Walk 10 – Woodland Walk, River Ayr at Holmston Road – 2.3 miles

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Autumnal woodland trail along the River Ayr

A scenic woodland walk along the banks of the River Ayr, beginning from Holmston Rd, close to the University of the West of Scotland (Ayr campus). 

buggy friendly image  Buggy-friendly walk

Print  Dog-friendly walk

  Parking available on Holmston Road – there are a few spaces on the road opposite Ayr cemetery. There are also bus stops on Holmston Road close to the start point. Ayr train station is half a mile away.

route-image  Route: From Holmston Road move onto the red ash footpath behind the wall and turn right. On reaching a bridge cross it towards the college. Turn right at the other side and follow the woodland footpath for approx 1 mile. Go up onto the A77 and turn right to cross the bridge using the roadside pavement. At the other side of the bridge re-descend to the river. Turn left and follow the river along the opposite bank until you once again reach the red ash foothpath at Holmston Road

Woodland Walk, River Ayr at Holmston Rd

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WALK REPORT: 28th January 2016 (photos from November 2022)

A walk with hubby on rare midweek day off work!  And no kiddies… This never happens 😉

I wanted to check out this route to see how child friendly it was with a view to returning with the kids another time.

We had actually intended on following a section of the River Ayr Way but immediately took a wrong turn so in the end did a completely different route!  Our mistake was to cross the river towards Ayr College when we shouldn’t have and so we found ourselves walking along the opposite bank of the river. I will admit that we were completely ignorant to our mistake for most of the walk until we stopped for a picnic lunch and looked at a map!  We followed the correct route on the way back to see what we had missed. Lesson: check the map before you set off! 

Overall this was a short and enjoyable walk, so much so that I came back later in the week to do another walk from the same starting point.

This was actually the day I got the idea to track my routes: one thing which has always held me back form going out walks was fear of getting lost.’How do I know where this road leads?’ ‘What if it goes on for miles and I can’t get back in time for nursery pick up?’ I wished there was a way to create routes in advance using an online map and then follow them during the walk using GPS on my phone via an app. I didn’t know at that point whether such an app existed but I was going to create one if it didn’t. During my research I found ViewRanger (now Outdooractive) – amazing! I now track my routes as I walk them which allows me to follow the route again at a later point as well as share them with others online. I can never get lost again (as long as my phone battery holds up!) I highly recommend using such an app. My current preferred app and the one I recommend is Visorando, available for both Android and Apple. Every route on my website has a purple “download” button at the top which links to the route map on Visorando.

Metal sign at the entrance to the River Ayr Walk on a stone wall
Access to the River Ayr Walk off Holmston Road
The River Ayr lined with autumnal trees
River Ayr seen from Craigholm Bridge
Bridge with metal railings
Craigholm Bridge

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