This walk requires a strenuous climb. The end reward however is well worth the effort. By the footbridge over the river look back to the village noting the crow-stepped gable of the oldest part of St Cuthbert's church (13th C) and then the Black Bull Hotel dating from the time of Burns. You will appreciate the siting of the village above the flood plain.

The river itself with its fringes of alder trees is the haunt of moorhen, dippers, mallard and mergansers. Your walk takes you through Traboyack Wood onto the bare hill slopes from which you can look down on the fine example of an 18th century gentleman minister's manse and also the Toll Cottage by the roadside at the southern end of the village.

At the summit of Craigengower (the Hill of Goats in Gaelic) is the obelisk which is a monument to Lt Col James Hunter Blair killed at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854. If you look north on a clear day you will see Ben Lomond, the Arrochar Alps and Goat Fell on Arran and westwards Ailsa Craig.

Walk back down the hill south-westwards towards the Water of Girvan and follow the river back to Straiton.