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.

ADRC Loch Doon circular . July 2013.

Leaders briefing

Climbing Craigmawhannal. (357M)

Friphorum Augustifolium (bog cotton)

Digitaus Purpurea (foxglove)

Coffee break

"what's wrong with my legs?"

Large gorse bush growing in the middle of the forest.

10 seconds ago she was asleep.

Our leader helped to build this bridge.

Able to withstand the weight of today's group.

Today Sunday July 7th on a lovely warm clear sunny morning 16 of us left from the forest drive car park at the southerly end of Loch Doon to climb Craigmawhannel (357M). Our leader, in an earlier life worked with the forestry commission so he had a lot of knowledge of the area and even assisted with the building of a walkers bridge over a small river.This was a short 6 mile walk as it was fairly warm and most of the group also wanted to be home sharp to watch Andy Murray play tennis in the final at Wimbeldon. (HE WON!!) Once we were on the summit lots of the surrounding hills came into view which had us all guessing the various names. A pleasant lunch stop beside a stream was enjoyed by all with a short forest walk back to the cars to end this day out in a lovely part of South Ayrshire. Many thanks to the leader who had lots of wee stories to tell about life as forester in this area.