22 June Ayrshire Coast – Largs to Skelmorlie

Allan, Davie, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Paul & Robert

Burns was right: The best laid schemes o’ mice and Ooters gang aft agley. The scribe has lost count of the number of walks that we’ve had to change at the last minute because of the weather this year. Here was another such. The plan for today was to walk from West Kilbride to Largs over the hill (See 28/04/2010) but once again the weather forecast was poor and the ground on the hill was likely to be saturated with the week’s rain. A change of plan was called for when we gathered in Johnny’s in Irvine. (Call us softies if you like but we prefer the word ‘sensible’.) Paul had the answer – and the guidebook for he had come prepared. We would walk the coastal path from Largs to Skelmorlie taking the low route or the high depending on overhead conditions, new territory for all and easy access to an escape route should the weather turn really nasty.

So it was that we left the cars by the side of the Gogo Burn and walked through Largs. Funnily enough, the weather in the extreme north of the county was better than it had been further south. In fact the sky was beginning to lift and the air was considerably drier here. Some set off jacketless and two even wore shorts for the morning, though far from June hot, wasn’t particularly cold.

Johnny stamped his authority on the group right from the off. As we walked briskly along the prom (tiddlie-om-pom-pom) Johnny spoke. ‘Would you kindly slow down please? This is not a race and we have plenty of time today’, said he, using much more colourful language than I am permitted to write; those who know him best can fill in the blanks. So we slowed the pace down.

Brisbane Glen road was found easily enough and we turned up this, following it out of the town.

Then we found the Ayrshire Coastal Path sign directing us up the farm road through Brisbane Mains Farm and on to the open moorland around the base of Knock Hill. Coffee was called and we stopped on a dry-ish bank beside the track for refreshment.

The ground rose after coffee and the temperature did likewise. A halt was called for Jackets to be removed; a halt called at just the right place for looking back there was a super view over Largs to the Firth and Cumbrae beyond. Somehow there was only one camera today so Ian was designated official photographer while the rest acted as advisers on what to take and how to take it. We hope his pictures (with or without the posing Robert) are worth waiting for. Then, with jackets removed and Ian’s photo-shoot finished, we walked on.

The track continued to rise, degenerating eventually into a grass path through the moor. Then there came a bifurcation in the path; the right hand fork heading directly for the Skelmorlie road, the left for the top of Knock Hill. A decision had to be made but really there was no contest; Knock Hill top won the day. Knock Hill – now there’s a tautology if ever there was one. It simply means ‘hill’ in two different languages, ‘an cnoc’ in Gaelic and ‘hill’ in English. But we decided to climb the hill-hill anyway. The grass path continued on its gradual ascent, contouring round the hill. Then it steepened for the last section to the top. Near the top we came on the ancient ‘roadway’ that spiralled to the iron-age hill fort that crowned the summit. We followed this and a within a few minutes we stood at the trig point in the middle of the ancient fortification to admire the view.

And a view there was today for the sky had lifted and patches of blue could be seen in the cloud – not enough to make a sailor a pair of trousers but enough for us to have a fine view. No wonder the iron-age peoples chose Hill Hill for their fort. The view is superb for such a low height: From the hills around Brisbane Glen, the Renfrew Heights, the turn of the Clyde round the Cloch, Ben Lomond and the hills of Dunbartonshire, Dunoon and Argyle’s Bowling Green, over Bute to the hills of Argyll, over Largs to the Cumbraes and south-westward to the high peaks of Arran. Even Ailsa Craig showed itself in the distant south.

As we have noted frequently in these pages, Ayrshire as a county is remarkable for having such fine views from such low eminences and we reckon we have seen most of them. This was another to add to the collection. We stood for a while taking it in but the restless in the company could contain themselves no longer and had to be off. We all followed.

Robert and Jimmy set the pace on the downward, jogging down the steep we had come up not so long ago. By the time we had reached the level grass path, they were seventy or eighty metres in front. Why they turned off the path we didn’t quite know but when we reached where they did so there was the Ayrshire Coastal Path sign pointing us down what might best be described as an animal track of sorts. We followed the leading two down this path.

Gradually the path narrowed and all but disappeared at one point. But our intrepid leaders pushed on, finding a sheep pad alongside a drystane dyke. This brought us into a wee glen beside a burn where we found the low grass path again. What a delightful wee dell this was with dozens of pale-purple spotted orchids decking the banks, more orchids than even our botanical friend had ever seen in one place. Ian was instructed to do the necessary with the camera again. Then we followed the burn down to find the road for Skelmorlie.

We were to stay on this road for the rest of the walk. And the rest of the walk went off without notable incident. We did stop for the peece but, much to Johnny’s consternation, not on the top of the first rise as suggested. We stopped where we had a view over the firth to Dunoon, a view that showed the rain showers sweeping the firth. We hoped they would stay on the firth and leave us alone.

After lunch we followed the road past a caravan park and into Skelmorlie. The rain hit us as we dropped down through the town but it was only spits and spots and we didn’t bother to waterproof. We carried on down to sea level again.

The Skelmorlie Burn marks the boundary between Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay, the boundary between Ayrshire and Renfrewshire and the end of the Ayrshire Coastal Path. Today saw our completion, in various stages, of this path. Hooray and congratulations all round.

We took the bus back to Largs and took FRT in McCauley’s. One thing noted by Davie was the tattoo on the arm of the young barmaid. We noted her other attributes.