Christmas 2013

A very merry Christmas to all our family and friends around the world from 

                   Gordon and Anne.

 

 

 

 

South Ayrshire Ramblers. Maybole circular 2013

Todays group

Madam Vice was our leader. This is a photo from an earlier walk as todays one did not come out very well.

South Ayrshire Ramblers met at Maybole baths on a wet Saturday morning for a 9 mile circular walk led today by Madam Vice. Well just as we got our gear on the rain arrived coupled with a strong driving wind made the first part of the walk wet ,dreich,miserable,cold and muddy but this was a hardy bunch of 24 of the groups finest ramblers and after about an hour the skies cleared to give us some reasonable weather to complete our walk. Apologies for the lack of photographs but there was no way the camera was coming out in the driving rain. As usual there will be a more professional "Utube" presentation  posted perhaps tomorrow or Monday and when I get the link from the composer I will publish it. Thanks must go to our leader today, Madam Vice for keeping everyones spirits up in the earlier part of the walk when perhaps one or two of the group might have given up or taken a shorter route she soldiered on until the skies cleared just as she predicted.

Click here for the "Dukes"Utube compilation

Cunninghame Ramblers Christmas lunch. December 2013

Father Christmas arrived!!

Yesterday Saturday December 14 the ramblers met at Cecchini's Restaurant restaurant in Ardrossan for the groups Christmas lunch. Before lunch our chairperson had organised for  the 36 of us to have a leisurely walk to Saltcoats for a coffee stop and return to Ardrossan for lunch. However the weather dictated this outing it was blowing a gale coupled with driving rain. Some brave souls ventured out but I decided with a couple of others to use the bus to go to Weatherspoons for a swallie (a very well thought out suggestion) Once in Saltcoats the others joined us before venturing back in the awful conditions whilst I went back on the bus. One of the ramblers pointed out that I was a fair weather rambler and all weather drinker how dare he I hear you say!!Once back at the restaurant, the ones that walked got into some dry clothes before we all settled down to an excellent festive meal with lots of crummy jokes from our crackers  getting banded about.  Another excellent lunch in this fine restaurant with thanks  to our chairperson and spouse for organising the day perhaps you could try harder with the  weather next year (only joking).

A wee bit stormy yesterday.

Byne hill to Grey Hill ,Girvan December 2013

Holding onto the trig point in the high winds.

Today Wednesday December 11 again in the company of the teacher we did an old favourite of ours starting from Girvan harbour along the coast and then climbing Byne Hill (214M) over Fell Hill to Grey Hill(297M)on an extremely windy mild day.Turning inland the conditions became a wee bit easier to stand up in as we made our way past Drumfairn Cottage back to the harbour a distance of about 10 miles to end another good day out in the hills.

Kildoon Hill Maybole December 2013

Could do with a haircut

perhaps I could do with the same.

Today Tuesday December 10 along with the teacher we did a walk up round Kildoon Hill in Maybole a walk we have done many times in the past except today we did it in reverse,no we did not walk in reverse, we climbed up to the cairn first along to the murder plaque and down past the kennels up onto Kildoon Hill that way. I would thoroughly recommend doing it that way it was a completely different walk with views we do not normally see . Good day again with mild windy conditions which were ideal for what we were doing. Looking forward to tomorrow when we are venturing out again to make use of the good mild weather we are currently experiencing in the West of Scotland .

         

ADRC to Muirkirk December 2013

My walks always have a tree lined avenue

Todays group

With me as leader

Yesterday Sunday December 9 I had the pleasure of being leader for Ayr and District ramblers on a 9 mile "C+" walk around the countryside outside the East Ayrshire village of Muirkirk. 12 of us met at the walkers car park at Kaimes on cloudy morning with threatening rain clouds all around us, in actual fact we only got drizzle in the morning for about an hour coupled with a dry windy afternoon making it a reasonable day for a ramble. We set off out of the village on the River Ayr way before going up through the village to the forest where we picked up some tracks to take us to a minor country road for a couple of miles of hard road walking before crossing the main A70 back onto the River Ayr way back to the start. A few fallen trees after last weeks storm made us take a few unplanned detours to get safely round them.A more professional collection of photos will appear on a fellow ramblers U tube page and when I get it I will publish the link address .. Thanks to all who turned up yesterday I really enjoyed your company on what turned out to be not too bad a day weatherwise.

U Tube site on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXzQyyjbLGc&feature=youtu.be

Cunninghame ramblers visit to the Gorbals in Glasgow December 2013

We met at the fireman outside Central Station

A very poignant message

Glasgow Bridge

Scene of last weeks helicoptor tragedy

Walkers passing the city mortuary

Nelsons column

This guy was training to be the next "Benny Lynch"

The Peoples Palace

A rather ornate fountain

Templetons carpet factory

The glass room in the Peoples Palace

Two of Glasgows finest with their riders

St Andrews suspension bridge

New Gorbals architecture

Glasgow girls street furniture

Is it an angel?

Not sure about this one

Alexander  "Greek" Thomson church

Todays group

The leader.

Saturday December 7th Cunninghame ramblers organised a different type of day out by taking the group on a visit to Glasgows once infamous Gorbals area. 14 of us met outside Central Station on a cloudy but dry morning to be briefed by our leader on the various places we hoped to visit today. I will not go into all the details of our walk, I will leave that to the above photos suffice to say we had a great day out full of our leaders colourful storys of life in the Gorbals back in its heyday.Thanks again to her for leading a rather unusual but interesting day out.

Cunninghame ramblers mid week walk in Straiton. December 2013

Some places were very muddy

todays group

with me as leader.

Yesterday Wednesday 4 December I was privileged to be the walk leader for Cunninghame ramblers on their mid week walk.Straiton was the chosen venue and a bakers dozen left the walkers car park for an 7 mile walk to climb our first hill known locally as monument hill adorned with its magnificent memorial to a local landowner.Once on the summit I mentioned a few of the landmarks now visible on the horizon notably the Island of Arran and Ailsa Craig.From here it was a fairly steep descent back down to the road before our next assent up Bennan Hill . Half way up we took a wee coffee break to admire the late autumn colours lit up by the midday sun on all the surrounding hills. Arriving back at the cars we had our lunch stop before heading out of the village in the afternoon to do a walk known as the  Lady Hunter Blair trail past some waterfalls hidden away in the forest made it a perfect ending to a very pleasant day out with this group. My thanks to all who joined me yesterday your company and chatter made it a real joy to lead a group who really appreciated the nature and colours of the beautiful countryside to be found in this part of Scotland.
PS I have an admission to make I forgot to take my camera with me yesterday so the local football pundit stepped in and provided me with the above shots of our day. Thank you very much sir.