Walk 26 – Gargieston & the Twa Rivers, Kilmarnock – 3.4 miles

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Walk along the Kilmarnock Water and the River Irvine before heading onto quiet country roads and returning via Gargieston estate.  The river path can sometimes be muddy but otherwise the route follows roads and pavements the whole way. 

Note: the route as described will be inaccessible around periods of heavy rainfall and during the winter months because the flood gates to the river path will be closed. On such days follow diversion detailed below. 

  Parking available on Fairyhill Road, Kilmarnock or at the nearby Tesco supermarket. Kilmarnock train and bus stations are approx 1 mile away.

Gargieston and Twa Rivers

WALK REPORT: 24th March 2016

A late afternoon stroll around part of Kilmarnock taking in River Irvine, a strange collection of road signs, and the beautiful B-Listed Mount House. Ideal for the lighter nights after work now that the clocks have changed. But go with a friend and try to ignore the not-so-pretty parts of the walk…!

I enjoyed the walk but it wasn’t one of my favourites in terms of scenery mainly thanks to a few abandoned (and quite ugly!) buildings and some wasteland. For example the road passed site of the former Kilmarnock Abattoir. Even the section along the river wasn’t particularly pretty: the trees lining it had plastic bags and rags hanging from them which I guessed got stuck there with the recent heavy rainfall. It got me to thinking again about litter picking and why nobody seemed to be doing anything to clear it up now that the river had returned to normal or lower than normal water levels? It was only about ankle-deep so with the right equipment it wouldn’t be too difficult to have a clean up.

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A local person collecting road signs?! [Update: I returned in Aug 2022 at the signs were all gone]
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The pillar of a former gate – I do love a bit of ivy!

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