Some images from the Dumfries House walk

 

Some images from the Cumnock to Barony A frame walk

18 April - Dumfries House

21 December Cumnock to Ochiltree via Dumfries House Tearoom

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Ian, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul & Robert

Some diseases are infectious and some are contagious – that’s medical fact - but never in his wildest dreams did your scribe think that accidents are infectious. Last week Jimmy appeared with a plaster on his forehead the result of walking into a door. (So he said but we suspect differently!) This week the entire Kilmarnock contingent arrived with plasters on their foreheads. Jimmy has yet to see the joke.

The plan for the day was to have a walk near Cumnock taking in the old mining village of Skares. This was so that Paul, our junior football expert, could see where the famous Skares Bluebell FC once played. But the weather, as it has been many times this year, was dull, damp and dreich with the threat of rain anytime. When we gathered in Jimmy’s place in Cumnock a change of mind was in the offing; we would abandon the Skares idea in favour of a mid-winter saunter down the River Lugar from Cumnock to Ochiltree.

This itself was a straightforward affair and one we have done often before (6/01/2010, 2/02/2011 inter alia) so merits no further description here. Only one or two details should be reported for the sake of the record. The first was a diversion to Dumfries House, not so much for the house itself but for the tearoom there. Because this is the festive season we decided to treat ourselves to an indoor cup of coffee. The waitresses were delighted to see us for they had had nobody in this morning before us and reckoned that they would have nobody for the rest of the day. We were a pleasant distraction from the boredom of doing nothing – at least we were some sort of distraction. A nice half hour over coffee (and Malcolm’s macaroon bar) and we were on our way again.

The next stop was at the Barony ‘A’ Frame. Those who knew that there was only enough seating there for six and who could count that there were nine of us, sped up the track to get the benefit. The three slowcoaches had lunch standing up while the rest enjoyed what comfort a perforated metal bench afforded.

Lunch was followed by a quick tour of the information boards then we headed back down the track to the river again.

A rather unpleasant incident occurred beyond Mill Affleck. The tail-enders - who incidentally had just been listening to a rather Johnny-like rant from Jimmy – came across a dog in some distress. It was one of those ‘Staffie’ type of devil-dugs and it appeared to have something stuck in its mouth. While it was happy to be clapped, it would not let any one of us – well Jimmy, the dug whisperer, anyway – near its blood spattered mouth. A few minutes later a young woman with another of the same type of dug came back along the path. She had been walking along talking on her phone and never even noticed the dog was missing. While the dug whisperer held the other on a lead, the woman bent down, opened the jaws of the distressed devil dug and prized the offending stick from between its teeth. Relieved of its torment now, the devil-dug was a calm and docile as any pet. The woman and her twa dugs kept us company to Ochiltree.

We took the bus back to Cumnock where the Sun provided festive FRT. A special mention should be made of Karen, the barmaid in The Sun who patiently suffered all our festive banter and returned it with a smile. Thanks Karen.

26 October Cumnock to Catrine via Ochiltree

Jimmy, Peter, John Kelso

With the gang still missing for the reasons of last week, Jimmy and Peter with Peter’s friend John from Auchinleck took advantage of a bright morning to walk the Cumnock to Ochiltree walk, visit Dumfries House, have a a bite of peece in the old graveyard at Ochiltree and finish by walking through Auchinleck House estate to Catrine.

6 January Cumnock to Ochiltree

The Arctic type weather of the last couple of weeks continues with snow and ice blanketing the country. A fresh snowfall yesterday had Jimmy phoning round to suggest an alternative meeting place and an alternative walk. The plan was for all to meet in Jimmy’s in Cumnock and travel to Wanlockhead for a snowy walk on the Lowthers. But the recent snow made Jimmy’s hill treacherous, almost impassable, so a quick phone round to suggest we meet at the Cumnock Swimming Pool car park and have a walk along the river to Ochiltree was accepted.
Only four of us met in Cumnock, a small but select band, for the rest had other matters to attend to but the four who did turn up were treated to a superb winter walk. The compensation for all the lying ice and sub-zero temperatures of the night was a morning of breathless air, cloudless blue sky and a low winter sun that accentuated every bump and hollow in the snow-bound landscape – a perfect day for a winter walk. And we set off into the perfect day.
We climbed the main road towards Auchinleck, yesterday’s snowfall providing traction on the iced-up pavement, and as we climbed, the landscape behind us opened out. We looked out over snowy Cumnock to the Glen Afton Hills gleaming white against the blue. But we didn’t have too much time to look behind us for Jimmy set a good pace up towards Auchinleck and Holly, desperate for freedom from the lead, pulled at Davie to be getting on.
The Auchinleck Burn forms the southern boundary of Auchinleck town, running under the main road in a deep gully. It was here that we left the road and took a path down the side of the gully. Now Holly could be released to run on ahead, Davie could relax for a while and the pace could be eased. We wandered down the path above the burn, through a wood of pine trees that still carried snow on their branches, snow that fell before Christmas and has lain long in the still, sub-zero air. A halt was called where the path came close to the bypass; not that we wanted to look at the bypass. No, we stopped to look at a winter wonderland of snow coated spruces and fields of pristine white. The low sun refracted on each icy crystal and sent back sparkles of blue, green and red. Davie used the first of his superlatives for the day. ‘Fabulous’, said he. We agreed.
For a few minutes, we stood and discussed the scene but eventually tore ourselves away and walked down the path into the living Christmas card. The path took us down through the spruces – ‘Planted in the bog that used to be here’, said Jimmy – and down to the side of the Lugar Water. The river was partly frozen with only the midstream running liquid, looking quite black in contrast to the surrounding snowy landscape. But we didn’t stop to admire the frozen river. Without halt, we turned downstream, came under the bypass bridge and into the policies of Dumfries House. The fresh, powdery snow crunched under the boots and provided good footing on the frozen under-layer, the walking was level and the pace was easy. We took our time through the old gravel works, through the woods and on to the main drive to the ‘big hoose’ enjoying the winter sun on our backs and the light on the snow. Davie used his second superlative. ‘Superb’, said he. We agreed.
Davie thought we were going to Adam’s Brig (see 4/3/2009) for coffee but Jimmy and Peter had other ideas. We turned away from the river and took the track for the old walled garden. It was Peter’s idea to visit the old garden. What he expected to see, he wasn’t quite sure, but the garden is derelict now with only the surrounding wall and a few ruined buildings giving a hint of its former use. If he was disappointed, Peter didn’t show it too much, instead he turned his attention to the ruined buildings on the outside of the wall.
A few minutes of nosing around were enough to satisfy everybody and we started off again. We had to retrace our snowy footprints for a bit for in our enthusiasm to visit the walled garden, we had overshot the path that would take us the rest of the way to Ochiltree. But the path was found easily enough, being picked out from the surrounding snowy fields by parallel fences.
Though we weren’t the first people to use the path during the snowy spell, we were the first on the fresh stuff. We weren’t the first creatures though. Tunnel-like runs showed where mice or voles searched for food through the frozen snow; heron prints came up from the wee sheugh and crossed the path, parallel scratches in the snow showed where it had clawed at something; hare prints crossed and re-crossed our path, the long rear legs making sausage-shaped indentations in the snow. It’s a good job we had the naturalists with us to point out the various prints. And, just to prove them right, a hare loped across the face of the old Barony Pit bing as we walked towards it.
The old bing is being reclaimed by nature and an open scrubby wood of birks, sauchs and alder covers its flanks and it was through this scattered scrub that the path climbed the side of the bing. Now from a higher vantage point, we looked backwards up the valley of the Lugar to its parent hills – to Aisyart Hill (Avisyard, on the map) above Cumnock, to the southwest of our watercourse, to Cairn Table at Muirkirk and to Pepper Hill where our river has its source. And downstream, Ochiltree seemed very close. But did Jimmy let us stop here for coffee? Did he heck! He walked on.
We left the official footpath and followed a track to the site of the old Barony Pit. The pit closed ages ago but apparently, it had a unique ‘A’ frame, the frame that was used to hoist and lower the cages in the pit shaft and it was left standing when the pithead buildings were demolished. It has been restored and the site turned into a visitor attraction complete with picnic tables and children’s play area. Information panels detail the mining heritage of the area through this one pit and an audio station lets real people tell their stories of the pit. It was on the seats of the audio station that we sat for coffee, for the picnic tables, like the rest of the world, lay under many inches of snow. ‘I’m glad you brought us here’, said Davie, pressing another audio button, ‘It’s awfie interesting’.
Coffee took a wee while for the sun beat on the information panel that we leaned against and warmed our backs nicely. Then we had an investigation of our surroundings to make before making our way back down the track we had come up.
We came back down and found our path again, at least we found the compacted icy footprints that showed where the path was, and turned down it into a wood and towards the river once more. A brick shed was noticed through the trees standing beside the water some twenty feet below our path. ‘Contains some sort of pumping gear’, said Jimmy who had made an investigation in warmer days. We were inclined to take his word for it for the slope down looked treacherous and the icy water lay below. ‘We’ll come back and have a look some other day’, said Peter. It was then that he noticed the man on the ice on the other side of the water.
The man seemed in no danger; he seemed to know what he was about. A tripod stood in front of him with a long lens attached. But whether this had a camera on the end or whether he was ‘twitching’, we don’t know for none of us shouted to him for fear of cracking the ice or bringing an avalanche down on our heads from the snow-covered branches. We just left him to whatever he was doing and walked on.
Another halt was called at the foot of a slope for we were now at the riverside and we stopped to look at the frozen water. Now the river was frozen from side to side and last night’s snow dusted the ice. More animal footprints marked this snow and we stopped for a look. Our attention was pointed the way we had just come. ‘Who could ask for a better view than this?’ said one. The view backwards was indeed super with the bare tree trunks of the wood standing almost black in the surrounding snow and the branches traced in black and white against the deep blue of the sky. Davie used a superlative again. ‘Fabulous’, he said. We nodded.
We came to a holm where, Jimmy said, the made path runs out for a few hundred yards by Mill Affleck farm. Whether it did or didn’t, didn’t matter for all was lost under the blanket of snow. We followed the icy footprints around the loop of the frozen river. A rusting millwheel stood in isolation in the middle of the holm to make where the old Parish Mill, the Mill Affleck, stood. Sadly, it seems that it’s being left to rust and rot away. Perhaps some day somebody will restore it as they’ve done with the ‘A’ frame. Until then it’s being left to decay. After the budding archaeologists, Jimmy and Allan, had discovered the course of the mill’s lade and tail, we walked on.
The river was frozen solid now for we were nearing the mill dam of Ochiltree and the water here runs deep and slow. We walked the few hundred yards down the side of the frozen river to find the main road and the end of our walk in Ochiltree.
We took the bus back to Cumnock and took FRT in The Mercat there.

This was a good walk, made so by the super winter day. That Davie enjoyed it was evident from the superlatives used. We leave the last word to him. ‘A fabulous day’, said he.

4 March, Windy Standard, no. Snowy Cumnock, yes

Distance 15.8 Km

Dumfries House was built by the late Earl, who, at the same time, inclosed and planted much. In particular, 35 acres, not far from the house, were planted with oaks, which are now beautiful and grow luxuriously. This has encouraged the present Earl to continue the plantations in belts around his enclosures, and clumps on every height, which embellish the country at present, and in time will be very profitable. The land which the Earl holds in his own hand extends to 1200 acres including pleasure ground.
Andrew Wight, The present State of Husbandry in Scotland, 1773

Winter returned with a vengeance last night, dumping three or four inches of snow on the county. We all awoke to a Christmas card scene of white landscape and continually falling snow, even those in the sub-tropics of Alloway and Troon. We had planned to go to Windy Standard but those who know this kind of thing realised there was no way we would get up the Glen Afton road. A quick bout of ringing round* and the outing was rearranged for a Cumnock local.

Ten Ooters came out today despite the weather. Following Jimmy’s advice we all met in the snow-bound car park of Cumnock swimming pool rather than attempt the slither up to his hill-top residence. At least now the snow had stopped falling and there was a brightening in the sky that foretold sunshine. And by the time we had changed into boots, this sunshine had arrived. We started the walk from the swimming pool.
The first part of the walk was on the path down the River Lugar, alongside the playing fields of Broomfield. This was where Johnny produced his quiz. What vegetable can you only buy fresh because it can’t be frozen, dried or in any way preserved? Which natural feature in North America is constantly moving backward? What’s the point of quizzes? What a clever, show-off bunch we are. We managed to answer all of Johnny’s questions - eventually.
By this time we were down past the sewage works - Jimmy does show us the scenic areas of the country - through a small wood of Scots Pines and encountering the first fence of the day. This had to be negotiated carefully for it stood atop a steep snow-covered and slippery slope. Those who delight in the misfortune of others had nothing to gloat over here for all safely negotiated the fence and slithered down the slope in their own fashion.

We were now on a farm track which took us under the Auchinleck bypass and into Dumfries House policies. It was suggested by some that this was turning into a ‘Peter walk’ for there came, in quick succession, a negotiation of a fence by overhanging the river and another barbed-wire fence. But, again, all came safely through this trial. ‘This is the last fence of the day’, said our leader. Liar! We had to re-cross this barbed-wire to find a pad through some stunted saughs. Definitely a Peter walk now. But this pad took us to the track again and that was the last of the obstacles for the day - not! We continued on the track until we found the main entrance to the house.

Adam’s brig was the first of our historical studies for the day. Davie had most of us – Jimmy had seen it all before and others weren’t that interested – down the snowy bank to look at the architecture of the bridge. Then we crossed it, examining the structure from a different angle.

Some of the trees of the fifth earl’s ‘pleasure ground’ were noted as we walked towards the mansion itself. A circuit of the house was made, not, as some suggested, to find somebody for Davie to have words with, but to examine the architectural work of Robert Adam. This time we were able to get right in to the walls of the house itself and examine the structure at very close quarters. Alan asked about the motto ‘Nemo me impune lacesit’. Paul translated this as ‘Do not name me with impunity’ but Jimmy’s colloquial ‘Wha are you talking tae?’ appealed more to Alan. Everybody agreed that the house was a magnificent building but hardly worth the money being charged to get inside.
Stomachs rumbled and coffee was called. On a grassy patch under an ancient tree we sat and had coffee and looked back toward the house. As usual at coffee, a stick was thrown for Holly and away she chased. The yelp she let out may well have been heard back in Cumnock. Something had happened but Davie could find little amiss when he prized her jaws open. Yet something had happened for Holly was not herself for the rest of the day. (See Davie's report below)

After coffee we came to the main Ochiltree to Cumnock road and turned along this, dodging slushy spray thrown up by passing lorries. But we were only on this road for a hundred metres or so before turning off it onto the quieter track for the old Dumfries House station. Yes, the group was informed, the Marquis of Bute had his own private station.
There is very little left of the old station, only the waiting room converted to a private dwelling. Nor is there much left of the railway on the west side for the cutting here has been filled in. Only on the east side of the bridge is it obvious that a railway once came through here. We didn’t spend too long here for a cool breeze had sprung up from somewhere and we moved on to keep warm.
We came onto the Skares road and turned for Garrallan. The old school here was examined - it was a day for looking at old buildings – before we turned off southward on the Benston Road. Hunger called and we sat down on the metal barrier of an old bridge at Garlaff and enjoyed both the peece and the warmth of the early March sun. Robert had watched a very scientific programme on tele last night and regaled us with his newly gleaned knowledge. It would appear that baldy men are more virile. Jimmy and Paul, they of the extensive head skin, were quick to confirm this. But they challenged his assertion that women prefer hairless faces for both of them sport beards. This was the level of conversation today.
Post peece we set of again, towards New Cumnock. From this high ground we had extensive views of the east Ayrshire countryside. We looked towards the Afton hills and saw them gleam white in the sunshine. We nearly regretted our decision to stay low but this notion soon left us when we turned off the road onto a field track and found several inches of powdery snow. This feield track brought us down through Greenside Farm to the Benston to Cumnock road.
Glaisnock House sits a few hundred yard off this road and this was another old building that just had to be looked at today. Davie was slightly miffed to read the notice about dogs but it didn’t prevent him from joining us on our close examination. Those who knew something of its history told it as we completed a circuit of the old house.
From Glaisnock house it was to be a straightforward walk down to Cumnock. It was to be, but those in the forward party took some diversions and it was a longer walk to the pub than it might have been. Tongues were almost hanging out.

We made for our usual haunt, The Sun, but they have an embargo on dugs so we adjourned to the Merkat for FRT today.
Here we were treated like long lost friends. Holly was given free drink and biscuits but she was the only one. The Merkat was compared favourably with the best of our watering holes (www.comparethemerkat.com).

*We might have managed to contact everyone if the Irvine/Troon contingent had their mobiles with them or had them switched on!

 


Report by Jimmy

Photos by Johnnie and Jimmy