ADRC Brunch at Darley near Barr. October 2011

This was the first part of the walk.

Excellent paths at the beginning.

Now we are entering indian country!!

This is "Darley" the name of the walk.

This extension was perhaps the "En Suite"

Walkers enjoying the sunshine after the heavy slog.

Ladies only in this rocky outcrop.

He tried to jump the burn (oops missed!)

The group on the summit of Cairn Hill(479M)

And a tree lined avenue as well.

The worthy leader.

Today Sunday October 16 ADRC met at the lovely village of Barr in South Ayrshire for a 10 mile walk starting off in the Changue Forest. 14 of us set off on a clear sunny autumn morning for a grade "B+" walk but as most of us know this particular leader is well known for adding wee twists to his outings so we all knew we were going to do a toughie today. The first part was almost idyllic in an area known as Fairy Knowe which was in a forest with the sun streaming in through the trees,spiders webs on the branches and excellent underfoot conditions. This was to fool us all into thinking the leader was maybe going a wee bit saft in his old age. Not at all, as soon as we cleared the forest we were heading down an embankment to cross two burns in quick succession before we entered an area of bogs,tussocks. deep hidden holes with lots of bracken to camouflage them from the group.This is what we came for and it got worse before it got better if you see what I mean. A welcome site was the ruined building of "Darley" where we were to have our brunch. Not long after we had we settled down to eat a sandwich the leader told us this was just a quick break as he pointed out two hills behind him to inform us we were going to climb them both.Over another river we then climbed up Fell Hill (465M) and onto Cairn Hill (479M) perhaps this was the most challenging part of the day over great mounds of moss in the wettest of conditions underfoot. Another break was taken on the summit before yes you have guessed it we had a very serious descent down to the Lead Mine Burn.Eventually we arrived at a track which took us out of the rough ground. Leader now tells us it is only 2 miles back to the start. What he did not mention was we were going  via Balloch Hill  round an area known as the devils footprint. Just when we thought we were on our way back we disappeared into the forest again to begin climbing. This was not too steep except it had a very awkward part towards the end which was like an ice rink causing one or two falls resulting in some muddy backsides. Again in true blog tradition no names will be published to protect the ladies involved. Once we eventually arrived back at the cars we all agreed the leader had excelled himself today or as he himself put it very eloquently "Todays walk had a little of everything in it for everyone as in his walks he aims to please"I could not have put it better myself and now as I am completely exhausted I am off for a well earned pint.