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Dumfries and Galloway

Loch Skeen

The highest loch in the Southern Uplands, holding Britain's rarest fish.

Welcome

Loch Skeen sits in a corrie at about five hundred and ten metres, which makes it the highest loch in the Southern Uplands, with Lochcraig Head and White Coomb round it.

Its outflow is the Tail Burn, which goes over the edge as the Grey Mare's Tail, sixty metres of it, and that is how most people arrive: up the steep path beside the fall and then on, another hour, to find the loch lying flat and dark in the bowl above. What is in it is the surprise. The vendace is the rarest freshwater fish in Britain, a survivor from the cold water left behind by the ice, and it lives in only a handful of lochs; Loch Skeen is one of them. There is no path round the shore and no shelter of any kind.

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The Daily for 4 November, from Scotland with love. A pink sandstone castle bristling with conical turrets and a Union Jack flag rises above a gravel forecourt, autumn-tinged ivy climbing one wing beside cannon displayed on the lawn.
Not farThe Gordon ArmsA family-run restaurant with rooms in an old coaching inn in the Yarrow Valley, with seasonal Borders cooking and just seven tables.10 milesSee itThe Gordon Arms in the Yarrow Valley, a long whitewashed coaching inn with dormer windows and tall chimneys under a blue summer sky, green hills rising behind.
Before you go
How long
Three to five hours
Cost
Free
Getting there
From the National Trust car park on the A708, up past the waterfall; steep, and exposed at the top.

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Where it is

In a corrie above the Grey Mare's Tail, an hour's climb from the A708.

Close byThe rest of Dumfries and Galloway, near at hand.
  1. Grey Mare's TailGrey Mare's TailSixty metres of water off a hanging valley, on the road from Moffat to Selkirk.2 miles 2 min by road
  2. St Mary's LochSt Mary's LochThe largest natural loch in the Scottish Borders, five kilometres long, in the hills between Selkirk and Moffat on the A708.6 miles as the crow flies
  3. Dryhope Tower in sunshine, a roofless stone tower house with a railed platform on top, bicycles at its foot and St Mary's Loch and Dryhope farm beyond.Dryhope TowerA ruined 16th-century tower house of the Scotts near the foot of St Mary's Loch.8 miles as the crow flies
  4. The Moffat RamThe Moffat RamA bronze ram on a fountain in Moffat's wide High Street, given in 1875 to mark the town's long history of sheep farming and wool.10 miles 14 min by road
  5. The Singing Potter of MoffatThe Singing Potter of MoffatGerard Lyons is the singing potter of Moffat, a former opera singer who now sings religious pieces.10 miles 14 min by road
Directions
The Gordon Arms in the Yarrow Valley, a long whitewashed coaching inn with dormer windows and tall chimneys under a blue summer sky, green hills rising behind.RestaurantsThe Gordon Arms9.9 miles
AttractionsMoffat Toffee Shop10 miles
A stream trickles into a loch surrounded by rolling green hills and forestAttractionsMoffat10 miles
Bearded man with a wooden staff walks through a misty, gnarled forestAttractionsThe Merlin Trail10 miles
A grey stone farmhouse with several chimneys stands against rolling hills, a wildflower meadow in the foreground.YarrowThe ScullerySleeps 2 · 15 miles

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the loch, and when each is next free.

A grey stone farmhouse with several chimneys stands against rolling hills, a wildflower meadow in the foreground.The Scullery
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Yarrow
  • 13 miles from the loch
Free 13–15 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in Dumfries and GallowayAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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Read on

What we have written about it and more in Dumfries and Galloway.

ArticleThe Most Beautiful Waterfalls in ScotlandArticleHills, Forests and Valleys of Southern Scotland
More in Dumfries and Galloway
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For further reading, before you go. The details on this page were checked on .