28 May, Barony Hill

'Into each life some rain must fall.' - Longfellow


A meagre gathering of three Early Ooters, Rex, Davie and Paul (plus the intrepid Holly, of course) assembled in the main street of Dailly for a repeat of last year's walk.

Well, not quite a repeat since last year the weather was bright and sunny!

Rain had been forecast and it was there to greet the walkers in Dailly upon their arrival. Cloud was hanging over some of the surrounding hills, but the day's objective, Barony Hill, remained mercifully clear of nimbostratus.

It was to be a wet gear walk.

Upon departure the 'excuses' supplied by the absentees were carefully scrutinised. Lindsayton Wood gave us some early respite from the rain, but then we were out in the open, passing the pigsty with satellite TV and walking amongst the mayflower which was blossoming in great profusion.

In one of the fields at Whitehill Farm was a beast with a rear hoof which was two or three times normal size. It was a pathetic sight as it hobbled through the rainswept fields.

What it thought of us is not recorded.

Coffee was taken at the ruins of Machrikill chapel and then a new stile was crossed as we accessed the open moor and began the climb along the ridge to the summit. This part of the walk was very much a "heads down" trudge into the rain.

There was no posing for photographs this time on the top (as he writes, your correspondent is looking at a photograph of 7 suntanned 'professional gentlemen' [© P Kleboe] sporting t-shirts and shorts and gathered around the attractively carved seat at the trig point). Even if someone had actually thought to bring a camera we still wouldn't have posed, such was the filthiness of the weather.

We didn't linger on the top.

The only difficult piece of navigation on the whole walk is from the top of Barony Hill towards the mineworkings and limekilns. Since it was "Paul's walk" he took responsibility for leading the descent. Not wishing to get his map wet, and being unable to see through his rain-covered spectacles he took a rough guess as to the correct direction. He was relieved to find he had got it right. He trusts he did not convey his anxiety and inner turmoil to the other members of the party.

At this point it is worth noting that Paul had considered doing the walk in the opposite direction from last time - just to make it a little more interesting for Rex and Davie. It turned out not to be necessary since neither Rex nor Davie could recall anything from the original walk! Holly, however, appeared to be aware that she had done the walk before.

And now the fruits of a little research:

The extensive workings below Barony Hill formed part of Lannielane Limeworks.

A contemporary writer says of the workings "The sound of underground water suggests that the workings are flooded. In the dark or in poor visibility, this would be a dangerous area for walkers."



Ordnance Survey 1859

One of the parts of the double limekiln is flooded. We chose to have lunch in the other although in all truth it would have made little difference to us such was our sodden nature. The limekiln provided shelter from the rain, but we couldn't help thinking of our last lunch here in the sunshine, sitting on the banks of the Falfarocher burn.

Reluctantly we packed up and returned to the rain. We descended through the glen and into the beautiful Falfarocher Wood before wending our way along the banks of the River Girvan, through long wet grass at times and over the shoogly bridge back into Dailly.

Having frightened the natives by stripping down to our underwear in the main street, we donned our dry clothing and retired to the King's Arms, in the village. In this age of the theme pub, the King's Arms has adopted a very convincing 1950s retro theme. When you've just come in from a long wet walk there's nothing like a welcoming genial host to raise your spirits, and mine host at the King's Arms was nothing like that.........

(I have taken the liberty of following Jimmy's example of providing a literary quotation at the start of this account and I suggest it should become a regular feature!)