Ayr & Pool 14 November

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

The walk had been changed given the poor weather forecast, and it was not wrong. After a coffee at Rex’s we decided to venture out and go for a walk. The rain was not too bad to begin with as we made our way into Rozelle Park, where our first stop was the Art Gallery. But this was closed to allow a new exhibition to be set up, so we spent time in the main building looking at the exhibits there.

The rain had got a bit heavier as we moved on and stayed that way for the remainder of the outing. We followed a trail through Rozelle, one that we have used before, and stopped for a few minutes at the wooden sculptures commemorating the soldiers of WW1, and then moved on up to cross The Loaning and regained the path adjacent to Slaphouse Burn, before emerging on to Maybole Road. We then found the cycle track which took us down to Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. From there we walked up to Burns Cottage and back up to Rex’s. Four of our number stopped off at the wee Post Office to buy some beers for the afternoon and were offered and accepted a free dram! One drouthy Ooter had two, not like him at all!
We were well soaked, but dry clothes cheered us up and after our lunch the pool started. Suffice it to say that the contest was keenly contested with a wide variety of skills and encouraging? comments, and probably a record number of foul shots. Malcolm and Ian contested the final which, remarkably, had a lot of good shots and the game went one way, then the other. Just as we thought Malcolm might win, Ian came back with a flourish to be crowned this year’s champion. Well done!
By the time we left Rex’s in late afternoon the rain had stopped but no-one regretted the change of plans for the day. Many thanks to Rex for hosting us at such short notice and for the coffee and biscuits. An excellent host as usual.
For the record, we walked 5km and were out for about an hour and three-quarters.

The finalists