19 November Not the Lunky Hole Walk

Davie C, Davie Mc, Gus, Malcolm, Jimmy, Johnny, Paul & Rex

 

            This was not our slowest walk. Nor, did it appear to your scribe, to be the fastest. Time would tell. The idea was to meet at Kames in Muirkirk to do the Lunky Hole Walk (See July 2010 inter alia) but when we gathered there somebody had made a decision to do the walk anticlockwise instead of our clockwise direction. Did this cause confusion in the ranks? You bet it did.

            Still, on a bright, cool morning we set off along the River Ayr Way in the direction of Crossflats. The topic of conversation was Scotland’s superb victory over The Republic of Ireland in the Euro qualifiers and last night’s humiliation at the hands of the Auld Enemy. Such talk cheered and depressed us in equal measure as we made our way to Crossflats road.

            This wee road was exceptionally busy today with at least three vehicles coming and going. The driver of one of these vehicles tried to dognap Holly thinking she was an escaped farm collie until we put her right. With humble apologies she let us get on our way. Our way brought us to the main road and the Kirk Green.

            For some reason known only to those in front, we ignored our usual path through the woods to the Lunky Hole and kept to tarmac as far as the Stra’ven road. Now, he who knows such things suggested that due to the rains of the week-end, the track near the old mine workings may be flooded and impassable. But Davie Mc had a plan. We would keep to the Stra’ven road for a little longer and take a higher toad. This is what we did.

This road took us close to the Long Stone of Convention, an upright obelisk some four feet high set there to commemorate a conventicle held during the covenanting times. (See http://drmarkjardine.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/james-renwick-and-the-longstone-of-convention-near-muirkirk/) This sits some fifty metres from the road and just had to be visited and five minutes or so was spent there. Then, suitably impressed or underwhelmed accordingly, we retraced our steps to the road and continued our walk. Our usual road wasn’t flooded as we saw from the higher one but we were unconcerned for now we had seen something new.

We followed the road through the trees – which, incidentally, have been cropped since we were last here - and down to the bridge on the Greenock water near Burnfoot Farm. Here we stopped for coffee.

We stuck to tarmac for a while after coffee, firstly on the service road for Burnfoot and then on the unclassified road past Netherwood Farm and down to the Cumnock road. Here we picked up the River Ayr way and followed this for the rest of the day. The settling pond for the abandoned opencast has filled to the brim with water and we speculated on uses and possible hazards as we walked past. Then hunger called and we sat down for a bite in a wee dell overlooking the river for a bite.

After lunch we came past Adam’s grave (See Dane Love’s ‘The Covenanter Encyclopaedia’ for a full description) and on to the old railway. Another old railway brought us to the Garple and we followed this upstream to Tibbie’s Brig where once stood the inn of Isabel (Tibbie) Pagan (See http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/PaganIsobelorTibbie1741-1821.699.shtml)

From Tibbie’s Brig we came to McAdam’s Cairn where John Loudoun McAdam had his British Tar Company’s works and down past the ruins of Springhill back to Kames.

I started by saying this was not our slowest walk. This was borne out by the time taken – three hours fifty minutes for what would normally be slightly longer than four hours. Yet it did not seem to be our fastest round. Perhaps the diversions managed to cut some time off. Who knows?

 

FRT was taken in what has now become our usual howff in Muirkirk, The Empire Bar where we were treated to sausage rolls and mushy peas by our landlady. Many thanks go to her for this act of generosity.