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At only a half mile each way, this super short walk from Fairlie Train Station takes you uphill through local woodland to an impressive waterfall on Southannan Burn. Go after (or during!) heavy rainfall to see it at it’s best.
BUGGY-FRIENDLY WALK (Please be aware that although there are no steps and the terrain itself is fine for a buggy, the route is uphill from the railway bridge until you reach the waterfall – approx 0.25 miles)
Walk starts from Fairlie Train Station (KA29 0DX) where there is a small car park. Bus stop on Main Road/A78, a couple of minutes walk from the start.
Route: Exit the car park onto Station Road. Take your first left onto Montgomerie Drive. When you reach Southannan Road turn left along a lane which passes beneath a railway bridge. Take the track ahead of you heading uphill high above Southannan Burn. At the top of the hill turn left to reach the waterfall. Retrace your steps for the return route. There is an optional short de-tour to see some smaller waterfalls on the way back: at the bottom of the hill before passing under the railway bridge take the track on your right. Follow it along to a small footbridge from which the falls are visible.
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My mum loves waterfalls. According to Facebook, there are some picture-perfect ones to be found in Fairlie! Where? I had no idea but we needed to find them!….. It had been suggested to me that I park at the train station and make my way from there however I couldn’t find a single walk review online and my maps returned no obvious loop we could do from there. All the tracks just seemed to end in the middle of nowhere. From experience I knew that just because a map shows a track ending doesn’t mean it does end: the only way to be sure is to go there and explore. So that’s what we did today!
The weather was not kind to us and we marched along in heavy rain hoping it was going to be worth it. You have got to be crazy (or REALLY love waterfalls) to venture out exploring an unfamiliar area on a day like this, right? Well my poor mum didn’t realise there was no planned route until we were already out and soaking. Add to that the fact that I was bursting for the loo before we even left the car park and you have 2 women questioning whether or not to just forget about the whole thing and find a café instead. Actually my mum did suggest that at one point 😉
We came across many a dead end: The paths all seemed to lead to fields. However I promised my mum a waterfall and thank goodness we stumbled across these lovely specimens!
We tried our utmost to find a way of turning this walk into a loop but I am afraid it was to no avail. We even tried crossing one of the fields but ended up turning back. On the plus side we caught a glimpse of Fairlie Castle and a footpath on the other side of the burn, somewhere we will return to on a drier day to explore further!
Use this website often? I invite you to support my work through Patreon or by making a one-off donation.
Use this website often? I invite you to support the continued creation of high quality content through Patreon or by making a one-off donation.
