Muirkirk Circular 30 October

Alan, Allan, Billy, Davie Mc, Dougie, Hugh, Gus, Ian, Johnny, Kenny R, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

We met at Kames on a cold, frosty, bright morning for our ‘lunky hole’ walk.  Progress was good and soon we were over the Garpel at Tibbie’s Brig  and on the familiar path which took us past the Covenanter’s (William Adam) memorial and down to follow the River Ayr up to our coffee stop at the wooden walkway fifteen minutes away from the ‘loch with no name’ (maybe ‘America’ could come up with a song!). It was cool sitting there meaning that top layers that had come off earlier were put back on and, by and large, stayed on for the rest of the day. The aforesaid loch, or settling pond, was looking much better now that the grass had established itself round about it, but we didn’t admire it for too long, only briefly reminiscing about how it only seemed like a year or two back that we could see the excavations still going on at its base.
Crossing the A70 we were now on tarmac as we walked up to Netherwood only to see a convoy of 4x4s coming the other way. Earlier on we had heard shots being fired in the distance and surmised that these were the shooters making their way home. Surprisingly we were then passed by another 4x4 going in the same direction as us, whose front passenger was holding a hawk!
Lunch was taken on the bridge over the Greenock Water just past Burnfoot Farm before continuing up the track and over the former opencast. We didn’t take the low road as it was flooded, not a surprise really, but took the higher option down to Glasgow Road. At the point where the track met this road, we were dismayed to see the rubbish that had been deposited there. Some people! It was ironic that, at the drystone dyke area, there was a banner claiming that Muirkirk was a litter-free town! Not so just a quarter of mile up the road!
Anyway, our lunky hole virgins were completely and utterly underwhelmed at the sight and explanation of the lunky hole. They did, nonetheless, succumb to the traditional initiation ceremony!
At this point Alan, Allan and Davie continued down the road in an attempt to catch up with Johnny who hadn’t stopped in case he had seized up, whilst the rest decided to go down through the woods, getting slightly lost in the process, and return to Kames that way.
The smaller group had taken three hours and fifty minutes for today’s walk of about ten miles whilst the others took four hours.
A good walk in very favourable walking conditions.

In the evening Malcolm and Kenny couldn’t join us for our curry, but our numbers were bolstered by Alan McQ, Davie C, Iain, Jim and Kenny T. The curry celebrated the recent birthdays of Davie C, Dougie and Malcolm (any excuse does these days) and, as usual, we were well catered for by the staff at the Jewel in the Crown. A most enjoyable night followed by a wee refreshment at Wetherspoon’s.