Greenock Cut 18 September

Alan, Allan, Billy, Davie C, Davie Mc, Gus, Hugh, Iain, Ian, Malcolm, Paul, Rex, Robert

The Killie crew, including Gus’s pal, Billy Whyte, had taken coffee across the road in the café before meeting up with the rest of us at the ticket office at Wemyss Bay in anticipation of the Kilchattan circular walk on Bute. However, we were informed that the 10 o’clock sailing was ‘aff’ due to 'technical issues' and that the next sailing would not be until 11.05 – too late for us. A quick decision was made to adjourn to Cornalees to do the Greenock Cut, but not before we had politely inquired if we could get our £3 back for the parking. Suffice it to say that the answer was not positive. (Had we checked Calmac’s website before we left, it would have made no difference as there had been no notification of that cancellation on it.)

We were ready to start at about 10.15 and went in the anti-clockwise direction on an overcast, but dry, morning. The walk has been described many times before, so suffice it to say that we took coffee at our usual spot half-way down the hill, and, just as someone said that we usually get rain on this walk, some very light rain began to fall, but only for a few minutes, time enough to put the rain jackets on, and then get them back off again.
The next stop was, again, at our customary lunch spot where a pleasant fifteen minutes was spent before moving off in ever brightening conditions. As we approached Cornalees we were passed by groups of girls going in the opposite direction and, as we do, we made conversation, only to find out that they were 6^th year pupils from Kilmarnock Academy setting off, maps in hand, to do an overnighter for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. Back at the car park we met some of their leaders/teachers, but they had been relatively new to the school and didn’t know any of our KA guys.
Today’s numbers were two hours and fifty-five minutes for seven and a half miles.
A brisk walk in decent conditions followed by FRT (with chips) at Drouthy Neebors in Largs, and it was good to have Davie C back with us. It was even better to have a fit again Holly back!

Gogo Burn 24 April

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Dougie, Gus, Hugh, Ian, Kenny R, Kenny T, Malcolm, Paul, Rex

Twelve of us left our parking spot just after ten o’clock and made our way up to Douglas Park. The morning was bright and dry, but there was a chill wind blowing (more of this later) meaning that some of us decided to start off wearing jackets. As we moved through the park, we were met by Kenny T accompanied by Freya the spaniel who was desperate to get off the lead and go for a run. Kenny wouldn’t let her though, as he wasn’t sure he would ever see her again. The initial climb up to the steps gets the heartrate going before the steady slog up the steps and on to the moor. The wind up there was gale force and we only hung around for a few minutes to draw breath and get the obligatory picture taken. At this point, Kenny left us with Freya as the big walk would have been too much for her.

As we followed the path further up into the hills the wind seemed to strengthen and, as it was directly in to our faces, it made for difficult progress. Nonetheless we reached some shelter by eleven o’clock and sat down for a wee-deserved cuppa. Ten minutes later we were once more into the breach making steady progress until the path ran out. At this point we normally turn left and head for the open moorland, but this time, Davie Mc, Gus and Rex decided to go straight on up the hill and see if that was to be a better option. The rest of us took the normal route over the rough grass, skirting the hill, and trudged on until the bridge, our turning point, came into view. By this time, we were well scattered and made our individual ways down, Alan even going direct and crossing the burn. As we hit the road at the end of our descent the three others appeared saying that their route was to be recommended as, once you are up top, there is a quad-bike track which can be followed right down to the access road. It is then a simple matter to follow the road down to the bridge. Just after twelve o’clock saw us all assembled again and the wind-assisted walk down to our lunch spot at the Greeto Falls only took us half an hour. Lunch was idyllic, sunny, warm and sheltered, but too soon and it was time to move on down the road and into Largs, passing the rubble, which is now the old Largs Academy, and back to the cars.

The outward journey had been a real challenge today and more than the cobwebs had got blown away. However, the 8.1 miles had been done in three and a half hours, possibly our quickest time.
The Hard Walk Café was eschewed in favour of the dog-friendly Drouthy Neebors for FRT. On this occasion we sat down outside but agreed within minutes that it was just a tad draughty and went indoors for drinks and chips.
There were some tired bodies, but all agreed it had been a good day out. The wind had been an issue but the underfoot conditions, mercifully, had been the best i.e. the driest, we had ever encountered on this walk.

Footnote

The Largs Thistle v Troon Juniors football match was abandoned later in the evening due to high winds.

Sanctuary for lunch

Continuing the series on exposed parts of Gus's anatomy

Davie retrieves Malcolm's piece bag from the burn