Arrangements for 7 September 2022

 Meet at Wemyss Bay in good time for the 1005 ferry to Rothesay. Early arrivals may wish to visit the cafe across the road from the ferry terminal. The plan is to get the bus to Kilchattan and walk around the southern end of Bute, taking in St Blane's Chapel.

Don't forget your bus pass.

Arrangements for Wed Aug 31.

 Meet just before 10.a.m. beside the Gogo burn for a walk up Knock Hill.

Lochranza-Sannox, 24 August 2022

Davie C, Robert, Hugh, Ian, Paul

A select group of 5 Ooters boarded the MV Caledonian Isles for the first visit to Arran since June 2019. Ian had travelled through heavy rain to get to Ardrossan but our faith in the weathermen and women and those in between was to be rewarded.

Aboard ship Davie entertained us, and those seated around us, with his collection of memorabilia from the great Aberdeen rectorial contest of 1975 - He had copious cuttings, photos and election posters extolling the merits of "Ben the Chan - 5 foot 2, eyes of blue." Sadly, Gordon Brown was to remain the only student elected to the post of Rector in  a Scottish university (whatever happened to him?)

By the time the 324 had dropped us off at Lochranza the sun was out and we enjoyed sunshine and pleasant temperatures for the whole walk. We stopped for a late elevenses at our usual spot by the burn and as usual the midges ensured it was no more than a brief halt. Laggan Cottage was reached by around 1.15.   Various calculations were made about the distance and time remaining to catch the 1545 bus at Sannox and we agreed to depart at 1.35 on the dot. 

Rarely has an Ooters' trip been planned with such military precision.

The track around the Fallen Rocks has been widened - presumably to provide vehicular access for whatever purpose - and we kept up a fair old pace as we headed for Sannox.  We arrived with a good 15 minutes to spare, giving Robert time to chat to a Swedish couple who had been golfing at the course up the road. No diplomatic incidents occurred.

As usual the bus got increasingly busy as we approached Brodick. Multiple mas, pas and weans boarded the bus at Arran Aromatics and the driver just waved everyone aboard, not even bothering to collect fares.

Rather than boarding the ferry immediately, one Ooter felt the need for a fish supper so we left him to queue.  Robert was very generous with his chips when he rejoined us aboard ship.

The kitty wasn't touched today. Davie kindly bought us the first round and (I hope I'm right in saying) Hugh the second.

After the last visit Allan reported "There was a debate about how long the walk had been, with estimates ranging from seven and a half to ten miles. Next time we'll take a trundle wheel! (Your scribe's uneducated guess would be eight and a half.)"  Well we forgot the trundle wheel and the same debate (aka dispute) arose.  Hugh reckoned 10 miles, Ian 8.8 miles, your scribe 8.4 miles and Robert 21,000 steps.

I agree with Allan.

A great day out.

Paul.

Robert's photos:

 

Darvel 17 August

Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Hugh, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul, Robert

Many thanks to Kay and Davie for the pre-walk coffee and scones at the Café Derval. Very much appreciated.

Leaving Davie’s on a coolish, but dry, morning we crossed the park and took to the Long Cairn Walk, a familiar setting for the Ooters. It had been a wee while since some of us had done this walk and we had forgotten just how many climbs there were on the road, or are we just getting older? By about quarter past eleven we were at Alan McQ’s friend Mike’s house, complete with weather station, and we stopped briefly for a drink and to let Davie the Kitty have his snack before moving on to Loudoun Hill.

 Decisions! Decisions!

 Derval Davie, Gus, Hugh, and Paul decided to go up the hill whilst the rest chose to skirt the base using the path, but not before stopping for lunch. Moving on, the larger group got to the tarmac and decided to walk on hoping that the climbers would catch up. We stopped for a moment to talk to what we assumed to be a farmer hand digging some potatoes for the Darvel Show. We now know that he was an ex-GP Billy Ramsay? who knew Davie Mc. The homeward leg along the new path on the old railway line was uneventful although we did meet a ‘lady’ wi’ twa dugs, one of which took a fancy to Isla when the following group encountered her. See Davie for vivid description of the encounter.

Me and my shadow!

 The advance guard arrived back at Davie’s exactly four hours after having left and having covered the best part of ten miles, with the remainder not too far behind.

The ten above were joined by Alan, Alan McQ, Ian, and Rex for a curry night at the Jewel in honour of, or maybe just to commiserate with, Alan McQ going back to work. Catrina worked her socks off during the evening and was rewarded with a round of applause. Wetherspoon’s followed to finish of another most enjoyable social evening. 

Photographs from our curry night.

Arrangements for Wed 24 Aug

 Weather permitting meet on the 9.45 a.m. ferry to Brodick. Bring bus passes as the proposed walk  is from Lochranza to Lagan cottage and along the coast to Sannox. The BBC forecast is fine at the moment but if it changes the alternative walk will be the Portencross circular.

Kirkoswald to Maybole

Alan McQ, Davie C, Davie McM, Dougie, Francesco, Hugh, Rex, Robert

It was a bright, sunny day in the ancient capital of Carrick as a band of Ooters met for a coffee before getting the bus to Kirkoswald. However, it would seem that not all Ooters read this blog as only Alan McQ and Dougie went to the Carrick Centre as had been intimated whilst some of the others (well, let's just say the three from Kilmarnock) had their coffee at the Dairy Corner Tea Room on the High Street - probably because it was marginally closer to their car than the Carrick Centre and who can blame them for not wanting to walk further than necessary? At 10am, the five coffee drinkers met up at the Greenside with the others: a dug-less Derval Davie and Rex who had brought his Italian son-in-law Francesco along for the outing.

The bus for Kirkoswald was a few minutes late in arriving and the driver wasted no time in getting back on schedule as we hurtled along the country roads at such a breakneck speed that some of us wondered whether there was a bomb strapped to the vehicle. It was therefore with a sense of relief that we disembarked in Kirkoswald and started to make our way back to Maybole on foot. Our route out of the village followed the Kirkbrae up past the local church and the newer cemetery then down a shaded lane and across the Milton Burn before a long section which was quite overgrown in places but today's leader had been in the Scouts and came prepared with a pair of secateurs to cut back any obstructive undergrowth.

About a mile into the walk, we reached a quiet back road and followed this for the next couple of miles past Chapelbarr Cottage and up to the highest point of the day's walk near the ruins of High Newlands where we stopped for coffee and enjoyed the views and banter. We left the tarmac here and continued along a track through the long grass, noting that there was no longer any livestock grazing up here on the high moorland and tree planting was underway. Our route continued past the Drummochreen Cairn which marks the spot where, in 1599, Andrew MacAlexander of Drummochreen was murdered by Hew Kennedy of Girvan Mains. 

We maintained a good pace as we followed the track down the intriguingly named Ghaist Glen to our planned lunch stop in the shade of the trees beside Loch Spouts which had been visited by some of us last summer. However, the water level of the loch was very much lower on this occasion; exposing the wrecks of various boats. It was not apparent whether the low volume of water in the reservoir had been due to repair works being carried out or a prolonged period of below-average rainfall. There was once a crannog on the loch and medieval artefacts have been discovered in this area. Loch Spouts became Maybole's main water supply in the 1880s but has since been replaced by Loch Bradan. 

After lunch we resumed our march back to Maybole by following the tarmac road round the base of Kildoon (none of us expressed any interest in climbing the hill on this occasion). Alan McQ showed Rex and Francesco the waterfalls on the Capenoch Burn whilst the others were more interested in getting back to the town for a refreshment.

The total distance for the day was 8.2 miles which we covered in around 3.5 hours (including two stops). We spent a very enjoyable hour in the beer garden of the Greenside before making our way home.

Loch Spouts a year ago. Global warming?

 

Images and video of the walk from Kirkoswald to Maybole featuring Alan McQ, Davie C, Davie McM, Dougie, Francesco, Hugh, Rex and Robert

Arrangements for Monday 15th August

Meet at Gus's hoose at 10am for a local walk followed by lunch at Centrestage (old Killie Academy).

Arrangements for Wednesday 17th August

Valley Circular

Meet at Derval Davie's hoose at 9.30am for scones and coffee. We will do the valley circular in an anti-clockwise direction with the option of climbing Loudoun Hill.

Hurlford to Galston 3 August

Alan, Alan McQ, Allan, Billy, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Hugh, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul, Robert

Many thanks to Gus and Rita for their hospitality in providing tea and rolls for us before our walk today. The gesture was much enjoyed and appreciated.

Billy didn’t join us on the walk so thirteen of us, plus Isla, motored to the bowling club in Hurlford to start our weel-kent walk to Galston. It was dry to begin with but, as we trekked along the Grougar Walk, heavy drizzle came on leading to rain jackets being sought. Unfortunately for Alan, he had forgotten to transfer his jacket from his car, so he turned back to get it saying that he would meet up with us at the start of the Chris Hoy Way. The walk to Loudoun Kirk was done in intermittent, but warmish, drizzle, and when we stopped for a coffee/lunch break in the churchyard we were unlucky to encounter a steady shower.

 

Gus turned back here as he was attending his granddaughter’s birthday party in the afternoon and was fair excited! The rest took the short-cut (missing out passing Loudoun Academy, thankfully for Alan McQ) and headed straight for Galston. The path and grass were reasonably dry, so good progress was made, and once across the main road, Kay was waiting to take Isla home. Crossing Portland Park and making our way up out of the scheme we found Alan waiting for us at the start of the cycle track.

By this time, it was drying up, but jackets were kept on just in case. After about forty minutes the bridge, our usual stopping point, was reached, and the remains of our pieces were devoured before the last leg into Hurlford and back to the cars. We had done eight miles in three hours and set off for FRT at the First Edition in good spirits. Billy was able to re-join us there and, as usual, an enjoyable time was had.