Smugglers' Trail 9 December

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Gus, Ian F, Jim, Jimmy, Johnny, Kenny T, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

As we sat in Malcolm’s house enjoying coffee and bacon rolls (many thanks again to Malcolm and his glamorous assistant, Anne) the weather did not encourage us to make a move. Yet another dull, damp, dreich morning! But the forecast promised us a window of dry weather between ten and twelve o’clock so we set off, accompanied by new recruit Jim Dinnett, to Dundonald Castle where the walk would begin.

Would it keep dry? Yes it would!

This is familiar territory so little description is needed for the route. It is sufficient to say that underfoot conditions up through the wood were soft and muddy in places, but not as bad as we might have expected. Before long we made the reservoir, continued down through Loans and made our way up to the path leading down to Fullarton Woods. Coffee/lunch was taken at our usual place on the benches at the remains of Fullarton House, before we progressed to Crosbie Kirk, and then across towards the golf course which, given the windy conditions, was very sparsely populated by golfers.

On reaching the beach we met Robert who had walked up to meet us from his parked car (he had attended a hospital appointment) and the thirteen of us were blown down the shore. We decided to leave the beach and seek the shelter of the pathway behind the dunes after a mile or so and this allowed Robert to pick up his car. Before long we were at MacKay’s for well-earned FRT.

We were extremely lucky today in that the only rain we saw was a few spots prior to reaching the pub. Like last week, we had taken some exercise and had the cobwebs blown away, before enjoying our usual conviviality. A tad under three hours for the walk, for those interested.