Wigtownshire Ramblers Newton Stewart Circular April 2015

Saturday the 4th of April 2015.

I led this now popular walk having had something to do with it's construction.

Here's a link to the last time we did it. 

August 2014 Walk 

This time I lengthened it to take in views.

I didn't get too many good pictures from the front of the group, but Scoop did and a selection of her pictures will follow mine ( I've also received three from Miss Goodnight which I'll also include). A few of my pictures are from an earlier recce.

My walk report will appear after the pictures.

We had a good day and my dodgy knee just about behaved itself.

Colourful Minnigaff

Conifers Leisure Park

Kirroughtree House Hotel

Newton Stewart Golf Course

A mob of deer

Road to Waulkmill

The Queen Mary Bridge

Monnigaff Church Yard

Hill of Old Hall

Drystane Dyke stile above Old Hall Farm

Blairmount Park and pond

Barbuchany

Below Barbuchany

Ascending Barrhill Woods Hill

Telephone mast on Barrhill

The farmer rescuing an upturned sheep.

Galloway Hills view

The meandering River Cree

Turnip Sower at Nether Barr

The 'Farmer' alongside the Turnip Sower

That concludes my pictures.

Now here's a selection from 

SCOOP

Creebridge

Newton Stewart Golf Course

Wild Wood and................

..................Bower Wood

The Penkiln Burn at Waulkmill

Monnigaff Church Yard

King George V Suspension Bridge

Old Hall Hill

Drystone Dyke Old Hall

Stile climb Old Hall

Swans on Blairmount Pond

Barbuchany view to Barrhill Farm

A happy group view at the telephone mast on Barrhill Woods

River Cree view to Carty Port and beyond

The Galloway Hills, the Cree estuary, Wigtown Bay and the Machars.

Time out to enjoy the view

A view of solitude

Group view above Upper Barr and the meandering River Cree

Beginning the descent

View to Cairnsmore of Fleet

The hills prominent in this view are Millfore and Drigmorn

Blackcraig and Kirroughtree are left of centre here

Now here's the pictures from 

Miss Goodnight 

 Monnigaff Churchyard

 Barr Moor view (and a gesticulating leader)

A vista across the Cree estuary

Our after walk refreshments of tea, coffee, scones and cake were thoroughly enjoyed at the

BELTED GALLOWAY 

Here's the report

Wigtownshire Ramblers

Saturday the 4th of April 2015.

On a reasonably bright morning twenty eight ramblers met at the Riverside car park, Newton Stewart for the walk.

We began by crossing the Cree at Sparling Bridge, and following the river up to Creebridge.  It's recorded that Robert the Bruce forded the Cree at this point in 1329 on a pilgrimage to St Ninians.

From here we went through Minnigaff to Kirroughtree House. A short stop was taken for the walk leader to read out some of its history and association with Robert Burns and the Heron family.

The last verse from a Burns poem for Patrick Heron while standing for parliament in 1795 read,

"Then let us drink-The Stewartry, Kerroughtree's laird, and a' that, Our representative to be, For weel he's worthy a' that. 

For a' that, and a' that, Here's Heron yet for a' that! A House of Commons such as he, They wad be blest that saw that".

Now we took to the perimeter path of Newton Stewart Golf course which led us up to the tenth tee and a sweetie break while admiring the view back to the town.

From here we followed paths and forest tracks through Wild Wood and Bower Wood negotiating a number of fallen trees from the recent high winds.

After descending to the Old Edinburgh road we continued along Bower road where we spotted a mob of deer of various shades. They soon disappeared as we approached.

We now made our way to the Queen Mary Bridge, the site of the old Cumloden Woollen Mill. Now converted to upmarket flats, a millstone is still visible through one of the windows on the Penkiln side. On the bridge we attempted to secure a wish by cleanly dropping pebbles into the wishing pot.  

After passing by Kirkland farm we reached Monnigaff Parish Church. The 900 year old Yew tree and the listed Heron memorial were among the many points of interest. The headstone depicting an arrow piercing two ravens was another. This is related to the legend of the three brothers, McKie, Murdoch and McLurg trying to impress Robert the Bruce. One of the brothers shot two ravens with one arrow.  

We continued on across the Cree by the King George V and Queen Mary suspension bridge then up to King Street. At the perimeter of the town we took a left turn at Duncree. This led to the old coach road which originally went from Old Hall Farm to House O' Hill. Here panoramic views of the Galloway hills were enjoyed.

We turned south to climb over a drystone wall above Old Hall farm and Douglas Ewart High School to reach Corsbie road. Lambing season being in full swing brought many an 'Aw' from many of our walkers.

Corsbie road led us to Blairmount Park where we climbed up to the trig point on Doon Hill. A short descent through Doonhill Wood brought us to the edge of Blairmount Pond and an ideal spot for lunch. While some walkers used the picnic table and bench, other sat on the pond dipping platform and enjoyed watching the ducks and swans while feeding them titbits of their lunches.

Reluctantly we continued the walk by encircling Blairmount Pond to reach the Barnkirk road. Single file walking saw us cross the A75 and enter a field to climb the wee hill by Barbuchany.

Here we took another short sweetie break before climbing up to the telephone mast above Barrhill Woods.  Great views of Newton Stewart and the Galloway Hills were enjoyed from here.

After another sweetie break we now continued south across rolling fields above Moorpark of Barr. This was an extension to our regular route on this walk and extended the walk length to just over nine miles.

A flooded gate entrance meant a short detour through some prickly gorse. This brought a few anguished shouts, but no one suffered serious damage.

A further short climb brought us to a point of height on the drumlins above Barr Moor.

Now we took a short break to enjoy the extensive views across the Machars and the Cree estuary to Wigtown Bay. We all agreed that the extra distance was worth it for the vista before us.   

Now we descended to Nether Barr where we joined the riverside walking and cycle path.

At Nether Barr there sits on view an old John Wallace Turnip Sower. A member of our group, a retired farmer, was of the belief that this may have been an actual turnip sower he once owned. 

From here a lovely riverside stroll brought us back to the Riverside car park.

Tea, coffee, scones and other culinary delights at the Belted Galloway completed a very enjoyable day.

On Saturday the 11th of April two walks have been arranged. The first is a 9 mile strenuous walk to the summit of Larg Hill from Caldons.

The second is a less strenuous walk from the Wood of Cree to Loch Middle.

Meet for car sharing for both walks at the Breastworks Car Park Stranraer at 9 am, the Riverside, Newton Stewart, 9.30 am or the walk starts at Caldons (NX 397 791) for the strenuous and the Wood of Cree car park (NX 381 709) for the easier walk.

If going straight to the walk starts please phone walk leader 01776 703447 for the strenuous walk or 01671 402733 for the easier walk. New members are always welcome.

Afton Water

Thursday the 13th of October saw me heading up to Ayrshire to walk with a fellow rambler.
I'd seen what seemed to be a decent walk to the west of New Cumnock.
A climb up Carsgailoch Hill to a Covenanter's monument and a trig point would have been the target.
However circumstances were against us.
Start point should have been a forest track by Dalgig farm.
Well we got to Dalgig farm,but there's now no forest track there.In fact the whole hill is now surrounded by opencast mines.
After talking to a crane driver we decided to see if there was another way up.We were lucky to get the cars out of the mud.A pick up truck driver associated with the open cast mining suggested we might get up back at the village of Skares, but he was just fobbing us off
Making inquiries from a couple of local men, we realized it was futile and decided to abandon this particular walk.(As my fellow rambler pointed out,the mining contractors will probably have promised to put tracks back in when they're finished.) Open cast mining is extensive in this part of Ayrshire.
In fact there are more open cast sites here than in any other part of the country.
 Scotland's Open Cast Sites

 So it was a case of walking somewhere else.
We headed to somewhere I'd never been before.After turning south in New Cumnock we headed down Glen Afton.

Afton Water

Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes, 

Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise; 

My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, 

Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. 

Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro' the glen, 

Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den, 

Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear, 

I charge you, disturb not my slumbering Fair. 

How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills, 

Far mark'd with the courses of clear, winding rills; 

There daily I wander as noon rises high, 

My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye. 

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, 

Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow; 

There oft, as mild Ev'ning weeps over the lea, 

The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me. 

Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, 

And winds by the cot where my Mary resides; 

How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave, 

As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave. 

Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes, 

Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays; 

My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, 

Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

First stop was to take a look at Burns Cairn.

Overlooking Afton Water this lovely memorial park was erected by the New Cumnock Burns Club in 1973.

An old Scots plough completes the display.

It's a long narrow road  down Glen Afton.The hills rise up on either side.This is the top end of the Carsphairn and Scaur hills.
All the hill tops are shrouded in mist.
Maybe we wont climb any today.

After passing the Afton water treatment works we arrive to find the car park closed.Due to unstable trees it said.I take it they mean the one's still standing.There was parking close by though.

A short walk brought us up to the entrance to Afton reservoir.

Neat and tidy from a distance,the building and surrounds are in a state of neglect.
A pot with a poignant message lies in memory of someone loved.

I've just read of an upgrade to the Afton water treatment works that has brought clearer drinking water to the area.Might I suggest a clean up of this once proud reservoir entrance next.

I just can't understand why service industries have to cut back so much on labour when there is work.
The forestry man I talked to on Wednesday tells the same story. He was once one of a group of thirty three,now he's one of seven.
Surely, instead of paying welfare to the growing unemployment list it would be better have people in work.
The way I see it, it's not job creation but restoring jobs.I'm sure a local 23 year on the dole would sooner be cleaning this lovely place up than hanging around the job centre.Ah well !

The Water of Afton flows through the reservoir.As well as being the natural flow,I'd guess this incline serves as a fish ladder.


How a place like this attracts vandals is beyond me, but it looked like the iron gate had been forced open.

After climbing up the zig zag steps we take a look at the reservoir.The graffiti vandals have managed to get up here.No Banksy here I'm afraid.

This area with the right management could be a great tourist trap.

There's too much mist on the hills above to attempt any climbing so we decide to walk clockwise around the reservoir.

It's a bit soggy ,boggy and a little overgrown in places, but we make our way past Cannock Hill to reach the Montraw Burn.It's eight years since my fellow rambler was up here and the path has deteriorated lots.

There's the remains of a structure or dwelling by this bridge.
Now on a solid track we make our way over flat land to Afton Water prior to entering the reservoir.
Here's where we stop for lunch. A fine drizzle comes down.

Back on the move we're now around the western edge of the reservoir passing the Green and Swinkey burns.
Weird mushrooms and strange and bright mosses are along the track edges.

I try out a macro shot and never even notice the spider spinning his web.

We're soon back at the dam itself.

Here's how the weather's changed since we started.

Now as we walk back alongside the Afton we come to a path we'd noticed on the way in.
It's leading up to an interesting looking crag. We decide it's clear enough so we head up.
(I don't know who persuaded who)
  

She's as fresh as a daisy while I'm out of puff but we get there.There'll be great views on a good day.
While looking for the name of the crag (or craig) I've come upon the following from cumnock.net

The photograph above shows what is known locally as “Castle William”, though little more than a rocky outcrop it is referred to by this name on Ordnance Survey maps and likely is the location mentioned by Blind Harry?……………the outcrop is immediately below the text on the photograph. William Wallace associations are claimed by a myriad of locales, however it could be submitted that Glen Afton near New Cumnock has a strong case to claim a link to Scotlands most famous freedom fighter. Many of the tales of Wallaces exploits can be accredited to Blind Harry or Henry the Minstrel as he was also known. Blind Harry was born in Ayrshire around 1446 and penned The Life of Wallace, a poetry work containing lore of Wallaces exploits. Although said to contain inaccuracies this work is the single most important source of information about Wallace.In this work Harry names Glen Afton as where Wallace had a "Royal Household". He refers to "Black Crag in Cumno", the photograph above is of a "Castle William" as shown on OS map near to Black Craig hill at the head of Glen Afton nr New Cumnock. This is the actual text relating to the year 1297 from Blind Harry`s "Life of Wallace",

"To ye Black Crag in Cumno past agayne, Hys household set with men of mekill mayne, Three monethis thar he duelt in gud rest"

Another reference goes,

"In Cumno syne till hys duellyng went he"

and again probably relating to Wallaces return from France,

"And Wallace past in Cumno with blithe will, At the Black Rock, quhar he was wont to be, Apon that sted a rayal hous held he".

So all that above being right ,we're looking at the same view old Willie Wallace looked at all those years ago.
Imagine !

On the way down,and looking like lost jewelled brooches I spotted water-drops on spiders webs.

I used the flash for this one above.

Although not the walk we'd planned,nor the weather conditions we'd expected this was still a lovely walk and I look forward to my next visit up Afton Glen.

On Geo Trips on Aberystwyth University's website, Chris Wimbush has logged via GPS a walk round the hills around Afton Reservoir.
A Walk of the Hills around Afton Reservoir

Maybe we'll get a chance to follow in his footstep.
What a wonderful place,it's no wonder the bard was impressed.