2024-04-08 55 -4

Location

Close to a track near Old Kilpatrick.

Participants

KerrMcF

Plans

KerrMcF

I'll drive to the Kilpatrick Braes Car Park at some point during the day and walk up to the point, following the route for the Humphrey, before going past Gavinburn Cottages. The walk from the car park to the point and back should take just over an hour. I plan to also walk to the nearby Old Kilpatrick Bowling Parish Church and take a photo as I live near to the New Kilpatrick Parish Church which I will visit on my way back home. As the car park is near to Kilpatrick station, I may also attempt the 2010-09-11 55 -4 geohash which is one short train ride away. Lots to do!

Edit: One of our cars has a flat tyre and, as such, I will not be able to use one to drive to the point. Since the Kilpatrick Braes Car Park is very near to the Kilpatrick train station, I will travel by train instead. Once I reach the train station, I will continue the original plan (walk up to the point by following the route for the Humphrey and going past Gavinburn Cottages). The walk from Kilpatrick station to the point and back should take just over an hour. I also still plan to walk to the nearby Old Kilpatrick Bowling Parish Church and take a photo as I live near to the New Kilpatrick Parish Church which I will visit on my way back home. I will likely also attempt the 2010-09-11 55 -4 geohash afterwards, as it is only one train stop further from Kilpatrick station. Lots to do!

Expedition

KerrMcF

The plans changed again on the day of the expedition, so I'll write up those new plans here. My dad plans to work from home today, and as such, I will be able to drive to the Kilpatrick Braes Car Park to begin the expedition. Usually, I would take public transport if it was available, but trains are too expensive for these kinds of journeys, and the bus - although free for me - would have taken over an hour to do the equivalent of a 15-minute drive. After driving to the Kilpatrick Braes Car Park, I will continue to follow the same plan as before. If I feel like it at the end of the walk back to the car park, I will do the further plans of walking to the Old Kilpatrick Bowling Parish Church and travelling to the 2010-09-11 55 -4 geohash.

I began the car journey at 3:15pm and arrived at the car park 15 minutes later. The rain began shortly afterwards, and I began my walk towards the point. The walk itself was quite simple with the vast majority of it being along a premade route. I passed by several fields on the way there, the first of which had dozens of small lambs frolicking about. Lambs are very cute, their bleat is less of a 'baa' and more of a 'maa'. I took some photo of them on the way up, as well as a photo on the way back down, so I've added all three of these below.

So far, despite the incline, the route was very easy to follow as it was along a paved road. I reached Gavinburn Cottages (and passed by two highland cows) quite quickly, at which point the path changed to being a track through several fields. This track led almost directly to the point itself, so I more or less followed it for the duration of the expedition. This track passed by the area that would be used for sheep shearing, and this had a sheep's coat draped over the fence. I took a photo of this and continued along the track. I reached the point at which I needed to venture off of the track, which happened to have a mild track leading in the general direction of the point. This track faded quickly, but I was able to locate the point easily due to it being in a half-enclosed circle of what I believe to be gorse.

I reached the point at almost exactly 4pm and took my usual photos (a screenshot, a photo of the geohash itself, a panorama, and a BeReal) before heading back the way I had come. The route back wasn't any different to the route there, and I got back to the car at around 4:30pm. I decided on the way back that I didn't want to wait for the train, nor did I want to walk to Bowling, so I decided I would attempt the retro geohash another day. After all, retro geohashes do not have a designated time to reach. Due to this, I also did not take a photo of the Old Kilpatrick Bowling Parish Church. That can be done another time if I decide to. I reached home easily at around 4:45pm, resulting in an expedition time of 1.5 hours.