Muirkirk Circular 1 February

Alan, Allan, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Kenny T, Paul, Peter, Rex, Robert

There was moisture in the air as we assembled at the Kames car park for our Lunky Hole walk. The forecast was for a decent day so we set off in good spirits, reminiscing, at least for those of us who could remember it, about last Wednesday’s Burns Supper. Before long we reached Tibbie’s Brig and we thought that Uncle Davie would stop here to take us through the legend but, no, he marched on, and the rest followed. We followed the Garpel Water for a wee while before following the track taking us to the River Ayr and eventually to a coffee stop just shy of the open cast, which has had some landscaping done.

Crossing the main road we marched up to the Muirkirk to Sorn road, crossed over and headed up to Netherwood Farm before turning right and walking up to Burnfoot Farm, noticing the new house under construction. We stopped for lunch just beyond the farm, some of us on the bridge over the Greenock Water and some further up on the banking.
The weather had been kind so far with the earlier smir disappearing and the sky clearing, albeit with a snell wee breeze. Soon we were off again up the boggy track until we reached the old open cast, now replanted and beginning to lose evidence of its former self. We chose the higher route to the Glasgow road to avoid the flooded lower route, and, although this was muddy in places, there was nothing to trouble us. On entering Muirkirk we stopped at the drystane dyke exhibits and introduced Dougie to the lunky hole, a hole at the bottom of the wall to allow hares to pass through. We wondered if Donald Trump’s Mexican wall would incorporate such holes and speculated on how many he would need.
Allan, Johnny and Peter headed back to the cars from here, but Davie led* the rest through the trees to the kirkyard to see the graves of the aforementioned Isabella ‘Tibbie’ Pagan, John Lapraik and John Brown.
The advance party got back to the cars five minutes short of four hours after having set off and had a twenty minute wait for the rest to arrive. The gizmos said about eleven miles, a good step out!
FRT was held in the Empire Bar where we met up with some old friends and an interesting new one. Not for the first time, the banter was lively!
*Davie got them lost at this point. Where was Holly when she was needed?