Our second opportunity to use the local Scotrail service to get to the start of the walk occurred today, the day after the first, as we continue in the A76 corridor.
Therefore, Day 74 of the End to End began at New Cumnock. We arrived on the 09.20 train from Sanquhar. New Cumnock, where we left off yesterday, was so named when the Parish of Cumnock was split in 1650 as it was thought too big. So not so new then. Cumnock, or Old Cumnock, was where we were heading today on our way to Auchinleck station.
We began at the statue of Robert Burns, which is opposite the Miner’s Memorial. There’s plenty of Burns memorabilia in these parts as he lived or stayed around here a lot and wrote plenty of his poems with local places in mind, like Afton Water, the local river.
We took the footpath through the Knochshinnoch Lagoons Wildlife Reserve which has been established on an area of old coal spoil heaps near the town. There was a wide range of wild flowers including early spotted orchids and many insects and birds.
The rest of the walk was on small back roads to Cumnock. The best bit was finding wild strawberries by the roadside and a man who’d made a notice saying ‘2 mph Elderly People at Play’. We stopped for some refreshments at the Ayrshire factory outlet as it was a very hot day and our ice cream levels needed replenishing.
Cumnock remembers Keir Hardie, the first elected Labour MP with a bust outside the Town Hall and a plaque on his house. The day continued very hot right to Auchinleck station and the train back to Sanquhar was a welcome respite.
From Psalm 19
The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
The very warm sun has shone on us all day,
Making its way from East to West.
Our drinking water got rather warm, but we had plenty.
We are thankful.
God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 27.06.2019
Day 74 of the End to End, New Cumnock to Auchinleck via Cumnock, and return by train.