Cunninghame Ramblers Portencross to Largs. July 2011

Portencross Castle (Circa late 14th century)

Information board about the castle.

Three sisters of Portencross.



I did not know that EDF now owned Hunterston



Hunterston "B"

Quaint path past the shore houses at Fairlie.

Fairlie sands.

Picnic tables provided for lunch.

She stopped talking long enough for a photograph!

Fairlie pier.

Entrance to Kelburn Castle estate.

A tree lined avenue in the estate.

Today's walk leader.

Today I joined up with Cunninghame Ramblers for their mid week linear walk from Portencross to Largs. After organising cars to go to Largs for our return journey 19 of us set off on the Ayrshire Coastal Path. Our walk leader today was a local girl with a wealth of knowledge about the  area. First stop was the castle where we were given a brief history lesson which was very informative. The castle is now owned by the power company EDF whose land we were going to walk on today. Passing the Portencross Cliffs our leader pointed out three large rock faces which go by the name of the three sisters. We now reached the power station with all it's fences and security. We were inspected by the stations police as they passed us in their flash Range Rover. Once clear of the area we stopped for coffee on the shore looking out to the Big Cumbrae which many of us have walked in the past. South Ayrshire Ramblers are visiting there this Saturday 23rd.We now had a short section of road walking to do on the A78 to reach the shores of Fairlie. Parts of the village walk can only be accessed by foot which was very interesting with lots of small houses with a fronting  on to the beach.Lunch was taken in a little park area with plenty of seating available for the weary walkers, well some were! For the next part of today's walk we ventured into Kelburn Castle estate via the rear entrance down a nice tree lined avenue. As we approached the public area the attendant came up to us hoping to get us all to pay the admission charges. No luck there we are all pensioners was the cry so a slight change of plans was made with an exit back to the main road. We now passed the yachting marina with all its wonderful array of boats before coming to the familiar Pencil monument to the Battle of Largs which I have covered in a previous blog in June 2011. The walk finished on the promenade where the previously arranged cars were parked. This was an 8 mile "C" grade walk taken at a leisurely pace in a windy cool cloudy day . Thanks to the excellent walk leader for all the little bits of information she passed on to the group today,it was most interesting and I hope to see you all again soon.