ADRC . Corserine on the Rhinns of Kells. March 2012

Gathering at the start.

This fine fellow was watching us (see text)

One of the estate houses

Making full use of the local natural materials.

Heading up towards the snow.

We are now at the snow level

Quite tough going in the blizzard.

Lunch in the sunshine.

Discussing the next part of our route.

Group at the summit of Corserine (814M)

Todays leader.

Yesterday Sunday March 4th 20 walkers from Ayr and District Ramblers travelled to Forest Lodge a few miles North of St Johns Town of Dalry in Dumfries and Galloway. The lodge and estate are owned by Sir Fred Olsen of the shipping fame. At his gate he has the most wonderful statue of a Scottish soldier that originally was on the mast head of a ship called the Black Watch that was launched in 1939 and during salvage operations in 1963 the original was restored and placed as a memorial to that era of the magnates business history.We followed a forest trail up the side of the Polharrow Burn which was very pleasant in the spring sunshine. Once we got to the base of Corserine we could see the snow on the summit which gave us an early warning of the possibe conditions we would encounter today. Once we started the serious climbing the going got progressively more difficult when the snow started to fall coupled with a strong wind we all found it quite difficult Once on the summit we got the most wonderful views of the surrounding hills and the various lochs. The snow was very deep in places where it had drifted in the wind. Once we crossed a ridge onto Millfire (716M) we had a welcome lunch stop where we even managed to identify the Lake District in the distance. Once we were suitably refreshed we went up and over Milldown on our way to Meikle Millyea (746M) when our leader decided as the conditions underfoot were quite extreme we would go around the side of the hill on a track called Meilkle Lump. Going round a hill in the snow was not the easiest thing to do so lots of slips and falls were experienced but fortunately nothing too serious a few wet bottoms were incurred.The descent back down to the forest was to say the least steep and boggy but again all walkers made it back safely to the cars to end a 10 mile walk with lots of interesting and difficult conditions to contend with. The leader was thanked by all who had the hard job of navigating in the deep snow with no visible paths to guide us along the ridges today.