Wigtownshire Ramblers-Ballantrae Circular April 2010

Saturday the 10th of April 2010.
Todays walk is very nearly a repeat of one we did in September 2008 which is here.
2008 Walk

Saturday 12th of April

A bright sunny morning saw sixteen walkers gather at Ballantrae Car Park for the walk.

They began by walking south over the river Stinchar,and past the ruins of Ardstinchar Castle.

Across the bridge they turned east following the road running parallel to the river.The hill Knockdolian,a favourite climb of many of the walkers loomed large over the Stinchar.

At Laggan Holm on a freshly whitewashed cottage an intriguing old advertisement plate showed
'Wills Cigarettes' at ten for threepence.

A group of four fallow deer crossed the track in front of us,and scarpered up through a hill of sheep.I got one hazy picture which i'm not putting up.

After passing Laggan Dairy they came to the estate lodge house.Here they took the track up to Laggan House Holiday Park.Alterations were taking place the last time the group were here.Now complete,the walk through the woods and park was much nicer and less muddy on this occasion.

Emerging at Herensford at the southern entrance they now headed south on the road overlooking Glen Tig and the Water of Tig. The golden yellow of varying varieties of daffodils lined much of the roadside,and were a prominent feature throughout the walk.

They continued south before leaving the main road opposite Auchenflower.

After crossing the Laurie burn the tarmac changed to farmtrack and open fields.Many of the fields were active with the bleating sounds and endearing sight of new born lambs and their mothers.

Next they came to Crailoch where views back to the coast opened up.
A panorama of Ireland,Ailsa Craig,the Mull of Kintyre and the snow capped peaks of Arran was an impressive sight.
We watched this sheep and lamb for a while.The lamb was unsteady on it's feet,and not yet marked with a number.The mother looked like she might give birth to a twin,but if she did it was after we'd left.

After crossing the tumbling Crailoch burn,they reached the tree lined track that was the old drovers road.Reaching a crossroads,the walk leader pointed out that this was the old road from Ballantrae to New Luce.It's still in use as a cycle and walking track.
We couldn't have had a nicer day.
Is there a new dance step I wonder.Wasn't there once one called the 'Foot Stomp'
Reaching Kilphin and in sight of the rooftops of the Glenapp Castle Hotel a lunchbreak was taken.By now,the earlier chill had lifted and the sun was high.
When the sun shines there's always lots of joviality.
Thanks to Scoop for the above pictures.

After lunch they continued into Smyrton,stopping at the estate hall and cottage to read a memorial above the hall door to Jean,Countess of Inchscape and her grandson James Lyle Mackay.Colourful front gardens heralded the arrival of spring.

Thanks again to Scoop for catching me in a good light.I think !

Next they crossed the busy A77 and entered the glen and woodlands surrounding Glenapp Castle.
Glenapp Castle was built in 1870 by the celebrated architect David Bryce for James Hunter, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire. Over the years the house fell into a state of disrepair.In April 2000,and having been restored, it opened as an exclusive luxury hotel.

Through trees such as Redwood,Larch and Bamboo,they followed the Smyrton and Kilphin burns downwards crossing wooden bridges and passing tumbling waterfalls.
I seem to be taking a lot of waterfall pictures these days.
I'm not sure if these wooden bridges are designed to stand this much weight !

At the bottom of the glen and close to the Glenapp Castle North Lodge lie the remains of an old grain mill.The walk leader showed the group where water from the burn was originally diverted into a well constructed (though now covered with vegetation) reservoir.A mill stone and moss covered footings are all that remain of what was obviously once an impressive example of civil engineering.





Leaving the estate via the Colling bridge they now headed back towards Ballantrae.A historical standing stone in a garden at Garleffin and the information board of the Kennedy tomb in Ballantrae Churchyard brought a bright and sunny walk to a close.

A good number of walkers enjoyed tea,coffee and cakes at the garden centre cafe.
What great weather for such a scenic walk.
I just hope it continues till next Saturday for Larg and Craignaw.

Larg Hill and Craignaw Recce

Wednesday the 7th of April 2010.
I'm leading a walk to Larg Hill and Craignaw a week on Saturday.
Today,myself,deputy leader and two other ramblers are doing a recce.
We'll take the route from 'Walking the Galloway Hills' by Paddy Dillon
Starting at Caldons Car Park,it's 4.7 miles south on forest road before we start climbing for real.Plenty of good conversation made the time pass quickly.
The recent rain has given the burns a fairly copious flow.

Reaching Craigenteasy we find the drystone dyke that we'll follow up to the first of Largs two summits.We're soon gaining height and see Loch Middle below us.
There's still patches of snow about.The gradient's quite steep,but eases in places.
On Punchwell Brae,a view over the Cree Estuary opens up.
Making good headway,we're soon on the first of Largs two summits.This one's 659 Metres in height.
A few hundred yards north east,and we reach the 676 Metres summit.
We drop down below the dyke to shelter from the wind as we have lunch.The views are great.

Panorama of Curleywee to the Cree on CleVR.com

Time for me to take a panorama.Curleywee, Millfore,Drigmorn,Craignelder and Cairnsmore are prominent.
Curleywee and Lamachan are the adjacent peaks.
This is Leslie.He's 71 years old,and moves like a mountain goat.

Craignaw's our next target...
...we took the quick way over Larg Scar...
...into Strife Land.Not for the faint hearted!
Bennan,Benyellery and the Merrick come into view.
Craignaw and more great views.We even saw a hazy Ailsa Craig.

Me and Leslie in this picture.(Honestly he's in it)

A soggy,boggy climb down alongside the Mulmein and Caldons burns gets us back to Caldons.The waterfalls were pretty spectacular today.It's hard to capture them in pictures.

Hopefully we'll get as good weather on walk day.Today was great.

Wigtownshire Ramblers-Leswalt to Larbrax April 2010

N.B.Before starting todays walk,I sliced up my great chunk of McLelland's Seriously Strong Red Cheddar,and handed it out.I apologise to any walkers who missed out.(I was the lead in the winning curling side of the Over 60's Competition at the North West Castle.McLellands were the sponsors.)

It's Saturday the 3rd of April 2010.
Todays walk is one we did in February 2008,but slightly extended.
2008 Walk


Again I'll use the press report on the blog.

Wigtownshire Ramblers Report
Saturday 3rd of April 2010

Twenty one walkers gathered at Leswalt village hall for the walk.The forecast was for occasional heavy showers.
They began by heading out of the village through the Aldouran Wetland Garden.A small number of ducks and geese were on the ponds.


Next they headed up through Aldouran glen.Aldouran comes from the Gaelic and means Glen of the Otters.Aldouran wood is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust Scotland, and is one of only a handful of "Ancient semi natural woods" left on the Rhins peninsula.
Wild garlic carpeted the woods as the group made their way up the winding path alongside the burn,emerging at Glenhead.
I love the smell of wild garlic.It's more pungent when it's flowering.
At the top end of the glen there's a rope at one side to assist the climber.Today it's covered by an all round inch thick layer of moss.
This was quite a busy road today.
The next two kilometres were along the B7043 before reaching Kathleen Cottage where a break was taken to admire a strutting peacock.
I'm not sure how this got to be called Kathleen Cottage.There have been Katherines and Kathleens in the Agnew family over the years,so it's probably named after one of them.

Now walking south through Drummullin Wood they had their first view of Lochnaw Castle over the loch.A substantial number of geese were noisily active.Daffodils and snowdrops bloomed together along the lochside.

Now a short detour took them to the walled gardens which are in the process of being restored.The group learned that when the work is complete,and on occasional days, the gardens will be open to the public.Outside the gardens,wood carvings of a Jungle Book type snake,and a tree stump chair were admired.

They continued south through Home Farm.Being a riding school a variety of horses were present in the paddocks.Young riders were being put through their paces on the return walk.

Loved this sign.

They continued south to Larbrax Cottages where they encountered a family returning from the beach.Related to one of todays walkers,it turned out to be none other than Iain Gray and his family, MSP and leader of the Scottish Labour Party.Many in the group had recognised his face,but failed to put his name to it.

New born lambs and their mothers were dotted about the adjoining fields.

The excitement over they continued on through Meikle Larbrax to the shore at Broadsea Bay.
Upon reaching the beach,lunch was taken.A heavy downpour of rain had just begun.What little shelter amongst the rocks that could be found, was taken.

The rain continued throughout the lunch break.




A group of walkers then climbed the grassy rocky slopes to look at the historical cave here.Back in 1679,Sir Andrew Agnew and his son took refuge in this cave.They were avoiding capture by the 'Highland Host',the rampant army of highlanders gathered to suppress the Covenanters.



They continued climbing up to the Sea Kings Camp fort,where wild Dog Violet was blooming.They took a moment to enjoy the views out to sea before rejoining the main group at Meikle Larbrax.


Now they retraced their steps to Home Farm.

They now took the eastern track to bring them to Lochnaw Castle.The group now stopped at the castle,where they learned some of it's history,and connections with the Agnew family.



It must cost a fortune to keep something like this upright.The ruins of the older castle can still be seen on an island in the loch.Apparently in the late 1300's Archibald the Grim besieged and sacked the older castle.It was some time before the Agnews regained the lands of Lochnaw and built a new Castle.The Agnews lived in the castle till 1997,when it was sold to someone from the far east.

Next they made their way back to the B7043,then onto Glenhead of Aldouran,where, with views over Loch Ryan the made their way back to Leswalt.
The Agnew Monument at 'The Tor of Craigoch' was missed out today.Since most of the group had already visited,and the field to cross would have been very muddy,it was perhaps a wise choice.
A very nice walk despite the weather.

A walk to Lake Superior

I was under the impression that there was only one Lake in Scotland,that being the Lake of Menteith.
Reading Alex and Bobs BlueSkyScotland put me right on that,so I set off to look for Cairnryans Lake Superior.
Loch Ryan's ferries were running again after being cancelled due to the bad weather.
The lane opposite the P & O terminal took me upwards past the High Croach Quarry.There are records of all sorts of antiquities and other interesting stuff in this area.Download a Pdf document here. Archaeology Cultural and Heritage Document
Here's an easy to understand notice...isn't it !
The Claddy House Burn has lots of waterfalls as it tumbles down to Loch Ryan.
This rock's on the OS map.It goes by the name of 'Craw Stane'.I think I can take an educated guess where it got it's name from.
I'm in forestry now,but I've no idea what these crossed flags signify.
Lake Superior's only two and a half miles in from Loch Ryan,and this is my first picture of it.Pretty spectacular eh!
I head anti clockwise through an old quarry.I'm intigued by the markings on the boulders.Assuming they've been blasted,it's strange how they're all marked differently.
I get a look at the resident wild life on the lake.Couldn't see any more than this pair.
Now I'm able to take a full width picture.Not a lot to compare it with it's larger namesake is there.This one's closer to home though,so that's a plus.
After taking a closer look at these,I can quite categorically state that they're not butterfly nets.These are wire mesh scrubbers or beaters used mainly for heather fires.
Heading back I'm keeping an eye open for a 'Hut Circle' marked on my map.I couldn't distinguish for sure anything that looked like a Hut Circle,but these looked like they could fit the bill.I've since got the right directions,so next time I'll be more positive.
More waterfalls,tadpoles and a bridge made from pallets were among the items catching my eye.
As Loch Ryan came back into view,the ruins at High Croach were nicely set off against the black clouds gathering over the North Rhins
Overlooking the quarry,the big P + O ferry was tying up...
...while the Stena ferry made for Stranraer.I'm surprised the Ramblers haven't walked more round this area.Perhaps in the future ?

The Siskin Shuffle-Until Woody gatecrashes the party.

It's the first of April 2010 in the Glebe here in South West Scotland,and my neighbours feeders have been inundated with lots of Siskins.
They're having a great time but have to be on the alert for the big gatecrashing Great Spotted Woodpecker.