ADRC Finnarts Bay to Portendea. September 2011

Climbing up the Ayrshire Coastal path.

Our first view of Loch Ryan

Coffee stop on Finnarts Hill.

Looking out to Corsewall Lighthouse.

Very steep descent to Portendea.

Walkers having lunch with the sea views.

This is all that remains of the cottage.

My walks always have a tree lined avenue in them!!

The Water of App meets the sea.

Today's happy group.

Today Saturday September 24 I had the pleasure of being the walk leader to take ADRC on a historical walk to Portendea which is near to the mouth of Loch Ryan in Scotlands south west coast.25 of us met at Finnarts Bay on a lovely sunny morning and after parking the cars made our way along a forest road before we came to the Ayrshire Coastal path to take us up Finnarts Hill where once  clear of the trees the stunning coastal views began to open up. After a brief coffee break we made our way over  moorland to a path down to the bay known as Portendea. As walk leader I pointed out that we were about to descend on a fairly difficult path and great care must be taken for the safety of all walkers. Since my last visit here they have improved the road by blasting into the rock so whilst it was very steep it was not at all dangerous and we all made it down with no great difficulty being incurred.This was the site of Elsie Mackays holiday home before somebody demolished it. This must have happened fairly recently as it was only brought to my attention by a well known rambling blogger that it had been removed presumably for safety reasons.I narrated the story of the late Elsie Mackay the aviator daughter of Lord Inchcape who was tragically killed in 1928 whilst trying to fly the Atlantic.There is lots of history about this area and most of it can be found on the internet. After lunch we had the nice climb back out of the bay before making our way back down to Finnarts Bay.Again I pointed out places of interest and the various landmarks visible  towards the lovely Mull of Galloway. As is often the case it is difficult to analyse ones own walks but judging by the numbers who turned up today , the lovely weather combined with the magnificent coastal views I feel I must have got something right.