A wet and windy Wednesday saw eight of us gather in Jimmy’s in Cumnock. The intention of day was to travel to Durisdeer for a walk in the hills there but the present conditions and the poor forecast caused a change of mind. We would walk somewhere from Cumnock.
We parked the cars in the swimming pool car park and set off down the banks of the Lugar Water for in the dreich conditions, we were for the short walk to Ochiltree with the aim of catching a bus back to Cumnock. It might be thought that, in view of the wind and rain, this might be a heads down-push on type of walk but it wasn’t like that; well not entirely. Though it wasn't especially pleasant walking in the rain, it might have been a lot worse. When we dropped down to the water side, we were out of the wind and, though the rain was constant, it wasn’t particularly cold. We cheered ourselves up by thinking how much worse it would be at Durisdeer. And there was plenty of interest along the route; there was the sewage works for a start, and the bypass, and the old gravel quarry, all interestingly viewed through the constant dribble.
Nearly twenty past ten and it was a long time since breakfast and some were in need of a caffeine boost. (Some Ooters just refuse to make coffee for us!) So in the bit of shelter afforded by Adam’s Brig in Dumfries House Estate, we stood and took coffee.
As we climbed the path on Barony Bing we found the wind again. But at least the rain was easing now and the day appeared to be clearing. We could look back from the height of the bing to see Avisyard Hill we had been on back in August (see 18/08/10) and Cairn Table at Muirkirk that we have been on many times. We might be lucky and get a better afternoon.
At the Barony ‘A’ frame we sat for a few minutes while Alan doctored a blister and Davie played with the buttons to listen to tales of the barony miners. Ochiltree was less than an hour away and it was only eleven o’clock. In the absence of Robert, Jimmy made the decision. We would not walk to Ochiltree. Catrine, Cauturn in the local patois, was two hours away through Auchinleck estate. In light of the improving day, we would walk to Cauturn.
We turned out on to the road, the Barony straight, Alexander Boswell’s ‘Via Sacra’. Barely had we covered twenty metres of it when the rain came again, heavy rain, wind-driven heavy rain, wind-driven heavy rain that stung the face and chilled the sweaty bodies. And we had to suffer the rain for the quarter of an hour or so that it took to walk the road and find the entrance to Auchinleck estate. Then it eased again.
Somebody was in residence in the big hoose. When he heard the linguists attempting a translation of the Latin motto above the door (see below) he came to the door for a blether. And he invited us in. He invited us in but only Jimmy was cheeky enough to accept, the rest thinking of the mess muddy boots would make. The fellow was from Bute and had rented the house for the week. We met his wife and dug a few minutes earlier as we approached the house. When Jimmy returned from his nosy in the house, we wished him well for the rest of his stay and turned our steps eastward towards Cauturn.
The estate was Peter’s
boyhood haunt and he knows parts of it that other Ooters haven’t seen. When we came to the Dipple Bridge, he had us down the side of the burn. The last time we came this way we had to scramble along the burn side on a narrow pad through the vegetation. Now trees have been thinned, brambles have been cleared and a new path is being laid in. We followed the new path to a hewn ‘cave’, a sort of folly, in the wall of the sandstone gorge. In the relative dry of the folly, we sat for the peece. Jimmy thought this was the ice house for the big hoose but Peter corrected him and promised to show us the ice house on the way out. After the peece, at Peter’s instruction, we followed the path downstream. After a few metres it climbed steeply up a grassy slope towards another ‘cave’ in the sandstone. This, Peter assured us, was the ice house. Only Alan and Ian ventured the wet muddy path to verify that it was the ice house; the rest stood and dripped in the dribble that hadn’t let up since the Barony ‘A’ frame.
And the rain wasn’t to ease for the rest of the walk. We found the estate drive again and followed it out to Catrine House tea room and the River Ayr Way footpath. We would now follow the path upriver. This section had its interest just as the Cumnock section had; there was the graffiti on the underside of the brig, the burnt-out wheel bin at the fishing hole and, the ultimate, the smell from Catrine sewage works.
Despite the rain, this was a good enough outing and one that peter suggests we do in the summer time and in a dry day.
When we did make Catrine, we had some time to kill before the bus arrived. This time was taken by a visit to see Peter’s new pottery showroom (catrinepottery.co.uk) where his wares were admired by one and all, but nothing was bought.
The interest of the day was not yet past. The bus we boarded made a quick visit to Sorn before doing a tour of the scheme in Auchinleck to view such delights as the graffiti on the co-op walls and the boarded up church. Eventually we arrived in Cumnock and, at Rex’s prompting, the driver stopped to let us off at the swimming pool car park.
A quick change into dry clothing was followed by FRT in the Sun. How come whenever we have a wet walk in Cumnock it always ends in the sun?
Distance 13.2 kmWe parked the cars in the swimming pool car park and set off down the banks of the Lugar Water for in the dreich conditions, we were for the short walk to Ochiltree with the aim of catching a bus back to Cumnock. It might be thought that, in view of the wind and rain, this might be a heads down-push on type of walk but it wasn’t like that; well not entirely. Though it wasn't especially pleasant walking in the rain, it might have been a lot worse. When we dropped down to the water side, we were out of the wind and, though the rain was constant, it wasn’t particularly cold. We cheered ourselves up by thinking how much worse it would be at Durisdeer. And there was plenty of interest along the route; there was the sewage works for a start, and the bypass, and the old gravel quarry, all interestingly viewed through the constant dribble.
Nearly twenty past ten and it was a long time since breakfast and some were in need of a caffeine boost. (Some Ooters just refuse to make coffee for us!) So in the bit of shelter afforded by Adam’s Brig in Dumfries House Estate, we stood and took coffee.
As we climbed the path on Barony Bing we found the wind again. But at least the rain was easing now and the day appeared to be clearing. We could look back from the height of the bing to see Avisyard Hill we had been on back in August (see 18/08/10) and Cairn Table at Muirkirk that we have been on many times. We might be lucky and get a better afternoon.
At the Barony ‘A’ frame we sat for a few minutes while Alan doctored a blister and Davie played with the buttons to listen to tales of the barony miners. Ochiltree was less than an hour away and it was only eleven o’clock. In the absence of Robert, Jimmy made the decision. We would not walk to Ochiltree. Catrine, Cauturn in the local patois, was two hours away through Auchinleck estate. In light of the improving day, we would walk to Cauturn.
We turned out on to the road, the Barony straight, Alexander Boswell’s ‘Via Sacra’. Barely had we covered twenty metres of it when the rain came again, heavy rain, wind-driven heavy rain, wind-driven heavy rain that stung the face and chilled the sweaty bodies. And we had to suffer the rain for the quarter of an hour or so that it took to walk the road and find the entrance to Auchinleck estate. Then it eased again.
Somebody was in residence in the big hoose. When he heard the linguists attempting a translation of the Latin motto above the door (see below) he came to the door for a blether. And he invited us in. He invited us in but only Jimmy was cheeky enough to accept, the rest thinking of the mess muddy boots would make. The fellow was from Bute and had rented the house for the week. We met his wife and dug a few minutes earlier as we approached the house. When Jimmy returned from his nosy in the house, we wished him well for the rest of his stay and turned our steps eastward towards Cauturn.
The estate was Peter’s
boyhood haunt and he knows parts of it that other Ooters haven’t seen. When we came to the Dipple Bridge, he had us down the side of the burn. The last time we came this way we had to scramble along the burn side on a narrow pad through the vegetation. Now trees have been thinned, brambles have been cleared and a new path is being laid in. We followed the new path to a hewn ‘cave’, a sort of folly, in the wall of the sandstone gorge. In the relative dry of the folly, we sat for the peece. Jimmy thought this was the ice house for the big hoose but Peter corrected him and promised to show us the ice house on the way out. After the peece, at Peter’s instruction, we followed the path downstream. After a few metres it climbed steeply up a grassy slope towards another ‘cave’ in the sandstone. This, Peter assured us, was the ice house. Only Alan and Ian ventured the wet muddy path to verify that it was the ice house; the rest stood and dripped in the dribble that hadn’t let up since the Barony ‘A’ frame.And the rain wasn’t to ease for the rest of the walk. We found the estate drive again and followed it out to Catrine House tea room and the River Ayr Way footpath. We would now follow the path upriver. This section had its interest just as the Cumnock section had; there was the graffiti on the underside of the brig, the burnt-out wheel bin at the fishing hole and, the ultimate, the smell from Catrine sewage works.
Despite the rain, this was a good enough outing and one that peter suggests we do in the summer time and in a dry day.
When we did make Catrine, we had some time to kill before the bus arrived. This time was taken by a visit to see Peter’s new pottery showroom (catrinepottery.co.uk) where his wares were admired by one and all, but nothing was bought.
The interest of the day was not yet past. The bus we boarded made a quick visit to Sorn before doing a tour of the scheme in Auchinleck to view such delights as the graffiti on the co-op walls and the boarded up church. Eventually we arrived in Cumnock and, at Rex’s prompting, the driver stopped to let us off at the swimming pool car park.
A quick change into dry clothing was followed by FRT in the Sun. How come whenever we have a wet walk in Cumnock it always ends in the sun?
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