Falls of Clyde 31 October

Allan, Davie C, Dougie, Gus, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Kenny R, Kenny T, Malcolm, Rex, Robert

It was Hallowe'en so Davie went out as the Michelin man

The journey through to Kirkfieldbank saw us encounter quite a bit of rain and threatening skies but it was dry when we set off and the weather quickly improved giving us a bright and mainly sunny day for our walk up to the Falls of Clyde.

We went anti-clockwise for a change and followed the track. Those in front continued to follow the track failing to notice the cut-off to the left that would take us on to the accustomed route, but since they were well ahead of the back markers, they were allowed to continue on their way with the rest deciding to follow on. Not for the first time recently have we missed Holly's sense of direction! It was assumed that the path would eventually join up with the one we should have been on but, as we progressed, we seemed to be getting further away from the river. A couple of signposts pointed to a castle, which we assumed to be Corra, but as we were beginning to wonder about where we were going, Jimmy spotted another sign pointing back towards the river. This wee track took us to an information board which confirmed that we weren’t lost after all. Ten minutes later and we were able to join the path that we wanted to be on all the time, and for the first time we were able to see the river and the falls, just shy of the dam. As it turned out the way we had come up was straightforward with the only disadvantage being the lack of proximity to the Clyde.
Being Hallowe’en, we had wondered whether the falls would offer us a trickle or a treat, and we were disappointed to find that the water was just a trickle. Crossing the dam, we made our way down to a couple of benches overlooking the river for coffee. We could now get good views of the autumn colours in splendid sunshine, meaning that many a photo was taken. Pushing on, we soon passed the power station and were in New Lanark before we knew it.
It was too soon after coffee to stop for lunch, so we continued up the road to find the riverside path. Our leader who shall remain nameless, but has a history in New Lanark, took us down the wrong one to start off with. Most of us realised this and climbed back up to the road, to find the correct one a hundred yards further up. As we entered this path we could see the bold Jimmy in front of us, he had found his way on to the proper path from the last one. As we made our way up the steepish path at the end of this section Rex was delighted to show us a picture he had just taken of a woodpecker. Other ciders are available!
Lunch was taken at the wooden sculptures in the wee park before heading back to the cars. About seven miles in three and a quarter hours was today’s count. We had won a watch with the weather and made our way to the Black Bull in Darvel for FRT where the banter was, as usual, entertaining.