South Ayrshire Ramblers.Lamford and Benbrack Hills. November 2011

The sluice on the Water of Deugh.

One for the Newton Stewart blogger!!

Looking out to Loch Doon.

Lunch on Dodd Hill.



Todays birthday boy.



Back onto terra firma.

A nice autumn picture of the Water of Deugh.

Ruins of Darnscaw Cottage.

Should we cross or should we not.

Aw stuff it lets give it a go!

Todays sunny group.

Our leader and my shadow.

On Saturday Novenmber 12 I went with South Ayrshire ramblers to the  Dumfries and Galloway border about 6 miles south of Dalmellington to climb a couple of hills that I had not done before.On a lovely clear morning 12 of us left from the sluice on the Water of Deugh to our first climb up Lamford Hill (399M) which was a wee bit soft underfoot but gained us some height fairly quickly. Once on the top we could see over to the Galloways and Loch Doon so this was an ideal spot for our elevenses even though it was only 10.30.Once refreshed we crossed over to Benbrack (448M) through some very tussocky ground which required everybody to lift their feet in this testing ground.Once we were all on the summit the leader pointed out the various hills we could see round about us. Again we had to go through some soft terrain to reach Dodd Hill where we had our lunch stop and sang happy birthday to one embarrassed walker.At this point we all expected a piece of cake or at least a sweetie but these guys from South Ayrshire are not known for their generosity. Perhaps next year!!Once off the hill we reached a hard road to give us a rest from the boggy conditions much to the delight of some of the group. We only did a short distance on the road when the leader took us away down by the waters edge onto a track that was bearly visible let alone passable. Along past a the ruins of Darnscaw Cottage we arrived a bridge over the burn. I mention the word bridge loosely as it had no sides and was only about 1 metre wide. Quick discussion it was decided we could cross but no more than two at a time with the lighter walkers going first. Needless to say great hilarity here as we nominated who was to cross last and to add to the fun the bloody thing had a sway in the middle as you walked over.All safely over we joined a forest track to take us back to the cars. A very pleasant 5 mile walk taken in glorious sunshine and my thanks to the leader and the rest of the group for allowing me to join you today I really enjoyed it.