Knock Hill 19 May

Allan, Davie C, Dougie, Hugh, Iain, Ian, Johnny, Malcolm, Rex

The boys are back in town!

On a lovely late spring morning we set off for Knock Hill via Routenburn Road. The pull up the road meant that any lingering fleeces were dispensed with as we made our way towards the cut-off for the hill. Allan and Dougie pointed the way but those at the front today (the guilty know who they are) were not convinced, so we all continued down the road until a signpost pointed us up to the right. We then had a steep wee climb back up to the track grass track which took us to our coffee stop, not our usual one as we hadn’t reached the broken-down wall yet, but we were in need of sustenance.

A few minutes up the track and we passed the aforesaid wall and continued up to where we cut across to join the recognised path up to the hill. We probably cut across a bit too soon as we encountered a relatively new barbed wire fence, soon negotiated with no casualties, and then noted that the boggy field that we cross (although pretty dry today) was in the process of being planted with young trees with lots of trenches having been dug. It may be in future that we have to slightly change our route up the hill. No matter, we all made it to the path, again no issues with underfoot conditions, and soon were at the base of the ‘cone’. Here we split into two factions with some going straight up and others taking the spiral path around and up. By midday all were seated at the top having lunch, but in the shelter from a wee wind. The viewing conditions were very good but, as we finished our pieces, a dark cloud came over, so we moved on and got about a minute’s worth of very light rain before the excellent conditions returned.

Our route back to Largs was down the hill and over the golf course and we were back in the town just after one o’clock. Hugh had to be back early and, as he was Davie’s chauffeur, the Kilmarnock contingent had to turn down FRT (can you believe it?), whilst the rest made their way to the beer garden at Drouthy Neebors where we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, albeit restricting ourselves to one drink as most were driving.

The walk had taken just over three hours and, although there was some debate about the length of the walk, it was probably between seven and eight miles. The return to FRT had been a long time coming and we hope there are no further setbacks on our road to normality.

A grand day out!