North Ayrshire

6 miles / 10 km

The road down on the shore between Largs and Wemyss Bay is very narrow and has no room for walkers. With it's heavy traffic, it is a suicidal walk. However, there are two roads up in the hills above this road again.. Two small roads, great for walking. The tarmac is good too. These two roads are also charming with some great views. So what is there not to like ? The pictures have been taken on a pretty cold February morning.

Pretty Hard

This walk has three pretty big hills and two steep descents. There is also one short 200 yards/meters long piece of the walk on the main road, but still on a path, down on the shoreline. Good shoes and plenty of drinks are required on this walk.

Train to Largs from Glasgow/Paisley 1 time an hour.

The walk starts at the Largs railway station. Take the road down to the left towards the sea and then follow the promenade to the right on the seafront to the Vikingar centre on the other side of the road and the leave the promenade and walk the road on the pavements on the right side of the main road towards Wemyss Bay. At the Routenburn Golf Course 300 Yards signpost, take this road, the Routenburn Road, up the hill past the golf course.

This road climbs pretty steadily up the hill to some great viewpoints where these two photos have been taken.








The road is a bit flat here before it starts to descend through a forest to a hollow. The road rises again up a hill. This climb is not particularly steep. It is long though. The views from the top of this climb are rewarding. Both looking back and towards the farms on Barrhill, the second picture here. I did not even know these farms existed before I did this walk, as they are not visible from the main road. A nice discovery !







The road is now starting to descend down towards the main road again. First gently but then the road goes into a vertical descent down to the main road.



The road ends on the busy main road. Cross the road and take the tarmac path to the right over the river up to the next road to the right, the Skelmorlie Castle Road. This road starts pretty flat along the river before it climbs past a castle, Skelmorlie Castle, and up to a hill.




The next two photos are from this hill, looking towards Wemyss Bay in the far distance and looking back down the climb.







The road now descends down and through Skelmorlie towards Wemyss Bay. Halfway down the hill, take the Station Road to the right, which takes you to a viewpoint overlooking the ferry port.



This steep descent on the zig-zag road takes you down to the bus stops and Wemyss Bay railway station, where this walk ends.

Train from Wemyss Bay to Glasgow/Paisley/Port Glasgow 2 times an hour.
McGill's Bus 901/906 to Glasgow/Greenock/Braehead 4-6 times an hour.

Enjoy the walk !!