ARYSHIRE: KAIM HILL, FAIRLIE.

Kaim Hill, Fairlie, Aryshire - January 2012; an eight pound eighty return from Glasgow Central enables the train journey to Fairlie and the commencement of this hillwalk. From the station, with the cold January air filling our lungs, we headed over the bridge past Argyll Cottage and into Fairlie Glen, a small wooded valley barely a mile (1.5 km) in length.

The Glen extends eastwards from Fairlie Moor to the village and is perhaps more synonymous with the dramatic Fairlie Burn waterfalls and Fairlie Castle as opposed to this moorland hillwalk to the 387m (1269 feet) summit of Kaim Hill. The Glen is also most certainly an attraction for mountain bikers as well. Anyway, the path heads up Fairlie Glen with a coniferous plantation to the left and deciduous trees above Fairlie Burn to the right, passing the tower of Fairlie Castle on the right (on the north side of Fairlie Glen). The Castle is still in pretty good condition and is said to have been the Castle of Hardyknute, but latterly possessed by the Fairlies of that ilk, chiefs of the barony of Fairlie. Rather surprisingly, we heard a Tawny Owl in the woods.

Two styles are negotiated the second of which leads onto open moorland where a north-easterly direction initially towards the distant wind turbines is taken. Fortunately, Kaim Hill appears to have escaped such a fate! A moorland signpost subsequently indicates the direction to Kaim Hill, described as being located 4 miles (6.5 km) southeast of Largs and 2 miles (3 km) south of Kelburn Castle and Country Centre. This hillwalk generates excellent views of the distant Isle of Arran, The Cumbraes, as well as the marina and the town of Largs situated on Largs Bay.

We watched the CalMac ferry at Largs plying its trade back and forth doing the 10-minute ferry trip to the Isle of Cumbrae, a tourist destination of many years and a place more popular for cyclists than walkers. The Island is only four miles long and two miles wide and is extremely rich in bird species. In winter a seal colony resides in Millport Bay. It is home to the National Watersports Centre, the Cathedral of the Isles and the University Marine Biological Station, Millport. Great Cumbrae (Cumaradh Mòr; also known as Cumbrae or the Isle of Cumbrae) is the larger of the two islands known as The Cumbraes in the lower Firth of Clyde, both of which can be seen from the slopes of Kaim Hill in this hillwalk video.

The summit hike is not an easy walk in the mist and after prolonged rain it becomes an even boggier hike. So, its certainly not a walk for anyone without the requisite navigational skills. That said, the magnificent views of the Cumbraes and that iconic serrated Arran outline make the hike well worth the effort. It should be noted that the majority of the yellow markers that stretched across the moor indicating the summit route have all mysteriously disappeared, been removed, or rotted away. So don't even contemplate following any such old guiding instructions for this hike. From Kaim summit there are various further options, one of which is to incorporate a walk through Fairlie moor millstone quarry, where the remains of one millstone is certainly still evident (and is pictured in this video). An obvious track contours along the hillside and leads into the quarry workings.

Heading downhill we watched a buzzard fly off into the woods as we made our way back into the Glen then along to Fairlie Village Inn before catching the return train to Glasgow. In 1882-4, Frances Groome's 'Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland' described Fairlie like thus: - "Fairlie, a coast village and a 'quoad sacra' parish in the S of Largs parish, NW Ayrshire. Sheltered eastward by uplands that rise to a height of 1331 feet, the village is charmingly seated on the Firth of Clyde, 1 5/8 mile E of Great Cumbrae by water, 2-miles S by E of Largs by road, and 4 J N of West Kilbride by an extension of the Glasgow and South-Western railway, opened on 1 June 1880, and traversing at the back of the village one of the longest tunnels in the S of Scotland."

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[all pictures, video and text - roddymck 2012].

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Travel & Events

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• Scotland
• KAIM
• HILL
• Fairlie
• millstone
• quarry
• Cumbraes
• FAIRLIE
• ROGER
• CHAPMAN
• FAMILY