ADRC Pinmore/Millenderdale walk. October 2011

Walkers gather at Pinmore

This sow wanted to join us.

One of the many stops to hear a wee bit of local history being explained by one of the leaders.

She always finds someone to talk to!

Lunch on the roadside.

Caravan has seen better days.

Four Texal Rams.

Todays large group.

Our two lovely young walk leaders.

Today Sunday October 30  ADRC met at Pinmore about 4 miles South of Girvan on the Newton Stewart road.(A714)34 of us started out from the village which is just one walker short of the record for this group. We were very fortunate to have two leaders who were both local lassies and were brought up in the area which formed todays 7 mile "C" walk.Leaving the village we went on a minor road to the start of the Millenderdale farm track to take us along to a farm where one of our leaders had warned the farmer that there would be a few us passing through today. Several times we had to do wee detours to avoid the cattle who were grazing in the fields with their calfs.Arriving at the farm was fun with several small Jack Russell pups jumping around the walkers. They probably have never seen so many folk at one time in their lifes.The next stretch was into a muddy field to Lendal Lodge where we had our lunch stop. We were now on a minor road that took us passed Knocklaugh Lodge where we were told at one time there was no running water in the house so they had to carry it  from a well across the road.The children had to walk to school in all weathers as they were within the 3 mile radius of the school so the council did not need to provide transport. How times have changed no doubt the owners today have a 4 wheel drive SUV and the kids go to a private school.Passing the Water of Lendal we made our way back to the start to end a wonderful dry windy walk led by two of Ayrshire's finest whose local knowledge made this one of most memorable walks this year one I will repeat with some of the other walking clubs I am involved in.The large group gave the leaders a very well earned vote of thanks.

Wigtownshire Ramblers. Dailly walk in the rain.October 2011

Our starting point

Leader briefing the walkers in the rain.

The Lindsayton Burn.

Some of the paths were a wee bit tricky!



One of the walkers owns this fine 1994 Lada Riva.



How to resolve a neighbourly dispute in the village.

Autumn colours have finally arrived.

Need I say more?

Still smiling through the rain.

The leader was the teacher. (Looks a wee bit like the late walker
Tom Weir!!)

Today I met up with my mother group Stranraer and Wigtownshire Ramblers who had travelled all the way to Dailly to climb Barony Hill.14 of us met at the village square in what can only be described as a truly wet miserable morning.The leader decided we would rearrange the walk due to the appalling conditions and do a woodland ramble through the Lindsayton Burn area returning to the cars before deciding our next move.The ground conditions were very wet underfoot but we all managed to complete the first part of our outing unscathed. Once back at the cars it was decided to go and  visit the ruins of the old Dalquharran Castle where we had our lunch stop before going to look at the more modern castle dating back to the 18th century . My good friend and fellow blogger will be giving you a very full and informative blog on the castles history and plans for the future, which can be accessed using the following link.The Newton Stewart Blogger. Leaving the castles behind we walked along a minor road back to the start. Our leader aplogised for the shortened walk but as we all know when we volunteer to lead walks we have no control over the weather conditions on the day. Excellent effort by the teacher under difficult circumstances and he has agreed to repeat the walk next year in the summer programme.

Stranraer to Portpatrick on the SUW October 2011

Details of the Southern Upland Way (SUW)

Knockquhassen Resevoir

The teacher at the cairn on Broad Moor.

And me!

Killantringan Lighthouse.

You need the chain here to help you down.

Could have done with chain here on the rocks.

Family graves from Dunskey House.

The scenery today was wonderful.

The village of Portpatrick.

Today Thursday October 27 I left Ayr on the 6.40AM bus to Stranraer via Girvan where the teacher joined me for the rest of the journey. Once we arrived in Stranraer we walked out of the town to join up with SUW to take us the 10 miles to Portpatrick. Neither of us had done the walk in this direction as most groups do it starting off at our finishing point. Well things are always different when you do them in reverse we arrived at Knockquhassen Resevoir and started along the waters edge and onto a very muddy boggy track we decided  this was not right and began to retrace our steps and sure enough we had missed the gate for the SUW. Once back on track so to speak we went along some very dirty muddy paths which were very difficult to keep your feet and we both finished up getting  fairly wet to say the least.Things improved once we were on Broad Moor and the views of the Northern Irish coastline opened up on this truly wonderful sunny autumn morning.Lunch was taken at Portmaggie on the shore overlooking Killantringan Lighthouse which had been freshly painted and fairly stood out in bright sunlight.Suitably refreshed we headed off along the cliff path stopping several times  just to admire the fantastic scenery on this part of South West Scotland. Arriving at Portpatrick we rewarded ourselves with a wee seat on the promenade to let the world go by as we waited on the bus for the return journey. A marvelous day out helped greatly by the weather and I must say a big thankyou to the teacher who once hailed from these parts for telling me so much about the local history of the area.

Cunninghame ramblers. Lowther Hills from Wanlockhead. October 2011

Our starting point.

Leaving the village behind.

She is back after all her globe trekking.How we all missed her!

National Air Traffic Services. (Thanks JD)

Misty golf ball on top of Lowther Hill.(725M)

One of many very steep descents today.

And also ascents!!

On top of Dun Law(677M)

Remains of Lowther Cottage

For the benefit of all who were on the walk today "There was a BRIDGE"

Sadly this is all that is left.

Walking along the narrow gauge railway line.

Railway's logo.

Some of the old signs have been left .

The gentlemen today allowed the ladies a wee seat.

Group at the station.

The Kilmarnock Rocket was our leader.

Today Tuesday October 25 I met up with Cunninghame Rambler who were doing a mid week walk in the Lowther Hills starting at the museum in Wanlockhead. 12 of us left the car park to head up to our first hill today which was to be East Mount Lowther (732M) ,it was a good hard start to get us all going as the leader told us at the beginning this was to be a wee toughie walk today. Once on the top we got our first views of the Enterkine valley which I visited back in June with Madam Vice from ADRC.Our next hill was the one we all see on our walks in this area Lowther Hill (725M) with its golf ball aerial on the top to guide the planes over our area and on to the rest of the world.Very misty today at the summit with a strong southerly wind so we did not hang about before we crossed over Green Lowther Hill (732M) and a very steep descent to Big Windgate Burn (where on earth do they get these weird names?). Last major climb now took us all the way up onto Dun Law(677M) where we could admire the views right down to the Solway Firth.Now we had a wonderful steep descent over to what is left of the Lowther Cottage with is shoogly bridge over the river. What a disappointment but the recent torrential rain has washed it away downstream and all that is left is a few planks of wood. Another reasonably safe crossing was found by jumping over another burn to finally leap onto a grassy mound in the middle of the next one and up onto the embankment.What a versatile group we were today a river in full spate is nae bother to this lot. We finally came to the old narrow gauge railway track to take us through Leadhills and back to the cars at Wanlockhead. This was an 11 mile "A Grade" circular walk led by none other than the Kilmarnock Rocket who lived up to his name and led from the  front at a pace that was difficult for some of the group to keep up with him.Most of the time he was about 200yds ahead of us all thoroughly enjoying his day out on the hills. Thanks to him and the rest of the group for allowing me to join you all yet again.

ADRC .Brown Carrick Hill Ayr circular via Dunure.October 2011

Greenan Castle circa 1603

On the shore past the Heads of Ayr.

Lots of seaweed after the recent storms.

Coffee stop.

The aerials on Brown Carrick Hill (287M)

Remains of the Kibble School (see text)

One of the steep climbs today up from the shore.

Lunch break on the rocks.

There is always one idiot who has to climb the lookout!!

Then another one follows

And another.

Group on a very windy hill top.

"The Leader"

Todays walk should have been to the Island of Arran to listen to the annual deer rut however the wind got up and the ferry company put the vessel on what they call "amber alert" which basically means it will get you there but you might not get back due to the adverse weather. Based on this information and the fact that I was the leader it was left to me to make the final decision . In my wisdom I cancelled the walk and instead in good old rambling tradition I had another walk planned just in case there was a problem.17 of us set off from the Doonfoot car park onto the shore and along past Greenan Castle over the Deil's Dyke to the Bracken Bay where we had our first coffee stop.From here we left the shore to start our climb up to the summit of Brown Carrick Hill. Lots of different speeds of ascent by the walkers but eventually they all made it to the trig point. The wind was blowing quite strongly now but the forecasted rain had not materialised as yet. Coming down off the hill past Dunduff Castle we reached the main road at the local school at Fisherton just outside the fishing village of Dunure.Going down through a field of cattle we came to an interesting ruin of the local Kibble School Let me explain for those of you who were not with us today this was a man who designed the Kibble Palace in Glasgow's Botanical Gardens. He then went on to develop schools for the bad boys from Glasgow who were sent to him from the courts as an alternative to prison. The really good boys got a wee holiday in the school he built in this field in Dunure overlooking the sea.This all happened in the early fifties and his pupils were known as "Kibble Boys" or as some parents put it if you misbehaved you would be sent down the Kibble.The locals in Dunure did not take too kindly to this type of establishment in their village so it was demolished by them in the late fifties and never rebuilt again.Lunch was taken  on the shore in the shelter of some large rocks before we started our return journey this time utilising the Clyde Coastal Path until we got to the Bracken Bay caravan site where I decided we would take the hill route up and over the Bower hill which is more commonly known as the Heads of Ayr. A very muddy path got us back down on to the shore again and we retraced our route back to the start to end this 11 mile circular walk . Again as walk leader it is difficult to measure the success of your own walk but everyone appeared to enjoy themselves and we completed it in dry conditions after seeing some dreadful forecasts for today. The Arran walk will be rescheduled for next October to hopefully hear the deer do their annual rut.