Mauchline, Catrine, Sorn and Dunure, Scotland July 2022

It's difficult to find sites that do not allow children without putting 'adult only' sites in the web search engine, which, at some times, can bring with it a lot of unsavoury responses. As a result a search for 'quiet sites' is the recommended way to go.

Looking for another break to take advantage of the good weather, and keen to avoid children, I searched online for a quiet site that met our criteria.

We were keen to explore areas of Scotland that we did not know so settled on Catrine House Campsite - https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/Scotland/Scotland/Ayrshire/Mauchline/catrine-house/ , near Mauchline in Ayrshire ( a site that does not allow under eighteen year olds).

I was attracted by the pictures and reviews of the site, and with little idea of what to expect I booked a pitch. I had never heard of Mauchline, Catrine or Sorn before, but, given what is on offer there, I should have. Visible from our pitch was the Ballochmyle Viaduct, the highest viaduct in the UK, which was used as a backdrop to a stunt in the 1996 film Mission Impossible. In addition, Sorn Castle, only a few miles from the site, has been the backdrop of many Scottish films, including the recent series of Outlander.

In the town of Mauchline, a walk from the site, is the curiously named pub , Poosie Nansies, reputedly a haunt of Robert Burns, (this was a place to go on our list).

We decided to take the fastest route to the site, which involved a trip, largely, on the M74. On leaving the motorway, and joining the A70 heading West, the trip slows as the road passes through a number of towns and villages.

After a while we joined the A76, and shortly after that junction we started looking for the site, with our GPS devices on. We passed a turning on the left, which we thought should have been the entrance, but there was no signage. As we followed the A76 a bit further we spotted the site, and discovered that the entrance we had passed was in fact the correct one.

We then turned down the next left, which was a very minor lane, but which, on the GPS looked like it provided another route to the site. We decided to follow this lane even though the tarmac quickly turned to rock and shale with a strip of grass down the centre. The lane revealed that it was not often used with the trees growing over the track to darken the route.

The track did provide a route to a number of public footpaths and a number of walkers had parked their cars along the side. We followed the road down looking for a small bridge that would allow us access to the site.

Unfortunately, before we reached the bridge the road had been blocked, and steel barriers set across it's width. We were then left with the decision to return to the main road, and take the entrance road to the site that we had earlier driven past.

As the lane was very narrow Sue put her new found driving skills to use and set to reversing back up until she found a place wide enough to turn the motorhome around. With this done we followed the track back up to the A76, where we turned right to follow the road to the site entrance.

As we drove into the entrance I did notice a sign for the site, but it was only A5 in size, hence our oversight. As we reached the reception, which was a large log cabin, I entered, expecting to be greeted by reception staff. I was in fact welcomed by a blackboard with a mobile telephone number written on it, with instructions to ring it upon arrival.

I rang the number, and whilst awaiting the host I looked at the paperwork on the table by the entrance, which included maps for walks and menus for a Chinese and an Indian takeaway, which both delivered to the site.

The host arrived, and after paying the balance due I was directed to the pitches available. I chose the first available pitch, enclosed by it's own wooden fence, and whilst waiting for Sue to reverse on to the pitch I noticed only a water pipe, and no electrical hook up.

I quickly signalled for Sue to follow me to another pitch where I could see an electrical hook up point, and she manoeuvred onto this quite skillfully. Following the parking up we took out the spirit level we have on board, and were pleased to note that the motorhome was, as near as damn it, level. (For all the appliances on board to work efficiently it is important that the motorhome is as level as possible. The following link provides details of a number of spirit levels available to help with this task - https://t.ly/1eEOO ).

I set about connecting to the electric hook up before visiting reception to borrow the menus to put some thought into our evening meal. We opted for a Chinese takeaway to be delivered that evening, before taking a short walk around the site to get our bearings.

Given that the site is on top of a hill the TV reception was very good, and after our tea as the light faded we settled down to watch TV and have an early night.

The only hiccup that first night was in respect of a bottle of wine. Prior to the trip a friend of ours had given me a number of bottles of wine as a birthday present, and I had quickly, without looking, picked a bottle of Shiraz to drink on our first night away.

As I was drinking my wine with my evening meal I noticed that it had a strange taste, and I was appalled when I found out that the Shiraz, which was awful, was alcohol free ( a joke from our friend!). This meant that we had nothing to drink for the night, an emergency!

The next day broke bright, and a bacon breakfast was enjoyed, and after dealing with all the tasks for the morning we set off to walk to Mauchline. I need to add at this point that the campsite host was most helpful with guidance regarding the nearby walks available. The walk led us down the track that we had partly driven down the previous day (if we had managed to drive past the steel barrier we would have found the bridge too small for the motorhome to cross!).

Prior to the track joining the A76 a small track led off into the trees that bordered the road. We followed this path through the trees for a mile or so until it joined an actual footpath running alongside the road. We kept on this road as it led us into Mauchline, as the midday sun beat down on us. Given that we had little cash on us we took the opportunity to withdraw some from a cash machine at a garage situated on the outskirts of the town.

With cash in hand, and a raging thirst after our walk, we crossed the road to enter the Black Bull for our first ciders of the day.

We had withdrawn the cash partly to pay for a taxi back to the site, and, as well as our drinks, we successfully obtained the details of a number of taxi firms from the bar staff.

I'm happy to say that this was both a human and dog friendly pub. Once we had sated our thirst, and recieved directions to Poosie Nansies - https://tinyurl.com/ymhpjddp we left the pub looking for a chemist and the Indian takeaway to organise our later tea. We found the Indian takeaway boarded up for the day, and the queue in the chemist too big to make it worthy waiting for what we wanted.

We then headed directly for Poosie Nansies, and were directed, once we arrived there, to a back room behind the bar. This was a soulless room, which had been painted white, destroying anything of any historical significance. There was a small hatch in the wall where you could converse with/order drinks from the bar staff on a lower level in the bar next door. The name of the pub and the connection with Robert Burns had made me imagine a much more interesting place, so less than impressed we nursed our drinks for a while whilst we were waiting for our taxi.

On the way back to the site in the taxi we took the opportunity to book him again to provide us with transport to and from the pub we were booked to eat at the following night. The driver informed us that his son was a chef at that pub.

When we returned to the site we noticed that we had some neighbours, and I also noticed at that time that the electric point for the initial pitch that we had chosen was on the reverse side of the fencing that enclosed the pitch.

We spent the rest of what was a delightful day by the motorhome, trying to prevent any flies and midges entering. As on the previous evening we had enjoyed a Chinese meal, we decided to switch cuisine that night and order an Indian meal. And, as it turned out, our neighbours ordered the same at the same time, with both meals being delivered together.

I made an error on ordering my meal, and ended up with a far less spicy meal than my usual preference. I normally order a spicy meal called a Chicken Ceylon, and on reviewing the menu I noticed a Ceylonese Korma. I picked up on the word Ceylonese and failed to see the word Korma, and ended up with a fairly bland meal through my stupidity.

After our meal we settled down for the night again, and Finn disappeared to his little cubby hole in the gap between the two front seats, where his bed is usually squeezed.

The next morning brought another fine day, and after another bacon roll for breakfast we sat down to plan the walk for the day, as suggested by the campsite host. We decided to take the riverside walk from Catrine House to Catrine. The walk commences on a path from the campsite down to the River Ayr, where it picks up part of the River Ayr Way ( a 65km route which traces the length of the River Ayr from it's source to the sea).

The walk through the woods along the bank of the River Ayr is approximately one mile in length, and takes about half an hour to complete. On the day we walked the sun was high in the sky, and due to me forgetting my hat I burnt my scalp. The walk includes a couple of sections with lots of steps but for the most part is flat.

When we arrived at Catrine we crossed a footbridge over the river and took out the phone to find out where we were! Luckily we were able to locate a pub for a much needed drink. Interestingly, the pub was called the Brewery Bar, but it only sold cans of generic drinks that hadn't been brewed on the premises.

On the walk from the footbridge to the pub there was barely a soul to be seen, but on entering the pub we found it full, mainly of men. As we entered an elderly man took a liking to Finn, and was quite insistent that we sit with him once we had bought our drinks.

On receiving our cans of cider I studiously avoided his gaze, and headed to a table a distance away, where an old man was sat on his own. There was an interesting smell as I sat down, and the old man barely acknowledged our presence. We decided that he did not want our company so we chatted among ourselves. Shortly after that he got up and left the pub, and within seconds a member of the bar staff arrived with cleaning fluids and towels to clean the seat next to me where the old man had urinated on the upholstered seating. It was clear it wasn't the first time he had done it and the bar staff were practised at the task.

Whilst watching the cleansing operation we finished our drinks and made our way to the door. On the way there we were accosted by a couple of locals who wanted to know more about us. We mentioned our meal booking in the other local pub for that evening and mentioned the taxi driver's son being the chef. They knew him well, and with that connection made we escaped to the street outside.

We then found another cash machine and visited the village shop before returning to the footpath heading back to the site. Overall, it was a delightful walk on a wonderful day.

We returned to the motorhome to make the best of the weather there, and ready ourselves for our evening meal at the Sorn Inn - https://tinyurl.com/4zxbsfan

Our taxi driver turned up on time and delivered us to the Sorn Inn on time for our meal, we agreed for him to give us two hours before returning to pick us up.

The meal was very good, the pub lived up to it's reputation. We returned to the site and settled down to our last night there.

The next day broke fine again, which was good as it was the twenty first anniversary of Sue and I moving in together. We celebrated by exchanging cards, and gifts, and tucking into a sausage sandwich breakfast. We then turned our attention to disconnecting the motorhome, and leaving the site before the designated time. As we were dashing about dealing with all the necessary tasks Finn did his best to get in the way, and in no time we were all in the correct seats ready to start our journey.

But this time we were not returning directly home, we were travelling West to Dunure on the Ayrshire Coast. We had booked a treat, a lunch reservation at the Anchorage in Dunure, a restaurant specialising in seafood.- https://tinyurl.com/3782j4f5

We set off for Dunure, which was a relatively brief trip, and were shortly there. After squeezing the motorhome into the car park ( Sue again demonstrating her driving skills) we had a quick walk around the harbour, and onto the beach.

Our booking was for 1pm, the time that they opened, and we were early, but we managed to enter and obtain our meal a little earlier. The food was excellent, and lived up to it's reputation. Following our meal we had a swift drink and then decided to explore Dunure Castle and Kennedy Park, on the seafront, a short walk away from the restaurant.

Given the good weather the park was very busy, and even included a group of Morgan enthusiasts who had lined their cars up near the beach.

Once our explorations were concluded we turned our attention to driving the motorhome up the steep slope out of the car park, and setting the GPS to lead us home.

Our trip to Ayrshire had been quite a success, and we were that impressed with Dunure, and the restaurant there, that, upon our return home, we booked a four night stay at the Heads of Ayr Holiday Park, a short distance from Dunure, the following month.