Sorn to Kilmarnock – 13.3 miles (736.9 total)

Another beautiful, sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. Today was back to roadwalking. There were no obvious paths between Sorn and Galston, which was my link for an onward route to Kilmarnock. So, the quickest and straightest way to get to Galston was to take the B7037.

Benny and Madeleine, my walking companions for the day.

Madeleine was happy to do a second day’s walk with me and today we were joined by Benny S who has been following my progress from the start. We started out from yesterday’s end point, the Sorn Inn, at just after 9.30.
When driving home from Muirkirk and Sorn, after each day walk, I had spotted that today’s intended road (B7037) was closed to traffic and had diversions in place. Initially this worried me as there was no clear alternative route. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that this could be a blessing rather than an impediment.

Anyone following the blog will remember that my experience, on this walk anyway, is that closed roads only apply to motor vehicles – workmen have always been happy to allow this crazy walker to pass. And so it proved again today. The added bonus for us was, that, apart from the odd work vehicle, we had the whole road to ourselves without the worry of passing traffic.

Towards the end of the stretch of road we had a slight climb to pass through the small hamlet of Sornhill before descending to the outskirts of Galston.

The road to ourselves

Having travelled all morning in a northerly direction we now headed west towards Hurlford. Soon after entering Galston, therefore, we turned left to pass the cemetery, then joined up with the straight path which follows the course of the old railway.

When we reached Hurlford, we worked our way to the town centre then walked along the main road – walking on pavements, obviously, not the road itself! After a mile and a half we had reached our destination for the day, Kilmarnock. The total mileage for today was 13.3 miles and we finished at 2.30pm.

Madeleine had walked 25 miles in 2 days so she was a bit stiff at the end. She is happy to have a well-earned day off tomorrow. Benny will keep me company on the shortest scheduled day of the whole walk, around 7 miles, for my trip alongside the A77 to Waterside road-end.