Dumgoyne, for anyone who has ever lived in Glasgow (or indeed within Dumgoyne's magnetic reach), is a landmark of few equals. It inscribes itself into the minds of all those around it. It most probably affected a young George Buchanan too who attended a school in neighbouring Killearn before being packed off to Paris in 1520 at the age of 14. Not particluarly high Dumgoyne is however, in its complex dissymetry and its apparent cornerstone location at the north-western point of the Campsie Fells, an idiosycratic icon. It oversees Glasgow (Glasgow consequently entranced by it) as it does the Highland range. It stands opposite the solitary plug of Dumgoyach, and a little further west, Auchineden and the Kilpatrick range. These are hills with attitude not altitude, and hold within their very bones moments of great complexity. I have heard Dumgoyne referred to as many things; perhaps though, when you familiarise yourself with it over a period of years, when you come to know it (not just by scaling it), any description of it seems trite and unsatisfactory. Maybe we should just leave it as it is. It is its own poetry in action. These pictures can certainly offer an inkling of its majesty, but again, here, it's not about the subject, it's about the process, the angle, the seeing and the feeing.
From the West Highland Way.
From Dumgoyach.
From the road to Killearn.
From the West Highland Way (2).
From Auchineden (looking east).
From Drymen.
From the kitchen sink.
From the summit! (looking north to the highland range).
From the summit once more (looking south to the city and beyond to the lowlands).
From Blanefield Road.
From Craigallian Loch.
If you can somehow escape the Cardonald housing scheme in the foreground you can perhaps make out Dumgoyne's awkward silhouette in the back centre of the picture. This was taken from the turret of Crookston Castle on a fickle day in May. To the left are the Kilpatricks on the very western edge of which is Carneddans Wood opposite Dumgoyne. On the right are the Campsies. Crookston Castle sitting on Crookston mound is just one of several extant forts in Glasgow that offer excellent panorama in all directions.
Climbing over the stile behind us, coming from Blanefield Road, one is greeted with an 'opening up' of Scotland like never before. Right ahead are the plugs of the wooded Dumgoyach and the bald Dumgoyne. Just as the Pillars of Hercules bridging the Gibraltar Straits open up to the vast space of the Atlantic so too do these two pillars open up the West Highland Way and the Highland range
From Queen's Park Flagpole.
From Dumbrock Loch.
Windyhill Golf Club in Baljaffray isn't called 'windyhill' for nothing. The back nine especially afford wonderful views over the Campsie Fells and the city of Glasgow equally. This is the fifteenth tee, and so far it's been all uphill. I often used to sit here and get my breath back and enjoy the sight, not least because that was where my ball (as if drawn by the magnetic pull of Dumgoyne) invariably ended up - out of bounds on the left!
The Parallax View
angled
there is a view of seeing something from every conceivable viewpoint
the flow
of totality
associated with appreciating something from every aspect
in every light
in every season
with every feeling
angled
there is a view of seeing something from every conceivable viewpoint
the flow
of totality
associated with appreciating something from every aspect
in every light
in every season
with every feeling
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