Catrine to the Haugh and back 14 Sep 2017

Present: Jim, Ian, Paul, Jimmy, Gus, Peter, Dougie, Robert, Davie M, Rex, Kenny R, Kenny T

For the second time our planned traverse of the Four Tops at Glenafton had to be postponed because of the prospect of heavy rain. As it turned out, there was only one shower, albeit extremely heavy, during our walk from the old bank car park opposite Peter's house to the Haugh at Mauchline and back.
We did the wee loop through the wood that runs parallel to the road before heading past Kingencleuch Farm and down to the river just east of the Haugh. The path was in a frightful state due to the amount of rain that had fallen; indeed it was in the worst condition your scribe has ever seen in decades of walking in this area.
Lunch was taken under the Ballochmyle Viaduct with Davie mentioning that if you visit Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow you will see a fair-sized painting of the viaduct. This painting was commissioned by the Glasgow and South West Railway Company to celebrate the viaduct's opening in 1850, it having the longest single masonry arch in the world at that time.
We arrived back at the cars roughly three hours 15 minutes after we had set out.
FRT was as is our wont taken at the Black Bull in  Mauchline where there was plenty of the usual gay banter. Sincere thanks go to the barmaid for serving up pizzas which disappeared like snaw aff a dyke.

Sorn to Haugh 2 July

Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Gus, Jimmy, Malcolm, Paul, Peter, Rex, Robert

The War Memorial

The glorious sunshine of the last few days had gone leaving an overcast but warm morning as we met at Sorn Kirk. The route we took was the ‘high’ road i.e. we followed the road back towards Mauchline before cutting off to the left and making our way to the Catrine War Memorial where we took a few minutes to take in the view over Catrine and beyond. It was then down in to the town and across the river to join the River Ayr path. At this point Peter left us saying that he would see us later – but he never did.

Roy couldn't put Wayne's name on the team sheet but...

And then there were nine!

The route from here to the Howford Bridge is familiar to us and we were there in no time at all before settling down to coffee.  From there the path was followed down to the old bridge where the old road was taken up to the turn off for Ballochmyle Viaduct.  As we approached this engineering masterpiece we deviated down to the Fishers’ Tryst for a photo shoot. The viaduct is usually our lunch spot but it was too early today and we took the low path down by the river towards the Haugh. This brought back ‘happy’ memories for Paul who had had to negotiate this journey on a previous visit when the water level was much higher. The marks made by his finger nails are still visible on the rocky outcrop!

Haud yer belly in, Malcolm!

Jimmy, having spent some time researching the industrial archaeology of the area, was able to explain the tunnels and canals that were used in days gone by to supply water to power the mill at the Haugh and the sandstone cutting mill. See what we’ve been missing for the last number of weeks!

At the Haugh we turned left and continued up the road following it until we crossed the railway line and stopped for lunch just beyond. The sun was trying to break through at this point and, although the breeze was stiffening, it remained pleasantly warm.

Ryanair downgrades services from Prestwick

From here it was down to the Catrine House café and under the Howford Bridge once more before heading back to Catrine. This time the route to Sorn was past the Voes and Daldorch House School, at which point we took time to check out the works that were being done to renovate the weir system on the river, and onwards following the path back to our starting point.

The walk had taken us the best part of five hours and we were ready for FRT but, since our usual haunt at Poosie Nansie’s was closed after a motorist had mistaken it for a ‘Drive Thru’, we retreated to the Black Bull. This proved to be much more salubrious with the atmosphere being only slightly dulled by Andy’s demise at Wimbers. The banter turned to politics and became heated, to such an extent that Holly, who had been lying sleeping, woke up, looked at her master, decided she had heard it all before, and walked out of the pub. We all soon followed!

Another fine day out and, as a bonus, the walks for the next two weeks were decided i.e. Lochwinnoch and the Whangie.

The rain started as we left the pub!

5 February Sorn to The Haugh and back

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Gus, Malcolm, Jimmy, Johnnie, Paul, Peter, Rex, Robert & Ronnie

Nature, it would seem, smiles on the Ooters. Despite the wet and windy winter, we have been blessed by reasonable weather for our Wednesday outings; in fact we haven’t had a wet Wednesday walk since the turn of the year. And, despite dire warnings from the Met Office of heavy rain and storm force winds for today, this was another walk that seems to prove that Nature smiles on the Ooters. It would also seem that none of us is afraid of a little rain and wind for regardless of the forecast, thirteen of us gathered in Sorn for our re-arranged walk – even if we had to wait for the tardy one from Cumnock. And the sun shone on us as we set off up the Mauchline road a little after our scheduled departure time of ten.

Sorn Castle looked a picture this morning perched on its rock above the River Ayr and bathed in warm morning sunlight. And this self-same morning sunlight was with us as we turned off the Mauchline road on to a byway that took us past Hillhead Farm to the Catrine War Memorial. It was interesting to note that among the names engraved there were two Italian ones, two Catrine folk of Italian extraction who fought in the Italian forces in WW1. Then we left the War memorial and dropped down the Chapel Brae into Catrine itself.

What a pleasant surprise awaited us in Catrine. Peter had arranged with his brother Edward that we could have coffee in his new café/restaurant. Though the café is not open to the public yet, Edward made us most welcome for it gave him a chance to try out his systems. We thank Edward for his hospitality and Peter for arranging this.

After coffee we found ourselves on the River Ayr Way. We would stay on it for a good while now. Over the ‘timmer brig’ we came, along past the sewage works, up the steps (Or what’s left of them!) and under the Howford Brig. Amazement and wonder spread though the group as we examined the graffiti on the span of the new brig – amazement as to how somebody had the nerve to climb up there and wonder as to why the so-and-sos wanted to do this in the first place.

There was no such graffiti on the old brig though, only a dirty great hole where some organisation or other was laying pipes. But we hadn’t time to look into this hole for long, we moved on up the slope away from the river again.

Again we turned off tarmac and came onto Lady Alexander’s Walk along the sandstone cliffs above the river. Somebody expressed an interest in seeing the cup and ring markings carved into the living rock and a group of us set off in search of these. Jimmy was for into the field but Davie Mc knew a better way. So we struggled up slippery banks, down into glaury holes, underneath branches and over dead tree stumps until we eventually got to the markings. Supposedly bronze-age markings, our pseudo-archaeologist disputes their authenticity but his argument is too long for these scribblings so you will need to ask him yourself. Jimmy was right; the best way to get to the markings is through the field and this is the way we came back to the River Ayr path.

While Peter and Jimmy went to show Ronnie the Fisherman’s Tryst, the rest of us walked on to a lunch spot underneath the span of the Ballochmyle viaduct. Some were for turning back at this point but Davie Mc suggested that it was only ten minutes to the path for Kingencleugh and it would be a better route back. We walked on. 

The company to the front missed the path for Kingencleugh and before we could correct their error, we found ourselves at The Haugh. Now we had a choice of two equally long routes back – right to Mauchline or left to Braehead Farm and Catrine house. Whichever we chose, we would be on tarmac for a while now. We opted for the left and climbed out of the valley onto the higher ground by the farm. A great bank of snowdrops below the farm house cheered us on the ascent from the valley to the higher ground around the farm. And it was on this higher ground that, for the first time today, the sun went and rain could be seen coming in from the south.

But the threat of rain didn’t worry us too much. We walked on past Turnerhill and Merkland. Then we found the River Ayr Way again at Catrine House tearoom. Now we would retrace our steps back to Catrine. Allan, who has not been fully fit since before Christmas, was suffering from distance and speed today so he opted to stop in Peter’s place while the rest of us walked on. And walk on we did, past the Voes over the river, under Daldorch and back to Sorn in double quick time.

While Johnnie returned to Catrine for Allan, the rest of us made directly for Poosie Nancy’s in Mauchline for FRT.

Once again Nature has smiled on the Ooters – another dry Wednesday walk despite the horrendous forecast from the Met Office

12 November Catrine to the Haugh

The carrot cake that Peter promised us on the last outing was the temptation to gather at his house for a short local walk before leaving for Mosset. Six of us plus Peter himself got stuck into the cake and very much appreciated it.
Peter had plans. Davie suggested a short walk but Peter still had plans. We thought we were heading for Sorn especially when we took a route by the voes. The voes looked continental today and the photographer was busy with the camera. Wee look forward to seeing the pictures. We still thought we were heading for Sorn when we turned up the river. No Salmon leapt the weir and no heron fished the calmer waters of the dam so we walked on, still heading upstream toward Sorn.
Peter's plans didn't include a walk up the river to Sorn, though. At the entrance to Daldorch School, we turned away from the river and came up through the school to the Sorn road. We turned right. We weren't for Sorn at all.
We came into the scheme. The scheme in Catrine is typical of our council housing schemes today - nice properties beside rundown ones, neglected gardens and boarded-up houses. This is another sad comment on our society. (Hey, you grumpy auld so-and-so, get on with describing the walk!)
Peter showed us the field where he was born. All right, it was an open space where the house once stood but we prefer to think Peter was born in a field. Johnny suggested that the house was demolished because that's what they do when a heinous crime is committed there. Peter was not amused.
A path brought us down to the Institute and back to the River Ayr Way. The rest of the walk is so familiar that it requires little in the way of description. We were to follow the river to the Haugh. The newcomers found this an interesting section of the walk and the usual landmarks were pointed out. Howford’s bridges elicited the same reaction from the newcomers as they have done on many occasions from the rest of us; the sandstone overhang high above the river was ventured on to by some though the sensible kept to firmer footing; the cup and ring markings were examined and debate ensued over their authenticity; the Fisher’s Tryst was visited; Ballochmyle's big brig was examined and it's statistics were quoted. This was an education for the newcomers.
The only change to the usual route came at the viaduct. We would normally take the high path but Jimmy fancied taking the low path for it is a long time since he had been this way and many in the company hadn’t been at all. Therefore, the low path was taken. This brought us to the side of the river.
There came a point on the route where the sandstone cliff came right to the river’s edge and the only way forward was by a narrow ledge four feet above the level of the water. This looked green and slippery. Though Peter and Jimmy strode on like heroes before us, it was with some apprehension that most ventured on to the ledge and it was only by careful scrambling and not a little trepidation that got us across it, though the stalwart pair saw no problem.
Once on the more secure ground, it was an easy walk to the top of the valley and Kingencluech. Peecetime was called in a wee stand of mature conifers by the side of the main road and we took our time over this reflecting on the scenery of the gorge.
After the peece, we found ourselves back at Howford. A band of ramblers was seated along the bridge having lunch. Our blether stopped to talk to them. There were twelve women and three men, all of our age or older, from ‘The Three Toons’. They had walked from Mauchline to Catrine and down the river. After lunch, they were to walk down the river to the Haugh and back to Mauchline. We left them to enjoy their lunch and walked on.
Peter had us up the brae to see the new cafe before dropping us back into the river valley where we retraced our steps upriver to Catrine.
The Royal Bar provided FRT today.