Ayrshire

8 miles / 14 km

This is a bit of a walk for the colder months of the year when the hills are icy and unfriendly. The roads are mostly flat and gentle. This is not a great walk. It is a good walk for those who want to get fitter at the same time as exploring a quiet corner of Garnock Valley/Ayrshire.

Pretty Easy

This walk is mostly flat with some easy inclines at the beginning. The road, single-track roads with almost no traffic, becomes a bit more undulating from Blair Road with a pretty steep hill just before the path over the Garnock Viaduct. Plenty of drinks and a couple of protein bars are recommended.




McGill's Bus 904 from Paisley town hall/Johnstone to Beith Strand bus stop 1 time an hour.

Step of the bus at the Beith Strand bus stop. Take this road to the right and then the next road to the right again, up a small climb. The name of the road is Strand. Then Townhead and finally Barrmill Road and B706. Cross the busy Beith bypass and head for the B706 road as shown below..




There are a good path next to the road which takes you down to a couple of the white houses in the picture below..



Just before the big hill after the last white house, take the flat road down to the right to a restricted defence area. The next miles are pretty flat and uneventful. I spotted a big hen harrier here as they live a good life without any dangers behind these fences. Smart, clever birds..... The next four pictures are from this road.















The road now becomes a bit undulating with some quirky bends before the road ends up at the B707 coming down from the left. Just follow this now normal road at the road edge to the left. At the next crossroad again, where it says Dalry, Glasgow, Irvine down to the right towards the roundabout, take the road to the left again. This road climbs again before it ends up on the Blair Road, a road walked on the Dalry-Irvine walk (see walk somewhere else under Farmlands Walks). The walk now becomes a lot more undulating with a couple of short climbs.... and some cows who want to be photographed. See picture below of one of the local photo-models.



There is a small disused railway bridge here too, at the bottom of the steepest climb of the day.


This is a pretty hard but short climb which is what we can call "a tester". The picture below is from near the top of this climb.



Just 400 yards/meters on from the top of this climb, the signposted cycle/walking path to Kilwinning takes of to the right. Take this path towards the Garnock Viaduct.


Garnock Viaduct is an impressive feature which is best admired from below. The picture below is taken up the Garnock Valley towards Dalry.



From the end of the Garnock Viaduct, follow the not-so-interesting path all the way to Dalry Road. Take the Dalry Road down to the left all the way to the end. At the end of this road, take Byres Road to the right to the Kilwinning train station, where this walk ends.


Train from Kilwinning train station to Johnstone/Paisley/Glasgow 4 times an hour.

Enjoy the walk !!