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Ayrshire Coastal Path. Final Sections. November 2025

Helen Rose Outdoors

The Glasgow Ramblers https://glasgowramblers.org.uk/ started walking sections of the Ayrshire Coastal Path over ten years ago. Ian planned the walks very efficiently and we completed the path this year. Only the last thee sections required car shares and shuttles but until Turnberry we used public  transport of trains and buses. The logistics were carefully worked out by Ian. The path is from Skelmorlie in the north to Glenapp in the south. It is 106 miles long and I first wrote about it.  August 2023 https://www.glasgowwestend.co.uk/ayr-dunure-walk-and-horse-races/ Dunure to Ayr was my favourite section of the path.

There is an overview of the path on https://www.ayrshirecoastalpath.org/route/overview

Turnberry to Lendalfoot

This was the third last secrion of the Ayrshire Coastal Path and we did it south to north. We drove from Glasgow to Lendalfoot where the passengers were dropped off and some of the cars drove north to Turnberry to leave some cars for the shuttle back to Lendalfoot and then some came back to Lendalfoot with the drivers.

We started the walk from Lendalfoot and walked up hill to the shoulder of Pinbain Hill for a refreshment stop where we had good views of Ailsa Craig, a rocky island out at sea where the stone is quarried to make stones for curling. You can read my blog on Ailsa Craig on https://www.glasgowwestend.co.uk/ailsa-craig-july-2014/

Ailsa Craig is also known as Paddy’s Milestone named for its location roughly halfway between Glasgow and Belfast, Northern Ireland, a common route for Irish emigrants to Scotland.

In the village, we had good views of Ailsa Craig from the stony beach. We were tempted by the Ice Cream van parked nearby but resisted. There was a decoration of kindness stones which seems a lovely idea. The “kindness stone exchange” in Ayrshire refers to community-based projects where people paint stones with kind messages and designs.

We reached Girvan for lunch and although the weather was dull the promenade was busy with a Fair and it was Lifeboats Day. There was a lovely lighthouse and a pretty harbour

We continued walking in the rain passing the Alginate Factory at Dipple and along the sandy beach to Turnberry. By now it was a srorm and we sheltered in the bus shelters having a sing song until some cars took the drivers back to Lendalfoot to collect the cars there and return to Turnberry to pick us up. This was one of the longer sections of walk at 13.6miles.

The wild flowers were in abundance and the diaies very colourful.

Lendalfoot to Ballantrae

This year we did the final two sections again shuttling cars and drivers

Walking from Lendalfoot to Ballantrae, we came across the extraordinary walled-in cave lived in by the hermit Henry Ewing Torbert ‘Snib’ until his death in 1983 at the age of 71. An odd place for a hermit to live, right next to a main road into town! The walk was six and a half miles in dull weather and a choppy sea. We passed Turnberry where the US President, Donaldrump was staying at the time.  After coffee at the Ballantrae Garden Centre, the cars had to be shuttled again to Lendalfoot and back to Ballantrae.

Glenapp to Ballantrae

The last section was walking from south to north and involved car sharing and shuttling cars as no public transport was available. Although the southern boundary of Ayrshire is Glenapp, there is nothing there other than a  church but walking back to Ballantrae we could celebrate at the Garden Centre, pub or on the beach. Glenapp Church or as it is known locally “The Glen Kirk” is united with Ballantrae Kirk and is situated in the Glen itself. It is a small country church, which can comfortably seat 80 people and lies 6.5 miles from Ballantrae.

The route was on good tracks and country lanes, but our first challenge was a gradual ascent onto the shoulder of Sandloch Hill, from where views opened of Loch Ryan (and the Irish ferry).

We saw the ferry heading from Cairnryan to Belfast in Northern Ireland.

We did not take the coastal route as the weather was rather windy. Instead we followed the inland route. At one point we passed a farm where cows were being escorted from the barn across the road to line up for entry to the fields for grazing. They queued very patiently in a line along the fence until the gate was opened.

As usual, Ailsa Craig was visible although a little misty. Such is the vagaries of Scottish weather.

In time, we reached Ballantrae for coffee and celebratory cakes at the Garden Centre but that was not the end of the celebrations as we walked to the beach to celebrate with bubbly that Sandra had organised. It was lovely at the seaside with a glass of bubbly in hand to celebrate this wonderful achievement of completing the Ayrshire Coastal Path.

It is a huge thankyou to Ian for organising this long distance walk over so many years and working out the tricky logistics of the car sharing and shuttling. Also, to the car drivers who volunteered their services.

Thanks to Sandra for the three photos of the uphill from Glenapp, the Loch Ryan Ferry and the cattle crossing and lining up.

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