Log No 149. Fri 4th Oct 2013 - Girvan to Glen App, 22 miles (2335 miles walked)

And still it rains, I'm just thankful it's not windy as well.

I left the camper in the harbour car park in Girvan and set off along the sea front at 08.40.

Leaving Girvan the A77 more or less hugs the coast and it wasn't too bad to walk on.

The ACP did take a slight detour away from the road near Kennedy's Pass. It did involve a bit of climbing up the side of the hill so I stuck to the road.

After passing through Lendalfoot the road climbs the hill as it cuts off Bennane Head.

As I was going up I saw another backpacker coming down on the other side of the road. This was Cotton-Joe Norman, a young chap from the US, walking up the coast then the West Highland Way and then fron Ft William to Cape Wrath. He reckons it will take a month, he's not due back home until December so he was also going to see a bit of England.

I finished off my sandwiches in Ballantrae then checked to see what times the buses were back to Girvan.

Yesterday there was a bus every half hour, today they were every 2 hours. It was 12.45 now and the next bus was at 14.02, I thought I would like to catch this bus and have an easy day.

After crossing the river at Ballantrae I had a decision to make: stick to the main road which went inland and be sure of catching the bus or follow the ACP sign which said Glen App 7 miles and hopefully catch the 16.00 bus somewhere.

I opted to live dangerously and took the ACP route. I had no idea where it went and Glen App wasn't on my strip map, neither was the main road, and depending on the terrain it could take me anywhere from 2 to 4 or more hours.

I found Glen App on my GPS phone and it was at the main road so I just had to get there by 15.45 and hope I could flag the bus down.

It started off okay on the minor road to Downan Farm, the weather had brightened up and I had my clearest view of Ailsa Craig. I have been able to see this distinctive island off and on since I was on Kintyre.

At the end of the minor road the path contoured round Downan Hill to follow the coastline.

There were fields with cattle in on the hill side but the path kept to the rougher ground on the shore side.

I had some high ferns to go through and the long grass was wet so I had both my gaiters and waterproof trousers on.

I met another backpacker coming towards me, she was off the path a bit.

The path wasn't totally obvious but once you were on it you could identify it.

I told her I was on the path and she said "Ya, I vos on the wrong side", I think she was German and she was wearing shorts, I felt a bit of a wimp having chickened out of backpacking now after seeing her and Cotton-Joe carrying full packs.

The path cut over the hill down to Currarie Glen and joined the existing path following Shallochwreck Burn as it climbed uphill to the track.

I knew where the ACP was going now and it was going to be touch and go whether I could get to the road in time.

I hadn't stopped for a break since my lunch in Ballantrae and I couldn't spare the time now. I went as fast as I could without running and had to blot out the pain from my Achilles, if I missed this bus it would be near to 6 o'clock before the next one and it would be a long day.

Dropping into Glen App I could see the traffic on the road on the other side and I kept an eye out for the bus.

I hit the road at 15.40, 3 hours from Ballantrae, was I in time?

I was at a bend in the road so I had to move to a safer place for the bus to stop, or it wouldn't.

After 20 minutes the bus hadn't come so either it was very late or I must have just missed it, oh well, I'll just have to carry on walking towards Stranraer.

I just got to the next bend when I saw the bus coming towards me, I put my hand out and it went past me, then it indicated it was stopping up the road a bit, thank you Driver.

I was back at the camper for 16.40, plenty of time to get some shopping and drive on to the picnic area I had seen just after Lendalfoot.

22 miles, some of them quite fast!

It is a short day tomorrow to Stranraer where I am meeting up with Andrew & Rosie.