A Ayrshire moon, it's bright a huge tonight but not that the iPhone
camera can do it justice.

Having a beer at Stair Inn before dinner. Don't be fooled by the
glass. It's not a Houston ale from Paisley but an Amber Ale from
Strathaven, in the middle of Ayrshire. Bizarre but it worked for me.
Cracking pint, so much so I had a couple.

Out running the dogs back in the land of my fathers. Three springer
spaniels; Clyde, Tammy, Breagh.

I had high hopes for this, not the festival itself but the post. I was going to grab hundreds of photographs, maybe even some audioboos but I failed for a couple of reasons. I forgot to charge up the iPhone, major mistake no way it was going to last a full day grabbing photographs and taking notes. The other reason the company and the beers were too good and I was talking too much. Brilliant beer festival. Well next year then.

One thing I'll give you, best beer for me by a long way was Rambler's Ruin from Breconshire. Great beer. If you can get some, get a few.

I spent Saturday afternoon with my family at Dumfries House, Cumnock, Ayrshire. This is old pastures for me. I used to walk through the grounds here very regularly when I still stayed with my parents in Cumnock. In fact most weekends were spent in the woods and on the trails. However it was the first time in a long time since I had been there. In fact it was the first time since the estate was bought from Johnnie Dumfries by Prince Charles and his trust. The house is famous, well famous locally and to those that know for being one of the Adam Brother's first stately homes. Both John and Robert worked on and oversaw the construction from 1754 until 1759. It is also known for it's unique collection of Chippendale furniture. Much of it designed specifically for the house.

Not much has changed other than you can now actually have a tour of the house, by appointment and they have a tea room where you can enjoy a high tea at a reasonable cost as well as the ubiquitous gift shop. There is evidence that they are trying to improve things and make the place more accessible. There is scaffolding up around the Carriage houses, which were falling badly into disrepair. It will be interesting to see what use they will make of the Carriage houses when they have been repaired. Holiday cottages or something I should think. Also during my walk along the trails I notice a lot of woodland management going on with the felling of trees and the marking of the trails with posts. Though not all the trails are marked yet but hopefully that will change. The grounds are full of architectural surprises most of them in ruin after years of neglect. There are wall gardens, estate house and the saw mill to name but a few things to stumble over while you wander.

There's not much evidence of the earlier house, Liefnorris, apart from the doocot (the photograph above). It has the coat of arms above the door and a date on the door lintel of 1671.

The photograph is of the stained glass window of the lady chapel, it looks to be the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. The tea room is now in what used to be the private chapel but you can't actually see the window from inside the tea room, it's behind a rather large set of double doors. It's a shame as it would be really nice to see it in full glory rather than from the back.

The photograph above is looking down 'The Avenue' towards the bridge designed and built by the Adam Brothers. Just one of the many walks start from about here. One of the longest and well marked trails goes from here all the way up to the Barony 'A' Frame, which is a walk of about 6km. The estates is rather large and most of the paths are either estate roads, gravel paths or muddy trails. 

A view a long the Lugar water back towards Cumnock on one of the many trails. However this one doesn't go far but it's an enjoyable walk all the same.

So if your down in sunny Ayrshire why not pop in for a couple of hours and enjoy a good walk. Any questions or if you think I've omitted something glaringly obvious that would be of interest then leave a comment.

Witnessed about a dozen red admirals flying around today at Dumfries
House, Cumnock. Haven't seen that many in a long time but I don't live
in the country any more. I'm a towny these days.

They were all swarming about the lavender plants. I think it's a red admiral.

If it's not leave a comment and let me know.

Well where to start. I'm never good at this. This being writing a post, not the planning of a walk. It is the first time I've planned a walk that's not on an established route, like the West Highland Way or a real favourite of mine, climbing the Merrick from Glentrool.

It all came about from talking to my Dad and some of the things we've done as young boys growing up in Ayrshire, Cumnock and being up at Dalblair and the Glenmuir. Camping, Fishing and tramping about. Talking about the ruins of the Castle at Kyle. Most people forget about that castle (I had), also the old bridge and the shell that is High Dalblair Farm. That's the furtherest I ever went but the road runs out there, right? Or so I thought. Bombshell from my Dad, that road goes to Crawfordjohn. It's an old road, really old and there's one from there that leads over to the Kames and Muirkirk. I knew about that one cause he'd walked and told me about but a road from Cumnock to Crawfordjohn. That was new. Well new to me.

To me Crawfordjohn has always been one of those places that's miles away. If you ever have to drive to it from Cumnock is a long and winding loop of about 30 miles by car, either towards Muirkirk first then on to Crawfordjohn or down to Sanquhar and across. You see on signposts but don't go to.

Now I'm intrigued that there was a road straight there. I started wondering if you the road was still there or parts of it, at the very least. So out came the maps and I can't see anything. Well that's not really true but the road ends at a sheep pen then there's no trail marked on the OS and a whole host of Forestry Commission roads but it looks possible to walk but impossible to walk the old road. Can't tell where it goes after the Glenmuir. I'm stumped and not sure what to do now. Like I said, I'm not a trailblazer, laying down new routes. Where do I start, how do I figure this out.

I've got a few contacts on Twitter (Ah, good old Twitter I hear you moan). That like me, like the outdoors and love walking and one name that I've been following immediately springs to mind, @lightw8Outdoors, Phil Turner. Phil runs a site http://lightweightoutdoors.com/ and also writes and takes photographs for @walkhighlands. The reason Phil sprang to mind was on his lightweightoutdoors site he has a sub category, The local adventure project and this seem to fit right in there and of course he is a very knowledgeable outdoors man. I ping him a tweet and then an email. Bascically asking for his advice and what did he think of this as route. 

I can't thank Phil enough, much to his credit, away he went and came back with a route. I was amazed and asked him how he came up with it. Now for some embarrassment on my behalf. Phil sent me a link. A link to this, The road to Crawfordjohn. Why the embarrassment you are asking? I work in I.T. and never though to Google, Cumnock to Crawfordjohn. School boy error there I think you might agree. It's a cracking wee post and details the old road nearly all the way. I never expect that much help from Phil and it's another example of how good the Twitter community is.

Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.

I managed to find a copy of the Andrew Armstrong map from 1775 on line at the National Library that is mentioned in the article. I asked for permission to display the map here but they haven't got back to me so you'll just have to do with a link. You get idea of the path/road/route that I'm looking to walk. You can see where the old road ran from the map. Compared to the new Ordnance Survey map below you can see there is no longer a road. 

Reproduced by the permission of Ordnance Survey.

Now I've got a beer, my OS map and the laptop open and I'm looking at the route and there's much to get excited about. It looks a great walk on paper and the map is full of those little italics for old bits of history, interesting place names as well as couple of hills worth a trek up. I think that may well be a further post. It will be a further post.

Speaking to my walking buddy for this one, he's not on twitter and doesn't have a blog so I can't link him up for you but he was all for banging out the 25 odd miles in a day. Start early but where's the fun in that? I'm all for an over-nighter, camping out under the stars, taking our time, talking plenty of photographs. Fun. I'm winning.

I'm also thinking about grabbing a proper gps route while walking it. The .gpx file Phil sent is great but nothing beats boots on the ground. Lets face it nobody seems to walk this way any more and who knows some of you guys out there might be interested in the route and want to walk it yourself.

This was meant to be a planning blog, don't think much planning went on, Phil did the hard work and I'm just reaping the glory. More like me waffling on. If there's anything you want to know leave a comment. I suppose all that's really left to do is set a date and get the boots on.