What a stunner of a day it was yesterday in the southwest! And what a stunning location to celebrate bagging my 50th Scottish Ramblers group! 50 is the final big milestone on my journey to walking with all 55 of them, and as a consequence I'm daring to believe I might actually manage it :)
Kilmarnock Ramblers were No.50 and were superb company on the hill. Cheerful, friendly, knowledgeable and....it has to be said....well armed with fudge, wine gums, fruit loaf, tablet, banana cake and much more besides!
As I've said many times before, one of the things I like most about walking with our Ramblers Scotland groups is it takes me to places I perhaps wouldn't have visited otherwise. In this case a stretch of the Southern Upland Way that takes in Benbrack, the highest point on that particular coast-to-coast trail, and in so doing also takes in one of Andy Goldsworthy's four striding arches.
Three of the arches are on hilltops, and have been positioned so that no matter which one you are at, you can always see the other two. Erm....cloud & clag permitting of course....which certainly wasn't a problem yesterday in blazing sunshine :)
Kilmarnock Ramblers have one of the most varied programmes of all our groups, ranging from shorter and flatter routes right up to the munros. Their next lower grade walk is the White Cart Walkway in Glasgow on 23rd November, and their next mid grade walk is the famous Whangie on 1st December. Newbies always welcome, just check out the details on their website: https://kilmarnockramblers.jimdo.com/













