I was about to say I didn’t have the best sleep last night….
But given the angle of the van it’s hardly surprising. It’s on an incline to the passenger side and downhill so I spent the night sliding into the near side wall and off the bottom of the bed. I had to climb my way back up the bed several times starting at 3.21am precisely…
So all in all it was actually a great sleep as I never really surfaced until 7.30 and this was the view out my window.
I never even heard them get up! What a view though eh?!
So first of all a few photos from last night.
It’s lovely here. The dogs are loving the freedom.
The sun came out and it was a lovely evening.
The fire was super toasty!
I loved watching the smoke billow up into the trees.
It’s getting dark it’s been a lovely long evening.
So we had bacon 🥓 in soft pitta for breakfast with coffee in the Jet Boil and decided to take the dogs for a big walk on the River Ayr to the Ballochmyle Cup and Ring Marks.
They are fascinating!
Craig took sneaky pics….
This is the 1751 inscription… Craig spotted it!
These next couple even look like they have ink still showing.
This rock is the other side of it, back on the main River Ayr Walk. Sadly graffitied now.
We start off on the woodland walk. This part is not actually alongside the river but much higher. You can look down on it.
We came up to the Ballochmyle Viaduct which was built from 1847-1848. There are 7 arches but the centre arch is the largest masonry railway arch in the UK.
This is the view point and to be honest, you can’t even see the 7 arches, let alone the span of the centre arch!!
This is us walking under one of the smaller ones.
There are beautiful bluebells everywhere.
Just like a carpet!
This photo doesn’t do it justice but it’s a really deep ravine don’t to the river.
Looking uphill there are fallen trees right across it. I did say to Craig we could recreate the Dirty Dancing movie scene on that flat log up there. Imagine falling off that?!?
We walked down into this field and I got a lovely gate photo in the sun.
The walk continues on through the style but we decided to turn around and head back.
We decided to turn up to the left to look for Kinencleugh Castle. We knew where it should be… but never actually got to it. The map didn’t take into account that there was a huge ravine in between our path at the castle. 🤦🏻♀️🤣
It was a lovely walk trying to find it though. Came across these giant badger lairs… or that’s what we assume they were. We had to cross them!
We got back on the River Walk path and headed back to the campsite.
The Catrine Show 2022 was being held in the field just across from us. It was fun to see them setting up and as we walked past we had a good nosy in at the cows, sheep and horses on show.
This lovely beach is just around the corner.
They all went for a paddle.
The bridge is stunning. The dogs have caused these ripples in the water.
Back at camp and the river has gone down a fair bit overnight. The dogs love going down paddling and it feels safer today!
Spot the Collie!
She who watches.
So I have swapped my camping gear and 3 Border Collies for lovely warm house, Downton Abbey on TV and the most gorgeous Gordon Setter, Elsie, for company!
She belongs to my friend Evelyn and they are out tonight so I am Elsie sitting.
I’m having the loveliest time (not even sure if that is English!) We went out for a walk in the park across the road and she got a bit of a fright when she saw this stag painting. I had to talk her through it and tell her it was ok! She was a good girl!
I then met a lovely lady and her dog Charlie and we had a lovely chat while the dogs had a blast!!!
Look at the lovely spread that I have for the evening! I’ve had some AF Gordon’s and tonic, some Ritz crackers and cheese and I am not opening the Maltesers as I will eat them all 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤣
Elsie was all worn out when we got back 😆🥰
She’s tired but a little bit sad when I leave.
It’s a good drive back to the campsite thought I’m scared to get there in the dark. Fear of getting stuck again. Craig walks
I’m back safe by 10.45pm and in front of the campfire again. It was a loverly interlude!
Off to sleep at a strange angle again!
Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️
The Rambling Sloth 🦥 