LEJOG blog

Day 80 of the End to End would, when completed, mark two thirds of the days used. It would leave us with 40 days (and possibly 40 nights) to get to John O’Groats.
It began at Kilbarchan. The village has a history of weaving and radical politics. The Weaver’s Cottages in the centre of the village were unfortunately not open today.

I joined the disused railway path that is now National Cycle Route 75 at Bridge of Weir. The folks running the community centre and post office were very welcoming. The path was gentle walking much like yesterday, through fields of mixed farming. I passed the side path to Quarriers, the village built in the 19th century as the National Orphans Homes for Scotland. There were plenty of wild flowers, including common toadflax. It is know in different places by many different local names including ‘butter and eggs’ and ‘bread and butter’.

The next village was Kilmacolm. Bob met me and we had a picnic on a bench. In some places interesting sculptures have been erected often made from old recycled stuff.

I was soon walking down to the Boglestone Activity Centre, where the days walk ended.
However, it wasn’t the end of the days activity. I elected to visit the Gourock open air swimming pool, as I’d seen it mentioned and wanted to try it. Heated to 29 degrees it was easily warmer in the pool than out! It wasn’t very busy and I had a pleasant time floating in the warm salty water watching the changing cloudscape.
Later, Bob and I walked to an Indian restaurant in Greenock, looking at the paths for tomorrow’s walk when we planned to use the Clyde Coastal path.

From Matthew 6

And why get anxious about what you wear? See how the wildflowers grow, without weaving or spinning.
But not even King Solomon in all his splendor was dressed as well as one of these plants.

Most of us no longer make our clothing from scratch. It’s usually readily available, cheap enough and can be discarded just as quickly. We behave more like King Solomon, acting without thought for the origins of what we wear or who made it. Anxious only about what we look like.
But we will never rival the simple glory of wild flowers, everyone of them magnificent.

God release us from our anxieties.
Grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 03.07.2019
Day 80 of the End to End from Kilbarchan to Boglestone Activity Centre.

Day 79 of the End to End began at Beith and took a two and a half mile extra loop to join Sustrans route 7 near Kilbirnie. I managed the distance in 45 minutes, and my first three miles in 55 minutes, which must be some of my fastest times of the whole LEJOG so far.

It’s not the first time I’ve used Route 7, part of the National Cycle Network. After crossing the border I used Route 7 in the Arran area in Dumfries and Galloway. It’s a route that goes right across Scotland. At this point it’s following a old railway route, the former Dalry to North Johnstone line. The line was closed to passengers in 1966 and the cycle path opened in 1988. It also forms part of the Whithorn Way, the Pilgrim route from Glasgow to the Isle of Whithorn.
Once I’d got onto it, I settled down to a more sensible pace as I had at least another 7 miles to go for the day. Also because there were a great number of early common spotted orchids in the meadows alongside the first part of the trail that I wanted to photograph.

It was a beautiful route and I’m so glad we decided to use it. As well as the meadows and strips of woodland, there were also many small pools alongside the track creating many different habitats. Bob came to meet me from Lochwinnoch car park. When we got there we had a picnic by the lochside and picked up an ice cream at the visitors centre.

The second half of the day was similar with the tree lined route replete with lovely flowers and other interesting sights, including the occasional sculpture and some wild strawberries.

There was the Collegiate Church of Castle Semple, which is now a ruin, and other parts of the old estate. There was also an odd wooden structure. Any ideas what it might be?

We arrived at Kilbarchan in good time, coming off route 7 at the former station. It hadn’t been too hot, no rain and easy walking. During the course of the day I passed the 1000 miles mark for walking so far this year.

From Psalm 25

God, show me the right path; point out the route for me to follow.

It’s good that this path is still being used as a sustainable traffic free route.
On the walk I’ve used many old routes and the country is criss-crossed with paths used by our forbears.
We walk in the footsteps of those who have gone ahead of us.

Christ before me, Christ above me,
Christ beside me, Christ behind me,
Christ in mouth of all who love me.
God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 02.07.2019
Day 79 of the End to End, Beith to Kilbarchan.

Day 78 of the End to End was a windy day in Ayrshire. By the end of the day I’d been in East, South and North Ayrshire and seen West Ayrshire which is basically the sea.
I started at Stewarton Station and the first part of the morning was along a fairly busy road. I’ve got more used to these over the last week or so. I put my head down and walk. Turning off onto a quieter side road after 3 miles or so was very welcome. The wind was strong and the gulls and corvids were noisily air surfing, something for which I admire them. But even so, it seemed unseasonal to have to wear my ear warmer on the 1st July.
It did,  however offer plenty of opportunities to plan great schemes, like my mobile ice cream delivery service. Imagine, a cyclist with a portable freezer powered by wind or solar or even pedal power,  a range of flavours from a local source, following a Lejogger on her route. Readily available ice-cream supplies would be very welcome in those parts of the country where the ice cream sellers are not so common. I’d call it ‘Deliverice’!
I met Bob for lunch at Burnhouse where the sign on the main road said it was 17 miles to Glasgow. However, we’re going the long way round.

The second part of the day took me past an odd collection of warehouses which seemed to store whisky. In this area, small orchids dotted the verges.

It was downhill to Beith at days end. We then did a few bits of reconnaissance for tomorrow when I hope to join a Sustrans route on a disused railway path.
We then took the coast road via Largs to eventually get to Greenock. We stopped at Largs for a blast of sea air and some ice cream.

Our accommodation in the Premier Inn at Greenock has a great view across the Clyde, to where we hope to be by the end of the week.

From Psalm 103

Human life is like grass, flourishing like a wildflower; but the wind blows over it and it is gone and forgotten.

Today the wind was blowing all the grass and wildflowers in every direction. Only a few Butterflies risked the weather: some painted ladies that have come up on the warm southerly wind earlier in the week and a couple of red admirals.

Loking out over the River Clyde as some small showers blow in, God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 01.07.2019
Day 78 of the End to End, Stewarton to Beith.

Day 77 of the End to End began grey and windy at Riccarton Parish church. A massive place on Judgement Mount, it was built in 1823. Heaven knows how many people it was built for of who goes there now. Like most of the Parish churches I’ve passed in Scotland, it was locked.
I walked through the town centre. Unfortunately at 9.30 on a Sunday morning the ice cream cafe was shut. So was most of the town centre. More worryingly quite a bit of it was empty. However there were attempts to entertain the passing visitors with some whimsical statues.

Having parked at the railway station, Bob caught me up. The plan was to walk to Stewarton and come back by train.
Although the road was largely straight on a wet and windy day that meant it was also quite exposed. The rain didn’t last more than a few miles and by the time we were walking downhill into Stewarton it had started to clear up.

We found a friendly cafe in the town centre and had an excellent toasted sandwich lunch with yummy cakes. We caught the train back to Kilmarnock as planned.

Later I took another turn round our little wildlife oasis exploring the meadow around the feet of the electricity pylon. A parent magpie was feeding a juvenile on a post, which I assumed had not long fledged.

There were plenty of Ringlet Butterflies in the grasses, and some large thistles. But best of all the dozens of orchids for this evenings edition of Kilmarnock Orchid Watch.

From Isaiah 40

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but God’s word lasts forever.

In a few weeks these orchids will have finished flowering. They will fade until next spring and summer. It was wonderful to find them here: an unexpected treat alongside all the buttercups, thistles, grasses and more, with Ringlets visiting at the moment.

May God grant us all a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 30.06.2019
Day 77 of the End to End, Kilmarnock to Stewarton.

Day 76 of the End to End had me heading for Kilmarnock. We left our lovely lodgings at Sanquhar for the last time. The weather was completely different from yesterday: overcast all day with Thunder later.
I set off from Mauchline, not far from the Burns National Memorial. On the first section of the walk I also passed the place where he used to farm. Any Burns link around here is noted on a plaque or a monument.

The hedgerows are changing again. Some old favourites continue like Red Campion and Ragged Robin. But the meadow sweet is now coming out and it has a strong sweet scent.

I attracted attention from several groups of young cattle but little else. I managed to miss the morning rain making it to the car for lunch just before it started.

With only three or so miles to go in the afternoon a few drops of rain where hardly noticed. However, the Thunder was! At times it was like walking through a hot house with the sprinklers on.
I crossed the by pass into Kilmarnock and walked up to Riccarton Parish church where the walk ended for the day.
We then moved onto the Kilmarnock Travelodge at the services between the A71 and A76. We stayed here two years ago on our way to Kintyre so this was a return visit. We also revisited the award winning fish and chip shop nearby.

The wild flowers meadows at the services play host to a world of wildlife. I ate my ice cream and enjoyed the diversity, especially of course, the orchids.

It may be a small place in Scotland but it was a good place to be.

From Psalm 29

God’s voice is heard in all its might and majesty: it breaks the cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon and makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves.

It’s not surprising the Psalmist likened God’s voice to Thunder. It is a glorious sound. Trees are broken: I saw a large beech tree damaged by an earlier storm. Groups of young cattle run up and down, clouds swirl overhead: it’s quite a display. In the meadows the wildflowers continue to bloom. When the storm is over the rabbits come out to see what all the fuss was about.

God grant now a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 29.06.2019
Day 76 of the End to End, Mauchline to Kilmarnock.

Day 75 of the End to End was a very hot one. I had plenty of water with me but it was hard going. I started at Auchinleck station, as hot this morning as yesterday afternoon.
The road to Catrine was reasonably quiet and included some nice stretches of wild flowers, including early spotted orchids. I had a rest in the car at Catrine, and some lunch and ice cream. The clear day made it easy to see the profile of the Isle of Arran to the west.

Bob then came with me to the River Ayr Way. Once again it proved to be a good route to have chosen. Through riverside woodland there was a good path and it was cooler. There were a number of bridges. We went under the A76, then over the Ayr and later under the Ballochmyle Viaduct (completed in 1848). Bob went back to the car and I continued on the path, that emerged at Haugh.

My route to the main road was via Station Road. There’s currently no station operating at Mauchline but there is a campaign underway to have it reinstated. The milestone on the A76 confirmed 9 miles to Kilmarnock (but that’s tomorrow).

I stopped at the Burns House Museum at the cross roads in Mauchline. There’s a lot of Burns memorabilia in the town in which he lived before he married. In the museum we sat down for a cool rest and listened to a recording of his poem ‘To a mouse’.

We picked up an ice cream on the way back to the car: it had been a very hot day for a walk. We popped back to Sorn, a village east of Catrine, further back on the River Ayr Way, to see the old bridge and the church.

From Psalm 113

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, God’s name is praised.

Today, the sun rose in blue sky.
Today, the sun set in blue sky.
Today it was wall to wall sunshine,
And God is praised globally.

Now we ask God for a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 28.97.2019
Day 75 of the End to End, Auchinleck to Mauchline

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.

There were several interesting features of Day 73 of LEJOG. The first was we were both walking together all day. This was possible courtesy of Scotrail. Their bizarre timetable for local stations on the Carlisle to Glasgow line meant it was theoretically possible for us to do the journey to the start and from the end of the walk by train. It was worth a try.
The second interesting things was coal. For my generation, coal was a rock we knew about. Our house was heated by a coal fire in my youth. Now coal is out and areas like the one we are walking through tell the story of the rise and fall of King Coal.
We took the train from Sanquhar to Kirkconnel for the start of the walk. The valley is framed by a number of spoil heaps. Most have not been turned into imaginative structures like the Crawick Multiverse we visited yesterday. We passed the Miner’s Memorial and museum we saw at the end of yesterday’s walk at the beginning of the walk today.
The path alongside the main street past the village church lead to a monument to local poet and railway man, Alexander Anderson. (1845-1909). One of his poems was about the Kirkconnel hills which we were about to experience first hand.

Bob had looked at the road yesterday just to make sure it was navigable, as we knew that the area had been altered by open caste coal mining. Following the instructions he’d been given we had no difficulty making it up to the windfarm and back onto the road down to Mansfield.
Most of the route was pleasant providing great views of those Kirkconnel hills, apart from some awful fly tipping at the hillside end of the road.

There were a wide range of wild flowers and butterflies, also lorries moving logs down to the valley. We were soon walking into Mansfield which is actually the village by New Cumnock station. Unfortunately the station cafe was very hot. A short walk down the street revealed some of the ongoing economic struggles in New Cumnock. Several buildings in that Street and the bridge required repair and the garage was up for sale. We ended the walk on a small green space on which stood the New Cumnock Miner’s Memorial, reminding us once again of the heritage of the area.

We took the train back to Sanquhar where I made a brief visit to the museum to see some local textiles. Sanquhar is well known for hand knitting and its own traditional patterns.

We were lucky to see a stoat cross the road on the way back to Lochside.

From Psalm 40

I waited patiently for God, who turned
to me, hearing my cry.
He lifted me out of the horrible pit of mud and mire and set my feet on rock, giving me a firm place to stand,
And putting a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to God.

God my rock, foundation for my life,
Each step confirms my trust in you.
I stand firm in your love and I continue to sing about that!

Grant me a quiet night and a peaceful end. 

JAL 26.06.2019
Day 73 of the End to End, Kirkconnel to New Crumnock.

On Day 72 of the End to End I now have fewer than 50 days to go: a point I couldn’t have imagined at the beginning of April. This is definitely summer, the pattern of the days and sights and sounds in the landscape confirm this. We’ve moved on through Lent and Eastertide. Pentecost has been celebrated and we’re now in what is affectionately called Ordinary Time. The colour for Ordinary Time is green which is handy as I’m completely surrounded by green and have been more or less for 72 days. But green is not ordinary, it’s amazing.

Today I began the walk at Glenairlie Bridge and took the road alongside the River Nith, through farmland and strips of woodland. Sometimes I was near the river and sometimes further away as we wandered through the landscape side by side. Insects were busy, flowers were blooming, grass was growing and livestock was inquisitive. At one farm the nut on the slurry spreader was stuck and not budging for anyone. I left them to it.

For a brief while my route joined the Southern Upland Way as it went into Sanquhar. We had our picnic lunch at a bench on the corner. Then the last stretch took me into Kirkconnel, a former pit village. The local Co op provided ice cream for today. I wonder what the founders would have made of it?

I saw them on the wall at the small local museum in the high street, not far from the Miner’s Memorial where I finished my walk today.

We did a bit of a rekky for tomorrow’s route before stopping off at the Crawick Multiverse. This wonderful creative space has been made out of an area of former mining spoil heaps. Designed by Charles Jencks, it provides a lot of space for the imagination.

In a sheltered corner behind a bank a beautiful congregation of orchids were flowering. By the end of the day I had walked 699.89 miles. Well 700 to you!

On a bench by the Nith

Climb the mountains and get their glad tidings (John Muir)

From Isaiah 55

You will go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

will clap their hands.

Gladness and joy overflow in me on this day of a most extra-ordinary time.
May God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 25.06.2019
Day 72 of the End to End from Glenairlie bridge to Kirkconnel

And there was morning and there was afternoon, the 71st day: a day of two halves. It was forecast to be wet in the morning so we did a few odd jobs like washing during which time there was some thunder and lightening.
Then we drove up to Wanlockhead which is Scotland ‘s highest village at 1531 feet above sea level. The drive up through the Mennock Pass was spectacular. The area was formerly a base for lead mining and there is a museum there now telling the story of the area since the 18th century. We had lunch in the visitors centre as the rain continued to fall.

After lunch, the rain was easing and we drove back to Drumlanrig Castle to start the walk. We’d had a lot of discussion about whether or not to use the path by the River Nith. We thought it might be a bit too wet after the rain. However, when I looked at it, I thought it looked like a well drained track and decided to go that way.
I’m glad I did. It was a beautiful path through mixed woodland within sound if not always sight of the river. Now dominated by foxgloves and ferns with both broad leaved and coniferous trees in the canopy, the path, though well signed, was dark at times on a grey day.

Bob walked back towards me and after we met, we also saw some early spotted orchids.

Once back on the road it was only a few minutes walk to Glenairlie bridge. A plaque on the bridge tells of a terrible 19th century accident that left its mark on the stonework, in which a horse died in a thunderstorm. It marked the end of today’s walk and there had been no further rain.

A poem, looking through the window at this morning’s storm.

Crack of Light

A silver nick,
A lightening tick,
Cracks through the cloud
All thundering down
The distant hills.
The ragged edge,
Like a whiskered hedge,
Parts silently
Enough to see
The promised good.

For now, God grant a quiet night and a peaceful end.

JAL 24.06.2019
Day 71 of the End to End, Drumlanrig Castle to Glenairlie bridge.