Walk No. 169 : Almondell and Lin's Mill Loop
Date: Monday 20th may 2013
Distance: 4.75 miles approx.
Start Time: 11:00 am
Duration: 2.5 hours
Twent-six
strollers ventured out to Almondell
Country Park
on what turned out to be a hot and sultry day. Gipsy Rose Lee would have been
proud of the striptease acts as we went round the park.
After leaving the south car park we stopped off at the visitor centre for a
comfort break and to view the Kirkhill Astronomical Pillar which shows
observations made by Lord Cardross in the 18th century. A fortuitous stop, as
the guide at the shop came out to advise us that the footbridge over the River
Almond was being worked on, so we had to retrace our steps almost to the car
park and take a different route to join our intended path.
Working our way along the path, over stiles, down steps, up steps we made our
way to Lins Mill Aqueduct which is part of the Union canal, to stop for some lunch. We
were delighted to be joined by three canal barges of the Seagull Trust, one of which
was crewed by former work colleagues Dave Hoskins and Maureen Purdie. Some of
us used this to advantage and rather than go down the steps and back up the
other side of the canal we hopped on the barge and off the other side.
Continuing our loop back round via the Drumshoreland Moss where William Wallace
is reputed to have hunted, we made our way back to the visitor centre where a
great trade was done in ice-cream and ice-lollies! A first for this year. Gail's
Coffee Shop in nearby Veitch's Garden Centre also did a reasonable trade for
tea and scones before the walk and some more refreshments afterwards.
Thanks to John Sharp for leading the walk and arranging a lovely day for it
