Alan McQ, Allan, Davie C, Dougie, Gus, Jim, Jimmy, Johnny,
Malcolm, Peter, Paul, Rex, Robert
It was grand to see Peter with us again for a walk from Catrine to Sorn on an overcast morning. He led us past his house to the steps up to the war memorial and then on a path through the woods to join the road down towards Sorn. On the way, the inquisitive amongst us went down into an adjoining field to explore a wee building which we assumed to be an icehouse but later found out it covered an old spring or fountain. Whilst in Sorn, we stopped (we had quite a few stops today) and chatted to a fellow who was standing beside a newly erected standing stone in the community garden at the old mill, now the church hall. He explained how they had got it there and then had a blether about the covenanters, a topic not lost on the Ooters.
The next leg was via the River Ayr Way back to Catrine where
we decided to stop in the square for lunch as it was nearly twelve by this time
and we had not had a coffee break. In keeping with the rest of the day we took
our time before heading for the viaduct, although Jim departed for home at this
point. Having passed under the Howford Bridge we noticed an ambulance beside
the old bridge and noted the crew trying to pull up a woman on their trolley
from the wee beach. Some of us went down to see if we could lend a hand but,
thankfully, we were not needed due to the efforts of the paramedics and the
design of their trolley. It looked as though the woman, who had a friend with
her, had fallen and hurt herself and hopefully would soon be on the mend.
In another fifteen minutes we were at the viaduct, a
masterpiece of Victorian, not Georgian, architecture but were a bit dismayed to
notice the amount of vegetation growing from its mortar joints, and ultimately
weakening them. A job surely for Network Rail! We didn’t delay here but set off
back to Catrine with some taking the time to view the Fishers’ Tryst and the
Cup and Rings.
We were back at the cars just after two having covered eight
miles in total. We wished Peter well as he returned home and hope it will not
be too long before he can join us again.
FRT was taken at the Black Bull in Mauchline where we just
about stayed dry in the beer garden as by this time the rain had started. The
conversation, as always, was lively and varied with the highlight being when
Robert, the artist and well-versed in the technique known as frottage,
demonstrated it on Davie. Robert seemed to rub Davie up the wrong way, but both
ended up with satisfied smiles on their faces. At the other end of the table, the
group got themselves into a bit of a lather by discussing the advantages of
soap versus shower gel and then reminisced about various soaps e.g. Palmolive,
Imperial Leather, Lifebuoy, Pear’s, Coal Tar, Knights Castile. The conversation
reached a crescendo when it was disclosed there was a book about soap erotica
entitled ‘The Camay Sutra’. Boom! Boom!
Time for home!
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