Croy to Maidens 26 April

 

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Graham, Gus, Hugh, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

Fourteen Ooters assembled at Croy shore car park for our walk to Maidens. The weather was excellent, bright and sunny, although there was still a slight chill in the breeze, and progress along the beach to Culzean was easy. Forty minutes or so, after having set off, we were sitting having coffee in our usual spot at the benches looking towards the castle. We could have sat in the morning sunshine for longer, but we had still a fair bit to go so we didn’t delay too long and walked up towards the swan pond and then progressed back down to the beach for the walk to Maidens.

Remembering to avoid the swampy bit near the harbour we came off the beach and took to the path next to the grass area for the final leg. The picnic benches were an excellent choice for a very leisurely lunch stop, a stop where Isla was well fed.

We retraced our steps to Culzean but rather than going back up the steps we entered the park by taking to the earlier path and walking back up to the swan pond, albeit the opposite side of the pond. This is where events got fragmented with the Otters somehow manging to split themselves into various groups and making their way back on to the beach in various ways. Some simply went up to the castle and down the first set of steps, some went beyond the café and went down the second set, some stopped off at the book shop, and some went into the walled garden.

Although the tide was coming in, it didn’t hinder our progress, but the Ooters were well-spread along the beach with almost a mile between the first and last. The first group completed the walk in about three hours and fifty minutes for the nine miles or so, and waited for the rest to arrive in dribs and drabs. Most unusually, Gus was last, having hurt his back, but we are not without compassion. Wee Davie had taken Gus’s (or is it Gus’?) rucksack to make it easier for Gus, but on the condition that Malcolm carried his!

Fortunately, Gus seemed to be a bit more comfortable as we made it to The Balgarth for an enjoyable, but relatively expensive, FRT, where Johnny was able to show the guys pictures of the Basil Brush lookalike in his garden. The reaction was something like ‘For fox sake, Johnny!’. Boom! Boom!

The good weather made today’s walk. Let’s hope for some more fine Wednesdays as we move through spring and into summer.

 

 

 

Some from the Culzean walk

 

Arrangements for Wed 3rd May

 Meet in the small village of Durisdeer somewhere near the centre around 10.00.a.m. The walk will be the usual along the stalker’s path to the little bothy ( coffee stop) and eventually to Morton Castle ( lunch) and the return route to Durisdeer. FRT will be accessed in the Crown bar Sanquhar.

Corsencon 19 April

 

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Graham, Gus, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

The weather forecast had been excellent allowing the first outing of shorts this year but, as we assembled at the station car park in New Cumnock, there was a Baltic wind blowing. So, jackets, hats and gloves were the order of the day. As we left the station and walked over the bridge Malcolm’s hat blew off and landed somewhere below us and we assumed it was never to be seen again. Watch this space!

Anyway, the long walk on tarmac up towards Corsencon was into the wind, but other than that, walking conditions were good and after an hour we stopped for coffee just before the lime kilns. Round about us there was evidence of fly-tipping but as we moved further up there were some appalling sights. Scotland! Wha’s like us? Eventually we left the road and found the somewhat boggy track up beside the fence that would take us to the start of our climb up to the top. The problem was that stout fence, with barbed wire atop it. It was difficult to find an easy place to climb it and we couldn’t find a gate, so we just had to grin and bear it and try and get over it. Most made it over safely, but Derval Davie and Dougie fell victim to the barbed wire and blood was drawn. There were shouts of ‘Get me aff this bloody hill’. Where have we heard this before? Plasters were sought to stem the flow.

The climb up to the trig point had its steep bits but we were all there by midday. It was too cold and windy to take lunch there meaning that we didn’t delay our descent. Most went down the steeper front of the hill, but Allan, the two Davies, and Dougie decided to return the way they had come despite the fence. They saw quad bike tracks but couldn’t see a gate they were leading to and therefore they arrived back at the same point they had climbed the fence previously. This time however, sensible precautions were taken, and they were over without mishap and wandered back down to where they had previously taken coffee for lunch. For the record, a gate was found at the start of the fence just at the point where we had left the road. On the way down though, they noticed that the entrance to the limestone mine had collapsed leaving only a small gap at the top for access. They assumed that this was fairly recent, although it had been some time since they had last been there.

The main group made it safely down to their lunch spot at the mast, creatures of habit, before setting off back down the road to the cars arriving five minutes before the rest of the guys. Four hours for eight and a half miles. Remember Malcolm’s hat. As they crossed over the railway bridge on the return journey Rex spotted it beside the tracks near the platform and the bold Malcolm went down and retrieved it. Malcolm was last seen holding on to the buffers of a goods train heading for Glasgow. But he had his hat on!

FRT was taken in the Black Bull in Mauchline where we were well-received as normal and were presented with sausage rolls to aid our recovery from the walk.

A grand day out! No, a bloody grand day out!