Although intimately associated with those scenes to which Burns so
plaintively puts the question
'Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?'
and although it 'pours a' its floods' under that ancient brig where
Tam O' Shanter had such a narrow escape, Loch Doon is far from the
immediate land of Burns, lying remote in a wild and solitary mountain
region. The loch is, however, within four miles of Dalmellington
station, and as there is excellent fishing, coaches frequently carry
the disciples of Walton, as well as searchers after the picturesque,
to this quiet, outlying place. Loch Doon is eight miles in length, and
irregular in form, the lower limb of the Loch, from which the river
Doon issues, lying to the right as shown in our view. The hills on the
south are in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and the loch, forming,
over its whole length, the boundary between that county and Ayrshire,
is surrounded with pastoral mountains.
At the head of the loch, at its southern end, lies an island on which
the remains of an ancient castle are seen. This building, the main
feature of which is an octagonal peel or tower formed of large square
stones, is only vaguely traceable in history, and at one time belonged
to Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce. Rather more than half a
century ago, several canoes were found in the loch near this island,
each boat formed from the stem of a single oak tree, the trunk being
hollowed out, and the ends finished off in form like a fishing-coble.
Common repute gives to such boats an antiquity of eight or nine
centuries, but no absolute date can be assigned to them. They belong
to what has been called by an eminent Scottish archaeologist,
non-historic man. Whether they are also pre-historic may be matter of
dispute.
The river Doon, for a portion of its course immediately after leaving
the loch, presents some very remarkable features. The gully through
which it flows gives the appearance of high cliffs rent asunder by
some fierce cataclysm to give passage to its waters. The walk along
this ravine is singularly striking, the rocks seeming at every turn to
close in so as to bar further progress, and when the river is full
after a wet season the spectacle is not without elements of terror.
All around, the region abounds with lochs, Loch Doon being the
largest. Excepting as regards the branch line of railway leading to
Dalmellington, the entire district lies apart and silent, a region of
hills, occasionally, as in Merrick (2704 feet) and Cairnsmore of
Carsphairn (2612 feet), rising to the dignity of mountains, and wholly
given up to pastoral uses, except where the iron works around
Dalmellington suggest that this upward district touches the border of
that mineral wealth which exists so abundantly a little further
north.