Allan, Davie
C, Davie Mc, Gus, Jimmy, Malcolm, Paul, Peter, Rex, Robert
The War Memorial |
The glorious
sunshine of the last few days had gone leaving an overcast but warm morning as
we met at Sorn Kirk. The route we took was the ‘high’ road i.e. we followed the
road back towards Mauchline before cutting off to the left and making our way
to the Catrine War Memorial where we took a few minutes to take in the view
over Catrine and beyond. It was then down in to the town and across the river
to join the River Ayr path. At this point Peter left us saying that he would
see us later – but he never did.
Roy couldn't put Wayne's name on the team sheet but... |
And then
there were nine!
The route
from here to the Howford Bridge is familiar to us and we were there in no time
at all before settling down to coffee.
From there the path was followed down to the old bridge where the old
road was taken up to the turn off for Ballochmyle Viaduct. As we approached this engineering masterpiece we
deviated down to the Fishers’ Tryst for a photo shoot. The viaduct is usually
our lunch spot but it was too early today and we took the low path down by the
river towards the Haugh. This brought back ‘happy’ memories for Paul who had
had to negotiate this journey on a previous visit when the water level was much
higher. The marks made by his finger nails are still visible on the rocky
outcrop!
Haud yer belly in, Malcolm! |
At the Haugh
we turned left and continued up the road following it until we crossed the
railway line and stopped for lunch just beyond. The sun was trying to break
through at this point and, although the breeze was stiffening, it remained pleasantly
warm.
Ryanair downgrades services from Prestwick |
From here it
was down to the Catrine House café and under the Howford Bridge once more
before heading back to Catrine. This time the route to Sorn was past the Voes
and Daldorch House School, at which point we took time to check out the works
that were being done to renovate the weir system on the river, and onwards
following the path back to our starting point.
The walk had
taken us the best part of five hours and we were ready for FRT but, since our
usual haunt at Poosie Nansie’s was closed after a motorist had mistaken it for
a ‘Drive Thru’, we retreated to the Black Bull. This proved to be much more
salubrious with the atmosphere being only slightly dulled by Andy’s demise at
Wimbers. The banter turned to politics and became heated, to such an extent
that Holly, who had been lying sleeping, woke up, looked at her master, decided
she had heard it all before, and walked out of the pub. We all soon followed!
Another fine
day out and, as a bonus, the walks for the next two weeks were decided i.e.
Lochwinnoch and the Whangie.
The rain
started as we left the pub!
1 comment:
Hi Allan,
The sandstone from these quaries wasn't used to build the viaduct - apparently this came from the Dundee area - but was used as building material for many of the local houses.
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