Peter had arrived by bike and had informed us he was just going to do half the walk - a cracked windscreen and the need to buy paint being his excuse. Peter, of course, has a reputation for doing things by halves, so this announcement came as no surprise.
Whilst the rest took the high road out from the kirk, Peter went via his sister's house to exchange his bike for Holly's soulmate Nula. On the grassy lane above Sorn the nature of the ancient hollowed out stone was again speculated upon and again no conclusions were drawn.
We met up with Peter and Nula at the end of the lane and we turned left to ascend the minor road towards Blindburn Farm. Holly appeared incredulous with a 'you can't be serious' McEnroe-esque glance at us and at the road ahead. Davie explained he usually turns right at this junction.
Past Blindburn and the deserted Brocklar we continued. At this point Peter took us to see a limekiln he had found by the bridge over the Cleuch Burn. We left the tarmac and wandered through a wooded area but Peter could only half-remember were the kiln was. All we could see was a water-filled hollow. Disappointed, we turned back, but soon to our left we saw the half-hidden limekiln.
Peter suggested we could follow the Cleuch Burn up to Blacksidend Farm but the response was half-hearted at best, for the majority wanted nothing to do with a trudge through the undergrowth, so we retraced our footsteps to Brocklar and a took the tarmac towards Blackside Farm.
Not much progress was noted on the building to the right of the road although one small part was now habitable and seemed to be occupied.
We chose not to stop at the wood for coffee because of the midge menace and instead we carried on to the junction with the Blacksidend Farm track. There we had coffee on the open hillside. The wee beasties soon found us and Avon 'Skin so Soft' was passed around and proved effective. Break over, Peter and Nula bade us farewell and a vague agreement was made to phone Peter to let him know when we would be partaking of FRT.
A large group of cows and calves, along with one very well-endowed bull, had chosen to wander down the track ahead of us. When it seemed we would all meet up at the gate and stile they kindly headed off to graze. At the gate we stopped to chat to a friendly farmer on his quad bike. As we departed he asked for Holly to be kept on her lead and Davie, ................. now you're getting ahead of yourselves here ............ who already had Holly on the lead, acquiesced. A dead sheep was noted on the trailer being towed by the quad bike.
It was good to see that the farm was being occupied again as we started our ascent. The group soon split into two - Davie senior and Holly in the leading group, with the rest struggling on behind. This was how it was to be for most of the walk 'on the top'. We all met up at the trig point (411 m) on Blacksidend and then the leading group disappeared into the distance again.
Underfoot conditions are notoriously bad up here but today it was all relatively dry and easy going. We dropped down to the gap between the two hills and crossed the tributary of the Burn o' Need. By now things had warmed up nicely and without further ado we arrived at the impressive cairn on the summit of Wedder Hill (430 m). Here lunch was taken.
For relatively little effort the views from Wedder Hill were tremendous, even though there was some haze. The coastal plain of Ayrshire with Arran beyond lay to our west, with silhouetted hills in all other directions. It would have been useful to have had Jimmy with us to put a name to all we could see. There were some showers to the south but we were dry.
Then it was time to retrace our footsteps. A large hare was seen running through grass as we rejoined the tarmac beyond Blacksidend Farm. Also seen here at the side of the road was the dead sheep we had spotted being transported down the track. Was it waiting for the brown bin collection?
The beehives on the edge of the small wood were a ...erm ... hive of activity. In amongst the hives, a satellite dish was spotted - not Sty TV this time, but Bee Sky Bee.
This was an enjoyable walk in good conditions - certainly the first time your scribe was been on Blacksidend without being assailed by rain, wind and cold, and what the day's Ooters lacked in quantity was made up for in quality.
FRT was undertaken at Poosie Nansie's hostelry where, it should be recorded, beautiful pints of Houston Brewery's Slainte were served. Peter joined us later ...for a half.
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