Energy spectra and angular distributions of 3He particles from the 27Al(d, 3He) 26Mg reaction have been measured at an incident energy of 52 MeV. An 11 MeV excitation range in 26Mg has been covered. Below 4 MeV final excitation, the DWBA spectroscopic factors agree with shell-model predictionsbut disagree with those from a simple rotational model. Above 4 MeV, we have found some evidence in favour of a rotational band structure of the hole states. Negative-parity hole states have been observed at an energy much lower than expected from (p, 2p) experiments. The application of the DWBA to the pick-up of strongly bound protons requires optical potentials with modified radii in the exit channel.