Wigtownshire Ramblers-New Luce to Castle Kennedy March 2010

It's Saturday the 7th of March 2010,and todays walk is a repeat of the walk we took on the 20th of June 2009.
June 2009 Walk

Twenty three two legged walkers and one four legged (Curly)gather at New Luce Village Hall,it's a lovely morning,but cloud forecast for later.


Our first two kilometres are on the minor road towards Glenluce where we join the Southern Upland Way at Cruise.

The grass is a lot shorter than it was last June...
...but the bridge is just as shoogly.
(Shoogly - 1 definition - Very shaky and unstable. This is an old Scottish word.)

We stop by the railway at this point.
Last year our walk leader tried to tell us a little history here,but fought a losing battle with the midgies.
Here at Airyolland,there was once a cottage,a road and a manned railway crossing.
No midgies at this time of year thankfully.

Continuing in a southern direction,a potential feet wetting burn is crossed without incident.
As we pass Craig farm we come upon two distinguished elderly gentlemen,who are introduced to us by our walk leader.One of the gents relates an interesting anecdote about visiting American tourists.


We continue along farmtrack eventually reaching Craig Crossing.Apparently the cannon we saw the last time is round the back of the cottage being repaired.
Once over the crossing we take to the woods again.A short climb brings us into view of Airyhemming where our walk leader used to live.

In addition to gates a wall may contain smaller purposely built gaps for the passage or control of wildlife and livestock such as sheep. The smaller holes usually no more than 8 inches in height are called 'Bolt Holes' or 'Smoots'. Larger ones may be between eighteen and 24 inches in height, these are called a 'Cripple Hole'.
They're also known as 'Sheep Creeps'in Dartmoor,and Lunky and Hogg holes in various parts of the country
One of our ramblers who comes across lots of drystane dykes in his work tells us this is an unusually built hole,since they're usually topped with a long flat stone.

Something stirring in the bracken alerts Curly.

Amid the tree stumps on Glenwhan Moor we stop for lunch.

After a pleasant break we're back on the route of the Southern Upland Way.Here we've reached the New Luce/Castle Kennedy road close to Pinwherrie farm.
After a short walk along the road we're back to the fields and farm tracks.It's lambing and calving season again.The lambs were too distant to get a decent picture.
Crossing the fields above Chlenry we've a nice view over Cults Loch.

At Chlenry the snowdrops are out in force.The old corn mill seems to have wintered well.
Attempting to photograph a quickly moving skein of geese,i could only manage the leading pair.
Once again on the tarmac,we take a short break at this farm entrance.
Contrary to the opinions of some,the last two words on this sign are not a description of any of todays walkers.
Now we turn into the Castle Kennedy Estate.These sheep could well be Dalesbred.
At this eastern entrance you could almost always guarantee seeing red squirrels.
Now all the feeders have vanished.The present Earl of Stair ordered them to be removed for fear of attracting grey squirrels into the area.
A group of young lads were having a great time larking about on the grass.

The last stretch along the side of the White Loch brings us to the waiting cars at the garage by the A75.
Back at New Luce,a few walkers headed for coffee at Glenluce,while a couple of us had a refreshing drink in the Kenmuir Arms.
A very enjoyable walk finishing just nicely before the rain came on.