Lost villages at Dunaskin . May 2012

Known as "The Managers House"

Unusual way to cross the burn.

Going through Dunaskin Glen

That is the Kilmarnock Rocket already up on the summit.

This is the Crosbie Glen.

She was very inqisitive!!

Looking at the remains of Burnhead Farm.

All that remains of the Corbie Craigs miners row.

Taken from the front entrances.

Coffee stop .

1st World War memorial.

The old schoolhouse at Benquhat.

Contrasting colours today.

Open cast coal mining leaves a mess on the landscape.

Reference to the village of Lethamhill.

Today's walkers.

Plus little old me.

Yesterday Tuesday May 29th the Elite walkers plus three guests met at Dunaskin Colliery between Patna and Dalmellington to visit the old mining communities sometimes referred to as "the lost villages". This walk has been extremely well blogged by my friend and blog mentor and is certainly well worth reading to learn more about this fascinating area. 10 of us left the cars at the colliery on a very warm cloudy morning and made our way up the Dunaskin Glen past the ruins of Laight Castle taking us  to the derilict farm of Burnhead where we had a wee coffee stop. It is worth mentioning here two of our guests today were actually born in the lost villages and one of them  went to school at Benquhat. Our other guest who hails from Patna also had a wealth of local information and lots of wee storys of what life was like in and around this area.At Benquhat we visited the remains of the school where our guest was able to point out the various buildings and showed us his old classroom photo of 1948. From here we crossed on the old dis- used railway lines to Lethamhill before a steep descent back down to the start. A wonderful day out and on behalf of the Elite walking group may I take this opportunity of thanking our guests for giving us all an insight to life in "The Lost Villages"