trool, although there was one more place I wanted to stop.

Bruce’s Stone and Loch Trool

Back near the start of the route is Bruce’s Stone, commemorating Robert the Bruce’s victory over an English force in Glen Trool in March 1307, part of the campaign that would eventually lead to his decisive victory at Bannockburn in 1314. I’d deliberately passed it earlier because I wanted to come back at the end.

Nearby, Loch Trool was almost completely still, its surface like a mirror. Apart from the midges. There are always midges.

From there it was finally back to the car, where I could get the gear off, eat the last sandwich, have a mocha and contemplate the important matter of the steak and chips waiting for me later.

That Was Pretty Epic

By the time I finished, Liza still had around 10% battery remaining. We’d made it. It turned into one of the longest cycle rides I’ve ever done and certainly one of the most memorable. I’d gone into a part of Galloway I’d wanted to see for years, travelled deep into the Dungeon Hills, found bothies, lochs, waterfalls, forests and mountains, taken far too many detours and discovered that the landscape wasn’t remotely disappointing. It was better than I ever imagined.

Sometimes an adventure doesn’t need some enormous event to make it memorable. Sometimes it’s simply being able to stand somewhere you’ve looked at from afar for years and finally see what is actually there. This video right here. This is why I do the YouTube thing. 💞

Adventure Details

Date filmed: 6 August 2026
Location: Galloway Forest Park
Bike: Carrera Fury “Liza”
Route: Glen Trool, Loch Dee and the Dungeon Hills, plus several dead-end detours
Total time out: 5 hours 30 minutes
Ride time: Approximately 3 hours 45 minutes
Ride distance: 40.53 miles
Walking distance: 0.35 miles
Ascent: 2,339 ft
Descent: 2,375 ft
Highest point: 1,198 ft
Lowest point: 262 ft
Difficulty: Moderate, scunnered
Total cost: About one gallon of petrol
Items forgotten: Naw

Main camera: DJI Osmo Action 4, 4K 25fps, Wide Angle, RockSteady
Drone: DJI Neo 2
Handheld camera: DJI Pocket 3
Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro 2024