Prestwick to Troon and return 21 April

 

Allan, Billy, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Hugh, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

Decision time on the beach

On a glorious April morning the Ooters got together again for the first time as restrictions were eased after the latest Covid lockdown. It was good to see the guys once more and we hoped that this would be the start of better times ahead. Assembling at the car park at the old swimming pool in Prestwick, our walk today (in smallish groups and socially distanced) was to be the familiar journey to Troon and back, a relatively straightforward and not too taxing return to our group’s activities. Jimmy, however, had tweaked his back doing some decorating and indicated that he would not be joining us on the walk. It was good to see him though and we wished him well as he departed.

The walk along the beach to Troon was very pleasant and by quarter past eleven we had reached our usual stopping point at the ice cream kiosk. It was busy today, so we had to decide on an alternative. By this time Gus had turned back and returned to his car meaning that the twelve remaining discussed the options. The favoured option was to forego coffee and walk to Fullarton House for lunch at the picnic benches, so we left the beach and walked up to Royal Troon’s clubhouse before following Crosbie Road and on to the path that took us to the bridge over the railway line. Having got there, we re-assessed our situation and decided just to have lunch on the grass just beyond the bridge. An extremely relaxing twenty minutes were spent soaking up the rays and having a blether.

Following the cycle track we made it to the main road before cutting in again over the railway and taking to the path through and across the Old Prestwick course before reaching our cars again at one o’clock. Seven and a half miles in three hours were today’s numbers.

A satisfying start to our Wednesday walks in superb walking conditions. Let’s hope that there are no more enforced layoffs in the future.