Cunninghame ramblers. Johnstone to Glengarnock linear. October 2014

Waiting on the others to catch up.

Light rain shower came on

Excellent walking surface

Using the bridge as a shelter.

Lunch at the visitor centre

Todays group

Me setting a good pace .

Waiting for the train in the sunshine

Yesterday Wednesday October 1st Cunninghame ramblers travelled by car. bus or train to get to the walk start in Johnstone with myself as walk leader (well official walk leader that is but as usual the Kilmarnock rocket was some distance ahead of the main group). It was a cloudy mild morning when 14 of us set off on the old railway line that closed to passenger trains in 1956 to walk 10.5 miles to Glengarnock in North Ayrshire. Unfortunately in the first part we had a couple of drizzly showers which were more annoying than soaking as by the time you got your waterproof jacket on the rain had gone off. Towards Castle Semple Loch the sun was starting to make an appearance which always brightens up the spirits of any walking group. Lunch at the visitors centre was quickly followed by a short scramble up a steep embankment as the leader had taken a wrong turning after leaving the loch. Apologies to all concerned but you must know me by now I never do things the easy way. The afternoon was bathed in glorious weather as we made our way through the countryside admiring the engineering that went into the building of the railway all those years ago. Finishing at Glengarnock railway station we caught a train back to our various destinations to end a great day out with a very fit group of walkers who covered the route in a little over 4 hours.Thanks.

NB. Special mention must go to the groups traffic commissioner for firstly organising the cars in our new parking area in Irvine and also for his contributions to  todays photographs.