Dalry - Fairlie

9 miles/14 km

Hard

A hard & long walk

Train to Dalry from Glasgow Central 2-3 times an hour.

There are several roads over the hills from the Paisley - Kilwinning valley (The Garnock Valley) to the Ayrshire coast at Fairlie/Largs. The narrow, hilly Fairlie Moor Road between Dalry and Fairlie is the most scenic of these roads. It is topping out at almost 1000 feet above sea level, 251 meters above sea level. The views along this road, and in particular at the top of the moor, are great on a sunny day. The walk is on a narrow road with good tarmac. As this is a serious walk, best enjoyed in clear weather (sunshine), bring plenty of drinks and food with you.

The walk through Dalry from the train station to Wingfaulds Avenue requires some good map reading (the mobile phone maps come in handy here). Follow Blair Road, Bridgend, New Street, Roches Way, Sharon Street and West Kilbride Road to the start of Wingfaulds Avenue. This road leads to Fairlie Moor Road which is followed for the next 6 miles/10 km.




The road is pretty steep and is gaining a lot of height past some farms and farm fields. The road is scenic and has some good views towards Beith and Kilwinning. The road descends into a small glen with a small loch to the left.



The hardest climb starts at the end of this loch and is steep through some old trees and then past a farm with a big white house. The climb becomes more gentle on the moor proper with some great views in all directions.


The climb to the highest point at 6 miles/9.5 km is gentle over the top of the moor. It is also pretty windy here despite of the road being sheltered from the wind from the north. This is indeed a very exposed part of the walk.



The views from the top towards Millport and the mountains on Arran are great. The road now falls more or less vertically down to the Ardrossan - Largs main road. The views are great but the knees and legs are really getting beaten up by this steep descent.
At the end of the road, cross the Ardrossan - Largs road and climb over the guard rail to the cycle path on the other side of this road. Follow this through a roundabout and down to the sea to either a bus stop (bus to Largs twice an hour) or cross over the road again to the bus to Kilwinning (twice an hour). The Fairlie train stop is also nearby with a train to Largs or Glasgow once an hour.

Enjoy the walk !!