A squad of young army cadets, at
least one of whom was from Newton Stewart, were feeding their faces at The
Roundhouse Café by the dam of Loch Doon when we gathered there for an old
favourite, The Ness Glen walk. The weather was much kinder than last week. The
sun shone and the morning might have been warm but for the persistent northerly
that has been blowing since the week-end. Still, we were undeterred by the
chill wind and once in the shelter of the trees above the Ness Glen we were
quite comfortable.
Johnny
had returned from his sojourn to the antipodes and regaled us - bored us some
would say - with his tales of down under. The morning was fair, the woodland a
delight, the crack was good and the walk along the top of the gorge passed
quickly. There was some talk, when we reached Tracy’s bench*, of a visit to The
Dark Sky Observatory but those who know these things suggested it would be
better to visit on the return journey so we walked on down to the bridge over
the Doon.
Another
party of what looked like young army cadets in civvies under the instruction of
uniformed adults were preparing for a canoeing adventure on the river just at
the bridge. It seems that it was a fine day for the cadets to be out. We didn’t
hang about for the usual blether today but walked on down through the glen to
the ponds under Bellsbank where coffee was called.
Post
coffee, we ambled, well ambled as much as the speedsters would allow, down to
The Promised Land #. Here, without stopping we turned along the footpath beside
the Muck water. The local scouts and cadets have created a garden along here
and new woven statues have been erected. It was just like us to indulge our
boyish natures and have our pictures taken doing silly things with these
statues. Big weans! Then we walked on along the burn side, turned left on the
Straiton road, took another left and came along to Dalcairney Farm and
Dalcairnie Linn. Here we stopped for lunch.
What
a pleasant spot this is overlooking the gorge of the Dalcairnie Burn with the
water dropping like hair into the cauldron below, particularly so this spring
day with the sun shining through the fresh green of the beeches that overhang the
gorge. But the sun wasn’t to last. As we sat, the sky greyed and just as we
were preparing to set off again the first spots of rain were felt. Rain jackets
were donned just in time for the shower came quickly.
But the shower passed just as quickly as it
had come and by the time we had climbed to the split in the path, one branch to
Knockdon in the Girvan valley and one to Barbeth and Craigengillan, it had gone
and the sun was re-appearing. We walked on to the ruins of Barbeth before
dispensing with the waterproofs for the day.
This
section of the walk over the moor is always a delight especially on a day like
this with the sun shining and the rain scudding on the wind down the Doon
Valley. We savoured this section until we dropped once more to the valley floor
and the wooded policies of Cragengillan.
Just
beyond the house itself the road spits, one branch to the bridge at the foot of
the Ness glen gorge and the other to climb the ill to the Dark Sky Observatory.
As we had promised ourselves earlier, we turned upward to the observatory. At first
we thought it was shut but a young woman opened the door and welcomed us in
despite muddy boots. The young lady (sorry, we forgot to get your name) gave us
an interesting and informative insight into the workings of the observatory and
gave us all a leaflet to take away. Some of us promised to return for the
evening session some clear night.
Wishing
our hostess farewell, we left the observatory and mad our way past Fort
Carrick, the wild-west looking log fort built by the local scouts and cadets,
and down past Tracy’s bench to foot of the Ness Glen Gorge. How we enjoy the
walk in this gorge will be understood by regular followers of this blog. Today was
no exception. The water rushed and gushed over the rocks echoing from the rocky walls and drowning out any other
sounds, the fresh spring greenery overhung the rock walls and spring flowers
showed wherever there was soil enough. We can thoroughly recommend this walk to
anybody who hasn’t done it. We savoured it today.
But
the gorge comes to a sudden end and we found ourselves in the wee wood below the dam
of Loch Doon sooner than we hoped. The cars were still parked by the Round
House but the young cadets had departed hours before we arrived back, happy with
another days superb walking.
FRT
was taken in the usual howff in Dalmellinton. We were entertained today by a
party of women who were attending the funeral of a friend. This was not the
sober and sad funeral expected now-a-days but the women were determined to see
their friend off in the way she would have liked – by having a party. Their
laughing and ribald suggestions had us entertained for the hour or so we sat
there. Is there ever a dull moment in Dalmellington?
*The
story of how we came to name this bench should be known only to us. Suffice to
say that it stood at the top of a wooded slope providing a view down over
Craigengillan Estate. It disappeared some years back and we suspected Tracy
might have taken it as a souvenir. However the bench has been reinstated minus
the graffito that gave it its name.
#
For the story of how this came to be called The Promised Land see the
information board at the entrance to Craigengillan Estate on the Ayr road just
to the west of Dalmellington.
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