North Ayrshire

8 miles / 13 km

The walk, the missing link on the coastal road from West Kilbride to Largs. This walk is a bit of a shortcut on the coastal path as it goes straight from West Kilbride to Hunterston Castle instead of following the coastal path around Portencross Castle and Hunterston power station. Coast replaced by farmland, in other words.
The path along the seawall in Fairlie is the highlight of the walk and an impressive piece of engineering, maintained by volunteers in Fairlie. They deserve a lot of credit and admiration for this great path.
This walk is a charming walk. Long and charming. It is best during the summer and in sunshine.

Pretty Easy

This is a long, flat walk with only one descent. This descent comes after the first half a mile / 1 km. The rest of the walk is flat on some good paths. Good shoes and plenty of water are required here.

Train from Glasgow/Paisley/Kilwinning once an hour. Bus from Kilwinning twice an hour.

The walk starts from the West Kilbride train station. West Kilbride is a scenic village, worthy of a long stop. But the walk goes straight up the pretty steep St. Bride's Road (choose the right pavement) to a roundabout. Take Drummilling Road here down to the right, down the hill to the main road. Cross this and take the road, the path next to the road to the right.




Take the next road down to the left again. At the end of this road after half a mile / 1 km, take the signposted path to the right.



This path is passing Hunterston Castle to the left along some farm fields and then ends up in the Oilrig Road. Cross this and go straight ahead until the path reaches Powerstation Road. Take this road to the right again and follow it to a signposted path to the left. Take this path up to the Ardrossan - Largs main road and the path there.



The walk now follows this path along the road through one roundabout. There is no denying that this is not an interesting part of this walk. There are bus stops along this path for those who have had enough and want to take the bus to Largs or back to West Kilbride/Kilwinning. Bus 2 times an hour.



The sea finally emerges after a mile / 1.5 km or so and the walk becomes a lot more interesting. After a couple of hundred yards / meters, the path goes down to the sea and the path along the seawall. An impressive piece of engineering and rightly so the pride of Fairlie. A great walk in itself.



The seawall ends too apruptly and the walk is now back on pavement along the road on some slightly undulating roads before a coastal path signpost takes the walk away from the main road again. The railway is passed via an underpass and the path follows the plains between Fairlie and Largs. The monument called The Pencil comes into view here...



The rest of the walk along the path is scenic along the seafront and the great promenade at Largs.



The promenade ends at the ferry port before the walk ends on the bus stops outside Largs railway station.

Train from Largs to Glasgow/Paisley/Kilwinning 1 time an hour (fastest).
McGill's Bus 904 from Largs to Paisley Town Hall 1 time an hour.
McGill's Bus 901/906 from Largs to Glasgow/Braehead/Glasgow 4 - 6 times an hour (slowest).
(For travellers to Paisley, I recommend McGill's Bus 901 to Port Glasgow and then the Port Glasgow - Paisley train 4 times an hour.)