Heads of Ayr Holiday Park August 2022

I was pretty hesitant about booking a pitch at this site in August, as I had visions of it being a family holiday park, with all the noise that entails. We booked a break from a Wednesday to a Sunday, and for most of that time enjoyed a tranquil break, even though we were given the pitch next to the childrens play area.

The site has received some pretty negative reviews on Facebook but as it is the nearest camping spot to the Anchorage pub and restaurant in Dunure, where we wished to visit, we took a chance, and not expecting much, very much enjoyed our break.

We broke our journey, briefly, to fill up with diesel, and upon leaving the shop I noticed an essential that we had not got on board, and bought a box of cider cans.

We arrived mid-afternoon on the Wednesday, and were welcomed by very helpful and accomodating staff. Our plan was to set up, and then walk to Dunure for our pre-booked meal at the Anchorage. When we mentioned this to the lady checking us in she advised that the walks, either along the coast, or alongside the main road were unsuitable for us, and she gave us the bus timetable for the buses that stopped at the sites gate. At the same time she gave us the menus of an Indian and a Chinese restaurant that would deliver to the site, should we wish to eat in the motorhome on another night.

With the bus timetable to hand we realised we had a bit of time on our hands, and after connecting up, sat back and had a cider until it was time to make our way to the gate.

Unfortunately, we had been a bit lax with our time, and had to take a forced march up the drive to the site's gateway to catch the bus, all the time thinking that we would see the bus whizz past the gate in the distance. We both made it to the gate, severely out of breath but with only a few seconds spare until the bus arrived.

The bus was bang on time, and within five minutes we were at the Anchorage where our meal was, again, superb. The chef recognised Finn from our earlier visit, and treated him to a doggie snack. After a drink or two with our meal we paid our dues and made our way back to the bus stop, only yards away.

Again the bus was on time and we were back on board the motorhome within minutes with a bottle of wine in hand to settle down for the night. There were a couple of children playing in the park, but as the night progressed they returned to their caravan, and peace returned to the site.

After a sound night 's sleep we awoke to the second day of the heatwave we had been promised by the weather forecasters. In fact the weather for the whole of our stay was that good that we were able to leave our table and chairs outside for the duration. After Finn had been walked out to the shore it was time to think about food, and our bacon stocks were delved into for that first mornings breakfast.

We had a leisurely morning as our original plan had been to walk along the coast to another restaurant, in the direction of Ayr, the Balgarth Pines - https://balgarthpines.com . We looked at the bus timetable and decided to forego the walk again to take advantage of the bus. We looked at our maps, and found that the Balgarth Pines was situated in an area of Ayr called Doonfoot, and discovered that the bus travelled through there.

We set off up the drive towards the sites gateway, this time giving ourselves enough time to catch the bus, in fact we had given ourselves more than enough time and waited there with the traffic speeding past us for quite a while. Finn was getting nervous as the speeding tractors, keen to harvest the grain before the next rain, past within feet of him.

This was our second bus trip in as many days, with any previous bus trips by us being decades before. It had never occurred to us to catch a bus, as we live in a very rural area where buses are not the norm. We have got used to the more expensive alternative, the taxi!

Within minutes of getting on the bus Sue, Finn and I were about to get off at Doonfoot when I asked the driver the way to our destination, the Balgarth Pines. He suggested that we stayed on board for one more stop as the Balgarth Pines has it's own bus stop in Doonfoot, he saved us a very long walk.

Upon leaving the bus Sue suggested that Finn be taken for a short walk to do the necessaries. I remained by the entrance to the restaurant, and when I saw Sue returning with a small bag in her hand I knew that Finn had performed, and I began looking around for a suitable bin. There wasn't one, and we would be turning up for our meal with a poo bag in our hands!

Luckily, one of the young ladies that worked there met us on the way in and, realising our predicament, relieved us of the offending article and instructed us to enter the restaurant. She had access to a row of rubbish bins.

Upon entering we were met by a further member of staff who quickly had us sat down with menus, and drinks ordered. Finn was made a fuss of, as usual, and dog biscuits were issued. Although the food there was nothing to write home about our time there was pleasant, and made all the better when we decided to treat ourselves to a brandy each to wash down our meals.

Fully sated we took our leave, and idled to the nearby bus stop, where, after a short wait, we were soon on our way back to the site. We spent the rest of the day idling, sitting in the sun. As evening approached our thoughts turned to food again, and the decision was taken to order a Chinese meal. I rang the restaurant and ordered the meals that Sue and I wanted. Unfortunately there was a mix up somewhere as Sue's order of tempura battered prawns failed to arrive, and a helping of un-ordered spare ribs arrived instead. As Sue is a non-meat eater she was not able to eat the ribs, and, as I had been greedy and ordered far too much for myself I was unable to eat the ribs either, so they were thrown away, a travesty! Sue contented herself with a piece of cheese for her tea as I stuffed myself on the two chicken dishes that I had ordered. I compounded my offensiveness by drinking far too much that evening and all was not well as we finished the day.

Next day we were still enjoying the heatwave, and took a walk down to the beach where we noticed a number of jelly fish that had been stranded as the tide had receded. We did not stay long as we had another lunch appointment to meet, and a taxi to organise to get us there. I had booked us lunch at the Hollybush Inn -https://tinyurl.com/36acm9ut , a certain distance inland, and well off the bus route so a taxi was necessary. As I waited at reception for the taxi Sue took Finn to do his duty, and returned just as the taxi arrived.

The journey to the Hollybush Inn was far longer than I had anticipated when I had booked, with reference to Google Maps. I had booked the restaurant as it is a sister restaurant to one in Ayr that I was unable to make a booking with. When we entered the restaurant I was deflated as it looked like a tired wedding function establishment, and was very quiet. My initial impression was soon overturned when the food arrived, it was delicious, by far the best meal of the holiday. The staff were very good, and Finn got spoilt again, we will definitely go there again.

We left the restaurant just as the taxi was arriving to take us back to the site, and were returned there in minutes. As we'd eaten so well we decided that we'd only need a snack that evening. Upon returning to the motorhome we both had a siesta only to be awoken by the thumping of the bass beat coming from some revellers who had recently arrived. I was livid that someone could be so inconsiderate to other campers, and approached and asked them to switch their music down. It was a group of three or four separate families sat outside their campers and caravans intent on making merry.

I secretly feared that I would be turned upon and was pleasantly surprised to hear them switch the music down. I returned to our motorhome to tell Sue of my deed only to be told that I was a miserable buggar as it was only 6pm. For the rest of their stay there was no call to complain about the noise proving that it was best to nip the problem in the bud.

The next day again broke bright and sunny and we decided to take a walk to Dunure to view the festival taking place at the harbour. We set off along the Ayrshire Coastal Path, which in places was hard going. It was when we encountered a sign warning us of the dangers of ewes and cows protecting their offspring that we decided to backtrack ( we both know of someone who was killed by cows protecting their calves!). We returned to the caravan park with the aim of catching the bus to Dunure, and referred to the bus timetable to establish whether there was a bus due. There was, and we quickly made our way to the bus stop and waited. Given the popularity of the festival there were many people wishing to use the bus that day, and as a consequence it was severely delayed. We were on the verge of giving up our wait when the bus rounded the corner. It was crammed full, and we were the last passengers taken on that day, people at subsequent stops were refused boarding, much to their disgust.

On disembarking the bus at the harbour the heat of the day meant that our first stop had to be the pub for a quick drink. Thereafter we ventured to the harbour which was very busy with visitors, and alive with music from the main marquee. Finn was unsettled with the level of noise. We decided to take him away from the melee and walk along the nearby beach for a bit of peace. When we returned to the harbour I was hungry and approached a burger van only to be told that they were not accepting any further orders for the interim as they had got so far behind.

We then decided to leave the harbour and order some food at a nearby cafe. Again, the numbers of the crowd were leading to delays. I was told that we would have to wait thirty minutes for our burger bun and egg mayonnaise sandwich. So we waited outside, with all the other customers, with Finn, as per usual, being made a fuss over.

The food arrived, and was quickly wolfed down before we returned to the pub for another quick drink. Whilst there we referred to the bus timetable again, building in the possibility of a further delay, agreed we had seen enough and decided to return to the bus stop.

At first we were the only ones waiting for the bus, but within minutes a lengthy queue had built up. From the vantage point of the bus stop we could watch the youngsters 'tombstoning' from the harbour tower into the water below. We had a long while to do this as the bus was again late, and arrived at the stop at the same time as the next scheduled service. There was a melee whilst people jostled to decide which bus they were going to board. Finn again getting nervous in the crowd.

Within minutes we were back at the site, and our thoughts turned to tea. I recalled that we had acquired an Indian restaurant takeaway menu when we had arrived on site so we turned our minds to curry. I rang the establishment that delivered to the site and ordered a King Prawn Balti for Sue, and a South Indian Garlic Chilli Chicken, plus rice, for myself, along with the obligatory popadoms and chutneys. We also decided to share a Peshwari Naan. Whilst we awaited the delivery of the meal, the table and chairs outside were put in place for the feast to come.

I had ordered the Garlic Chilli Chicken as the menu included the description 'for those who like it hot and spicy ', and I can usually deal with the hottest of dishes. In only a few minutes, though, my eyes were streaming, and my nose was running that much that I had to abandon my meal and go in search of paper towels. It was probably one of the hottest meals I have ever had!

With the meal finished I collected up the curry stained dishes and made my way to the washing up room to undertake my last chore of the holiday, before we settled down for the night.

The next day was bright and sunny, and we had lots to do. After breakfast we concentrated on disconnecting from the services and making our way to Dunure for another lunch booking at the Anchorage. Dunure was much quieter than the previous day, and the detritus from the revellers still required cleaning up. Although the village was quiet the pub was full, and if we hadn't booked our table it is unlikely that we would have been served.

Again an excellent meal was provided, and with our plans to visit Loch Doon in mind, we finished our meals and returned to the car park only to find that the motorhome had been blocked in by a number of inconsiderate motorists (BMW drivers included!). With the help of the bar staff we managed to identify the offenders and get them to move their cars.

Even after the manoeurvres Sue, with trepidation, had to reverse across the busy car park, and take a sharp corner before exiting the car park up a steep ramp. One of the offending drivers was invaluable in assisting us extract ourselves from the car park.

We then focussed on making our way to Loch Doon - https://tinyurl.com/5b9yrhem to spend the night in one of the few 'dark sky' places left in the UK. We had imagined spending the night in the wilderness exploring the wonders of the Milky Way.

When we arrived we found the place strewn with litter, and a myriad tents erected untidily along the Loch The owner of the only food and drink facility available was closing up early and was quite rude. Our plans for a supper there were scuppered.

Although the drive to the Loch was delightful we decided, given the above, to alter our plans and return straight home, and retraced our route along the single track road to the main road South.

All was going well until we found signs telling us that the major A75 route was closed for resurfacing. Along with a number of other motorists we made our way to a 'rat run' to avoid the blocked road. With a number of cars held up behind us as we travelled along the single track road we encountered a big horse transporter, followed by a number of cars coming the other way. A face-off ensued, with the lady driving the horse transporter refusing to reverse, as she thought she was unable to do so. We, and a number of other motorists held up by the situation, got out of our vehicles looking for a suitable place for either vehicle to reverse into to enable a progression of the situation to take place.

After pacing the road for a while a suitable spot for the horse transporter to reverse into was found, and with the assistance of a number of individuals this was successfully done. Sue slowly manoeuvred the motorhome alongside the horse transporter, and nearly tipped over when her wheels caught in the ditch at the roadside. Luckily the mud bank held the weight and a disaster was avoided. With only an inch spare the two vehicles passed and the encounter was over. Interestingly, all the vehicles behind the horse transporter had disappeared and found another route.

Shortly we were back on the main road and were back home within the hour. Other than the driving difficulties on the last day we found this break the most enjoyable yet.