Leaving
Ranoldcoup Road Bridge in Darvel, take the steep tree lined country road
curving upwards towards Dyke Farm.
Catch your breath at the top and you will be rewarded with views of Darvel
nestling in the Valley beneath you. Keep climbing until the path levels
off before you enter an attractive wooded area of deciduous and fir, complemented
by kissing gates and a bridge crossing over marshy areas. Listen for the
rasping call of pheasant and keep your eyes open for weasels, squirrels
and deer.
When you reach the concrete road, return to Darvel winding your way down
through the magnificent Lanfine Estate with its tree lined avenues. Thomas
Brown, Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, inherited this estate
in the 1820s and planted many exotic trees and shrubs and large areas
of mixed woodland of weeping ash, weeping elm, beech, dogwood, redwood
and Spanish chestnuts. The Estate is now in private ownership.
If you wish to extend your walk, take the Changue Road - the 'Mast Road'-
which offers alternative road walks to link with the Long Cairn Walk towards
Darvel and Loudoun Hill or the Burn Anne Walk to Galston.
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