Eight of us met beside the Gogo Burn, Largs, in
the expectation of a glorious day’s weather, and we were not to be
disappointed! Heading off up the esplanade, we eventually turned up to the
right and joined Routenburn Road. By this time any fleeces had been discarded
and it was to be shirt sleeves for the rest of the day. Moving up the road we
were gaining a bit of height as we passed the golf course, first on the left
and then on the right, and we could see the top of Knock hill beckoning. But we
continued on down the road and past the entrance to Knock Castle before Kenny T
directed us off to a track on the right. We followed this track which led on to
open fields with the hill some distance away on our right hand side.
We took a break at the far end of the
field next to trees which bordered a path and, since there was no-one present
to hunt us on, we took our time. However, we did have to move eventually, and
we followed the path for a bit before Kenny took us off over slightly rougher ground
and up towards the grass track that would take us up the hill. As we approached
the track Davie issued the immortal words ‘See the hill, it disnae seem so far
away, noo that we’re closer tae it!’ From there on the going was straightforward
as the ground was drying out nicely. The top was reached two hours after having
set off from the cars and our lunch spot overlooking the Clyde was idyllic.
Such was the day that the views were hazy – we could not make out Arran – but
it was difficult to contemplate moving on, although Wetherspoon’s was beckoning!We didn’t follow the circular path off the hill but went down the face that took us on to the grass track. Rather than follow this round and down to the farm, Kenny took us straight across the open ground, cutting off a big loop, before rejoining the path. From there we walked steadily past the farm and up and on to Brisbane Glen Road for the last lap down to the town centre.
The next question was whether we would go straight into Wetherspoon’s or go and get changed first. We went straight to Wetherspoon’s! It had taken us three and three-quarter hours to cover the seven and a half miles or so and all agree that it had been a lovely walk in ideal conditions.
This turned out to be a three-pint day, with chips, and, for some, with slices of cake with their coffee (not for nothing has Davie been recently installed as Chancer of the Exchequer). For a few minutes we were joined by a random wee wummin frae Saltcoats (her own words) who had had a few and was just passing the time of day with us. She did insist in showing us her tattoo and it is just as well that some of our more elderly and delicate members were missing as they might have got over-excited and had a stroke, or two! As she left with her jug of cocktails (she said it was a ‘Woo-Woo’, vodka, peach shnapps and cranberry juice) we wished her well and her intervention certainly added to the conviviality of the afternoon.
A great day out!
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| Coffee time |
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| Making our way up to the grass track |
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| We could have sat there all day |
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| Cutting out the loop in the track on our way down |
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| Piece of cake! |
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