Wigtownshire Ramblers-Sawney Beans to Lendalfoot.

Saturday 26th of July 2008.
Todays walk is up near Girvan on the Ayrshire coast.It's a linear from the viewpoint above Sawney Beans Cave to the village of Lendalfoot.

There are 25 walkers today.
Weatherwise it's humid,but very misty.According to the walk leader,when the recce was done there were wonderful views up the Clyde.
During todays walk the mist barely lifted,hence very few good pictures.

Sawney Bean is reputed to have been Scotlands last cannibal,and stories of his notoriety abound.

Since we won't be going down to the cave.

I've included these pictures i took on a previous occasion.
There's a ton of stuff to be found on the internet.Myth or Fact?

We started the walk alongside the busy A77...

...till turning into the farm road to Little Bennane.

This is still cattle and sheep country.

Doesn't the duck look as though she's waiting to be let in.

Now we leave the tarmac on the South Ballaird farm track...

...where the farmer is known to a couple of the ramblers.They stop for a chat.

Just in case there's any confusion about these two groups-the ramblers are on the left on this side of the gate.

This derelict building looks eerie in the mist.

And once we reach it we're told that it was burned down some time back while in use.The South Ballaird farmer's father and a gang of workers escaped unscathed from the fire which had been caused by a dropped cigarette.

We're now at the roughest part of the walk and the group becomes a little stretched trying to find the best footholds.

Our walk leader waits for us to regroup.

Now here at Lochton more abandoned buildings.This looks like it was a well constructed sheep dip.

Now we're climbing up Knockormal hill looking back down to Lochton.

At 215 Metres high Knockormal is where we'll have lunch.

Apparently this is quite an exciting area for geologists as there's some kind of 'fault' here.I found a PDF from the JNCC(Joint Nature Conservation Commitee)concerning 'Early Ordovician volcanic rocks and associated ophiolitic assemblages of Scotland'.
If you don't believe me have a look at
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount2415.pdf
And we thought it was just a hill with a mast on top.

Lunch among the cowpats.
It's a shame about the mist,from here we should be enjoying great views.Next time it'll be better.

Back on the move,and i'm beginning to think i might have a problem!.Are these cattle as photogenic as i think they are-and what kind of look is that i'm getting.



Another break to allow the back markers to close up.

Now it's downhill past Little Carleton and the entrance to Carleton Mains.

Here the ruins of Carleton Castle with an interesting story connected to it.Carleton Castle

This from imagesofayrshire

The ruins of Carleton Castle overlook the small hamlet of Lendalfoot on the Ayrshire coast.
Dating from the 15th century, the ruined keep was once five storeys high and was owned by the Cathcart family.
Ghostly screams can often be heard coming from the castle at night and the ghost of Sir John Cathcart is also said to haunt the ruins.
He would marry wife after wife, murdering them each in turn however, his last wife, May Kennedy of Culzean, realised what was going to happen and killed Cathcart by pushing him off the cliff.

Now we're overlooking Lendalfoot.


This house's occupant was quite proud of the attention his beautiful garden was recieving.

I guess this is the village hall.


Just a short walk along the busy A77 and we're on the last stretch along the beach...

...and here at the Varyag Memorial our walk is finished.
The Varyag was a ship which sank in 1920 had a very illustrious career.The story of the Varyag has been told to generations of Russian schoolchildren as an example of bravery and determination.
An enjoyable walk today despite the fog.