Darvel-Loudoun Hill November 2012

Wenesday the 28th November

I'm on my way to pick up the 'Teacher' at Girvan, to head out to Cumnock, where we'll jump into the 'Sloane Ranger's' car. (Note new nickname, click on the link and see if you agree) and head for Darvel.

I'm up early enough to catch the moon.

Up at Girvan, the moon's just dropping behind Arran's hills.

There's been a hard frost, so it takes a while to get to Cumnock, but we're soon on our way and park up in Darvel. We start the walk at half ten which is fine. The Cunninghame Ramblers walked this on Saturday. The Ayrshire Blogger posted the walk before going out on Sunday and snapping his tibia and fibula. Get well soon Gordon. 

Darvel was established in the late 18th century, and a number of buildings have dates on them.

After walking east out of the town we climb a short way up Cemetary Road and join the old Darvel to Strathaven Railway Line

Coming across a small flock of flighty birds a moment of inspiration had me identifying them as Fieldfare

I'm sure that's right, I struggled to zoom in and get one to sit still for long enough.

There's still some of the mud around that the Cunninghame Ramblers encountered, but the frost has been helpful in making the ground much easier to walk along.

We and the trees create long shadows.

At least half a dozen planes passed over during the walk.

The bottom small plane is a 2007 two seater Aeroprakt A.22L Foxbat registered just along the road at Strathaven

At Newlands we leave the railway track to take a steepish tarmac road up to the back of Loudoun Hill.

A short but steep and slippy climb soon gets us to the summit.

We reach the trig point which has a flush bracket Benchmark S4269

The plaque just below the summit reads.

'Battle of Loudoun Hill, May 10 1307, Through devotion and by willing hands this stone was hauled here to commemorate the first victory of King Robert the Bruce who won for us freedom from serfdom'

It's lunch time.

An inscribed rock declares Wallace of Ellerslie 1270 to 1305.

This link will take you to Kyn Wai Chung's Biography of William Wallace.

At the bottom of Loudoun Hill s this monument to Wallace.

Because we're close to the shortest day of the year, we decided we wouldn't have the time to cross over to the otherside of the Irvine Valley so decided to retrace our steps back to Darvel

Descending Loudoun we came across some very interesting bits of broken branches.

I'll admit I haven't seen anything like this before. It looks like mould or fungi that's frozen to give these wonderful patterns. If anyone can throw light on this I'll update the post.

On the way back we again have fun with the shadows.

Back in town we spot some other old houses with dates 1772 and 1797 then make our way to Hasting's Square.

In Hasting's Square is a plaque in memory of  the Regiments based in Darvel during WW2, The Dagon Stone a prehistoric monolith and the bust commemorating Sir Alexander Fleming of penicillin fame.

A very worthwhile and enjoyable walk in excellent company.

Dyke Hill walk, Darvel, November 1st 2012

It's the first day of November, and I've arranged with my walking friend from Cumnock to travel to Darvel in the Irvine Valley to do a short walk. This will be the Dyke Walk in the Ayrshire Paths Irvine Valley Walks.

It's a dry day but cold.

After parking close to the Ranoldcoup Bridge on the River Irvine we're soon climbing.

To the east we can see Loudoun Hill. This being a new area to both my walking partner and myself we know very little about the place. Loudoun Hill and it's William Wallace connections will have to be climbed at a later date.

Soon we're looking down on the village.

At Dyke farm, we leave the tarmac and take to a somewhat muddy, boggy and soggy path.

This takes us to the edge of the Dykehill Plantation where we turn west.

I now get to take a panorama of the opposite hills.

I've never seen so many wind turbines in one view !

Panorama of Darvel from Dyke Hill on CleVR.com

You can also view this panorama full screen here on Panogio

There's been a lot of rain, so there's plenty lying water. The views are great though.

After emerging from the plantation we have the option of extending the walk up Changue Hill. We decide to leave that for another day fortuitously !

Still walking west we see a nice big house on the opposite hill.

I zoom in for a close up.

Looking for it on the net later I find out it's Gowanbank House. A luxury Bed and Breakfast in the heart of Ayrshire.

Our view to the west now looks over Kilmarnock and the Firth of Clyde.

A full lens zoom brings up this plant on the coast. Is this Hunterston Power Station ?
(No, it's the Pulp Paper Mill at Irvine) See comment below. Thanks Gordon.

Just west of Darvel is the town of Newmilns. A very important town in the production of lace in the 19th Century. 

After a descent via track and tarmac we reach Gullyhill. The house here has a date of 1787 above the door.

It looks in good condition for it's age.

Now we enter the Lanfine Estate 

It's a lovely looking estate, and well looked after. There are some rare looking animals around.

We got talking to a walker soon after entering the estate. We learned that he's a member of the Early Ooters Walking Group . Nice blog gentlemen !

Lanfine House itself is available for private hire and corporate hospitality. A four bedroom self catering apartment inside for £500 a week sounds pretty good to me. Respecting the private signs, I didn't get a good photo of the house. 

I'm sure this sculpture been one of prominence at one time ?

The sun keeps making an appearance, and when it does it shows up the lovely autumn colours.

After crossing the bridge we took a look at the wild pigs enclosure, but I'll come back to that.

  

There are some very tall trees in the estate. We follow a path that goes up the Newlands Burn.

The photographs don't do justice to the depth of the glen. It's very steep.

This is my favourite photo of the day.

We had lunch looking upwards towards the Dykehill plantation. We then walked along to the walled gardens where we talked to the estate factor. There are plans to improve the gardens which at the moment are lawned. After an amiable chat, we retraced our steps to the wild pig enclosure. 

I take a short bit of video. They're certainly entertaining creatures.

After passing another walking group, (We've seen a few walkers today) we head back to the car.

In the above collage is our lunchtime view, another view of Gowanbank House, and the estate lodge house.

When I said fortuitous earlier, it was because we just got into the car as the rain and sleet came down.

The Irvine Valley is destined for further visits.