Adventures of the Early Ooters: Annbank to Ayr 6 June

Thursday, 7 June 2018

Annbank to Ayr 6 June

Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Ian, Jimmy, Malcolm, Peter, Paul, Robert

The fantastic spell of weather continued as we met at Annbank for our pre-curry walk. Those who thought that they would be heading down towards Auchincruive and then on to Ayr were outmanoeuvred when the majority started moving down Annbank’s main street heading for the longer riverside walk.

The underfoot conditions were very dry making the difficult stretches easily passable, but as might be expected, parts of the path were starting to be overgrown. Nonetheless, excellent progress was made before stopping, as we normally do, at the fishermen’s hut for coffee. This was an idyllic spot today.
Moving on, we crossed the road bridge and continued on the opposite bank heading towards the Wallace and Burns monument. Even the normally muddy sections of this track had dried out. What a difference to what we normally encounter!
The monument was reached about two hours after having set off and a leisurely twenty minutes was spent enjoying our sandwiches. There then followed a discussion about what to do next. Having taken the long route to our lunch spot, some assumed we would just return to the cars on the shorter, Auchincruive side of the river, whereas the majority were in favour of walking in to Ayr.
And so, there was a split, with Allan, Jimmy, Malcolm and Peter returning to the cars as the rest headed for the stepping stones, and Ayr.
The four had covered just over seven miles and the walk had taken three and a quarter hours. Enough, for them, on a very warm day! Since they were meeting up at night to celebrate Kenny T’s 60^th, they decided to forego FRT, something that doesn’t happen too often. When the seven returned, the Tap o’ the Brae was their choice for a refreshment.

In the evening, the eleven above were joined by Alan, Jim, Johnny and, of course, Kenny T, for a curry at the Jewel in the Crown. A great night was had! Kenny thanked us for his meal and his book voucher and showed his appreciation by buying the first round in Wetherspoon’s.