Cunninghame ramblers mid week walk.Straiton circular.December 2011

Walk start in the village.

First climb up Craigengower Hill (334M)

Hunter Blair monument on the summit.

Coffee break on a windy monument.

Looking down on Straiton .

A very fast flowing River Girvan.

Todays walkers

The leader.

Today Wednesday 7 December I used my bus pass to travel to the lovely village of Straiton in South Ayrshire to join Cunninghame Ramblers on their mid week walk up Craigengower and Bennan Hills. 10 of us met at the car park before walking through the village on a fairly cold blustery morning. Once passed the local school we climbed up Craigengower often referred to as monument hill as it has the Hunter Blair memorial on its summit. The family still own the local castle known as Blairquhan and are also  very prominent members of  the church and village.A steep descent took us down to the River Girvan which was in full flow today after all the recent rain before we went up Bennan Hill (283M) where we had our lunch stop. The leader explained at this point there used to be a view finder explaining all the local landmarks but health and safety have decreed the area unsafe as it can get quite wet and slippy where it once stood. If you had experienced the ground conditions we had covered to get to this point what a load of rubbish they are just being over cautious in case someone trips or falls and decides to sue the local council. From here it was a pleasant path back to the start to end this short 5 mile walk . Apart from a shower of hail we were very lucky to complete the walk in fairly good conditions. Thanks once again to the leader and members for making me feel so welcome I do enjoy walking with this group.