Kilmarnock and Loudoun ramblers. Ness Glen by Dalmellington. July 2015

A large gathering in the car park

Enjoying the sunshine.

Making our way through the estate.

Ness Glen

On the shores of Loch Doon.

It was nice and peaceful and then 33 ramblers arrived!!

The deerstalker plus friends.

Telescopes were trained on the ospreys nest.

Dark Sky Observatory.

Different methods were adopted to get us through this fence.

The leader getting his vote of thanks.

Today I travelled with the deerstalker and the oilman to Dalmellington to meet Kilmarnock and Loudoun Ramblers for a charity walk in aid of the Ayrshire Hospice where one of the members had sadly passed away.After giving our donations to this worthy cause 33 ramblers went through Craigengillan Estate on a lovey sunny morning stopping on the way to admire some extremely large old trees which line the path up to the main house.Arriving at Ness Glen we carefully made our way through the gorge stopping regularly to watch the rapids make their way steeply down to the River Doon.At Loch Doon we all had an opportunity to view the ospreys sitting on their nest high up into the forest.After a very pleasant lunch stop the route back took us past the dark sky observatory with its various telescopes pointing up into the universe. A very pleasant walk back through the estate to arrive back at the cars after our 9 mile walk ,the leader was thanked by everyone for keeping such a large group together particularly in the forest where it is very easy to go off on a different path.

Kilmarnock and Loudoun ramblers. Glasgow history walk. July 2015

Donald Dewar acted as a meeting point

First stop on our walk.

Next was the Lighthouse museum

with its wonderful views

of the city of Glasgow.

Waiting on the subway

that took us to the "Govan Stones"

Just some of the exhibits

housed in this magnificent church

The Glenlee tall ship

We crossed the Clyde on the Govan ferry

others took a faster option

one of the many splendid cars displayed in the transport museum

Outside was a "Lamborghini"

We were a large group today

Enjoying a wee rest at the museum

The Hydro concert venue.

Yesterday I travelled to Glasgow to meet Kilmarnock and Loudoun ramblers for a history walk round  a small part of the famous city.29 of us met at the Donald Dewar statue situated at the top of Buchanan Street where were entertained to a fellow playing the bagpipes accompanied by some bongo drums which made for a very  unusual combination. Our first stop was at Nelson Mandela Place which our leader explained was named after the great man whilst he still had 8 more years of his prison sentence to serve.The lighthouse museum was our next port of call with a climb up to the top of a spiral staircase that took us out onto a small balcony allowing us an excellent 360 degree view of the city.A quick shoogle on the underground got us over to the southside of the Clyde to visit the Govan Stones which are housed in a very large church complete with the most amazing stained glass windows.We were treated to an organised tour where the guide gave us a full description of the history of the stones and how they had now finished up on public display. After a very short trip on the Govan ferry we arrived at the transport museum where we had a lunch break with ample time to view the old cars and trams before our final part of the days walk back up the River Clyde to the city centre to catch the bus back to  Kilmarnock. A super day led by a member who had put a lot of effort into organising the guided tour and made sure we kept to his well timed schedule.Thank you once again for allowing me to join the group on a very informative outing one I hope to lead for some of the other groups I am involved in.

Cunninghame ramblers. Troweir Hill circular from Girvan July 2015

Todays group

Pouting lips was our leader.

Yesterday Saturday July 4 I met up with Cunninghame ramblers at Girvan south car park to climb up to Troweir Hill (296M). 15 of us set off on a windy fresh morning to a gentle climb on a good path that took us up past Dow Hill. Once we reached the moorland  some light rain came on . At first the rain was a nuisance but as we got higher it got heavier until  we disappeared into the mist (hence the reason for the lack of photographs)  we reached the summit of Troweir Hill . Absolutely no views could be seen our leader decided to take us down onto lower slopes and hopefully out of the mist. How right she was as it was not long before we could see where we were going the sky brightened up towards the south and the rain went off. Sun came out and everyone got their waterproofs dried off (Well almost everyone) we stopped for lunch on the slopes above Girvan Arriving back at the cars after our 7 mile walk the leader was thanked for making the best of the days conditions (where did summer go?)