Left apartment at 9am. Bus to Troon. Started walking at 10am. Windy and cold. I had both my puffy jacket and raincoat on. Started raining around 10:30am until about 1pm.
Most of today was along beach. The tide was high at 10:40am, but we had promenade to walk on. By the time we were on the beach, the tide had started to recede.
Looking back at South Beach Kiosk in Troon. I stopped shortly after to add another layer. A local couple were laughing when they walked by and said, “Welcome to Troon!”The beginning of today was a bit confusing. It was super windy. I walked up in this hill, and down the other side, where I met Dad who had walked on the sidewalk, sheltered from the wind.Benches looking out from atop the hill.Balmy palmy Scotland.This would be fun!From here, we walked over cut grass until we found an easy way to the shelly beach.Fairly easy walking today.The rain begins.For kms and kms.For kms and kmsThere were bins every 100m from past Troon all the way to Irvine today. I think I read we’d entered North Ayrshire, so maybe different management? I liked the idea. The beaches still had quite a bit of trash. Luckily, the wind and rain were hitting from behind and pushing us along. Still, my water soaked hiking pants eventually dropped down my leg and soaked my socks.The tide started to recede. Most of the sea glass was still sharp today, but we found some sea porcelain.Wet!A bridge to celebrate Scottish innovation is closed and falling apart. Dunes. On the other side of the dunes, we went by three golf courses. The bins.I found my sea monster! It followed me home! Can we keep it?Back at Troon.Winter jacket day at the beach! we had lunch just after this, when we left the beach for paved trail to the train station.That’s a beautiful message. Making friends.We caught the 2pm train back to Ayr, stopped for a warm tea, and a few groceries.
Tomorrow is our last 15km day. Forecast is a bit glum, but okay! We’ve got this!
Stories from the Walk Home 