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.

Newton Stewart walking festival. Straiton to Loch Doon via Ness Glen. May 2015

One of many fences that were crossed

Craigengillan house and gardens.

Group listening to the history of the gardens

Your two leaders today.

On the summit of Monument Hill.

On Tuesday May 12th along with the teacher we were privileged to lead a group from the Newton Stewart Annual walking festival. On a clear dry windy morning 21 of us set out from Straiton to climb Monument hill with myself as leader to take us over the moors towards Dalmellington. It was extremely windy and in places soft underfoot but this was a hardy group and after a couple of hours we reached the summit of Auchenroy Hill overlooking Dalmellington. This was where lunch was plannned for but due to the high winds we carried on to lower slopes where we found some shelter and took our break there.On entering Craigengillan Estate passed the site of my infamous accident in 2012 a trip round the gardens had been arranged for the group where we had a very interesting tour with the lady of the house explaining all the history attached to the estate and the work that had been carried out since taking possession of the property back in 2000.The last part of the walk was through the wonderful Ness Glen with its high sided gorges allowing some  sunlight to come
through the trees made this a very memorable end to a very interesting walk. Your leaders hope you all enjoyed the day and  look forward to seeing you all again next year.