Alan, Alan McQ, Allan, Davie C, Davie
Mc, Gus, Ian, Jimmy, Malcolm, Peter, Rex, Robert
The brilliant spell of weather
continued as we set off from Kames (or is it Kaimes?) on the path out to Tibbie’s
Brig. The bench in memory of Councillor James Kelly gave us the opportunity to
have a team photograph before we continued, skirting the Garpel, and taking the
path on the old railway line down towards the Covenanters memorial. As per
usual, coffee was called for, but, today, this shaded spot was infested with
midges so little time was spent before we continued past the River Ayr and up
to the opencast site which has now benefitted from landscaping. We reminisced that
it was not too long ago that we could see to the bottom where men and machines
were still working and wondered how deep the water was now. Peter left us at this point and followed the A70 back to his car. Crossing the main road, we stopped
briefly at the bridge over the Ayr to take on fluids in preparation for the
next section which would be the hottest part of the walk. We followed the road
across the Sorn Muirkirk road (closed at the moment for some works apparently)
and passed Netherwood Farm, before making our way up to the entrance to
Burnfoot Farm. In a change to tradition, we stopped here in the shade of the
trees and took lunch. The aforementioned shade and a wee breeze made for a
pleasant fifteen minutes and allowed the more sweaty of us to change shirts.
Continuing on, we crossed the bridge
over the Greenock Water and made our way up the track to the site of the old
opencast, now covered in trees. Indeed, some tree felling had already taken
place. It is not too long ago that the whole area was barren. Given the dry
weather we, for the first time in a while, were able to take the lower road
(usually flooded) and before long we emerged at the Muirkirk to Strathaven road
and turned right towards Muirkirk. Our junior member was underwhelmed by the
lunky hole in the drystane dyke and matters were made worse since the
information board had been vandalised and the details had gone.
Almost to a man, the decision was to
head straight back to the cars from here rather than take a detour through the
woods to the churchyard, and so Kames was reached at ten to two, three and three quarter hours or so after having set off. The distance was averaged out to have
been nine and a half miles, quite enough on such a warm day.
FRT was taken in the Empire Bar,
where old friendships were renewed.
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| Tibbie's Brig |
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| Today's starting eleven |
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| The guid auld days? |
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| The big hole in the ground |
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| Holly cools off (normally the track is flooded at this point) |
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