17th Oct Broughton .

Six Ooters made the journey to Broughton on Wed 17th ,Robert ,Davie, Gus,Rex ,Dougie,and Ian. We arrived in plenty of time to meet with Alan and Ian ( President of the Bothy Association ) and boarded the bus to take us to Stobo Kirk. We had a good look round the Kirk before setting off on the walk. The walk started a few yards down the road from the Kirk opposite the sign indicating 6.5 miles back to Broughton. The weather was dry but overcast and slightly disappointing considering the forecast. The scenery was very similar to Durisdeer,with gently rounded hills and plenty of autumnal trees.  The gradients were gradual without ever needing to get to an actual summit,instead winding this way and that way round the tops. We stopped beside a ruined cottage for coffee while Ian the President tried in vain to get a small fire going to have a brew up. The twigs were a touch damp and we set off before he had any joy with brewing up. The only two things of note en route were another wild bothy used by a local scout group and a big Scottish baronial style pile built for a successful professor in the 1930ies. Shortly after this Castle we arrived back where we had left our transport approximately 7 miles from the start of the walk although there were a few differing estimates of how long the walk actually was. After some people changed we drove the 6 miles to Alan's Bothy where we were given a conducted tour of the place. It could sleep about 12 comfortably with a solar panel to light the place up and gas fired cooking facilities . Although fairly small it heated up quite quickly as the wood burning stove made the place comfortably warm . We dined on assorted pieces of pies and beans washed down with local ales and or a glass of red for the Aussie contingent. The tastiest pie was probably the lasagne one ,a new one to most of us. To finish we enjoyed coffee or tea with a few local French fancies and biscuits. We enjoyed a very pleasant hour and a half  round the table before setting off back to Ayrshire.