On a Saturday last month, my son Ian, his wife, Julie and their son Dean came to visit. It was a lovely day, so my husband John suggested that we should go for a walk instead of staying indoors. We took the car to where the Working Men’s Club used to be. We wondered if the old ‘Right of Way’ was still in existence. Well, there was only one way to find out. We left the car at Barbieston Road and entered the field at the south side of the bridge. The first thing to catch my eye was the mess of the old ‘Birnie’ railway line. Under the bridge is filled with dirt and the grass is badly overgrown. To compensate for this, if you look to your right the panoramic view is breathtaking. You can look over Cumnock and see the hills of New Cumnock. We made our way down to the underpass that takes you below the main Glasgow to Carlisle railway line. We wondered when this had been built (can anyone tell us?). Through the other side we made our way down to the Auchinleck Burn where the sheep and lambs came over to see us. At this point, if you look to the right, Tesco’s now stands where the old Curries factory was. We skirted the field, not venturing too near the water as it quite dangerous underfoot at this part. We entered the street at Allerdyce’s yard. Many of us will remember that the old gasworks was here. Then we made our way up to the Boswell Arms, turned right and walked up the Coal Road back to the car.

Three things I would like to say to anyone who is going on this route:
Please close the gates behind you
Do not drop litter
And
Do put on your wellies.

A. Kilday