Annbank to Ayr 3 December

Alan, Allan, Davie C, Davie Mc, Gus, Kenny, Jimmy, Johnny, Malcolm, Paul, Peter, Rex, Robert

The Annbank Nine

The praying mantis

This was to be a short walk as we had an appointment at our favourite curry house in the evening to celebrate Allan’s coming of age. If you ask the question ‘When is a short walk not a short walk?’ the answer inevitably has to be ‘When you join the Ooters’. There was a vague recollection by some that we had agreed to take the longer route to the Burns/Wallace monument but this met with consternation from the majority who started off down the shorter route past the bowling club. By following this path the big loop in the river is avoided and an hour is cut off the journey time. Nonetheless, Jimmy, Davie Mc, Peter and Paul took the longer route and, to cap it all, they took Holly with them!

The Annbank Nine, who are indeed innocent, had a straightforward journey following the north bank of the River Ayr up past Auchincruive and onwards to Oswald’s  Bridge and the usual coffee stop at the monument. From there the River Ayr Path was followed to the stepping stones over the river where lunch was taken. It was then a leisurely walk down into Ayr until we came across an unfortunate who had collapsed with some sort of seizure. He came to with a ‘start’ and at that point we left him to recover in the care of others. We hope he recovers well.

The walk had taken three hours and before long we got on the bus for the return journey. FRT was taken at the Tap o’ the Brae where Allan was appreciative of his birthday cake! The others arrived back at Annbank just as the nine were leaving.

For reference:

Section 3, sub-section 5(a), chapter 2, paragraph 6(ii), clause 1 of the Ooters constitution, known as the Sanity Clause, states that ‘On an Ooter's birthday all other Ooters shall defer to his choice of route on the understanding that it is the shortest route and leaves time for FRT’.

And before anyone quotes Groucho Marx who insisted, particularly at this time of the year, ‘There ain’t no Sanity Clause’, all you have to do is watch ‘The Miracle on 34^th Street’ with Richard Attenborough, a terrific festive movie.

P.S.  We had an excellent night out!