A short walk in a beautiful wooded glen featuring dramatic waterfalls and native trees. Carved wooden features and some fairy houses make it popular with small children.
Good footpaths with steps, surfaced road.
None to start - nearest bus/train Dalry 1km from alternative start at Dalry Cross.
Dedicated car park by Lynn Bridge, or walk from centre of Dalry.
If the small car park is full or if using public transport you can start this walk from The Cross in the centre of Dalry next to Dalry Trinity and St Margaret's Church. From here head along Main Street and cross Roche Way into Vennel Street. Turn right onto the main road and continue for a distance before turning right into Saltcoats Road. Continue to a small off-road car park just before the Lynn Bridge on the right. To begin the walk, return to the road from the car park and turn right to cross Caaf Water by the Lynn Bridge - a narrow road bridge with a pavement. Turn right just after the bridge and follow the footpath.
Stay on the main path and climb uphill and past a bike barrier into the woodland. The path continues to follow the south side of the Caaf Water with native birch, hazel and rowan trees as well as a variety of birds including wagtails, dippers and the occasional kingfisher.
The walking is pleasant and the route obvious, soon passing a picturesque waterfall known as Lynn Spout where a lade and the remains of Craig Mill can be seen. This mill was associated with Kilwinning Abbey together with Garnock and Sevenacres mills. Go up steps and through a metal gate to continue alongside the river. Cross a footbridge and soon descend to the river passing a bench. Cross the river on the bridge to reach Pinnoch Point or 'Peden's Pulpit' named after a famous Covenanting preacher who was said to have delivered sermons from the large rock on the right. In 1682 Peden performed the wedding ceremony of John Brown and Isabel Weir and warned of impending tragedy. Three years later troops commanded by Captain John Graham of Claverhouse shot John Brown for Brown's refusal to take the 1684 Oath of Abjuration, and a memorial to Brown can now be visited in the hills above Muirkirk.
Ignore the path through the meadow on the left and stay on the main path to head uphill and up steps before the route bears right to follow the north side of the glen. Keep left when a path goes off to the right (there are partial views of the waterfall if you want to detour a short way) and eventually there are views over Dalry as the path descends into the woods again. Go through the wooden gate ahead at the huddle of buildings that make up West Lynn, including West Lynn Villa itself which was the home of Dalry-born artist George Houston RSA (1869 - 1947). Keep ahead to pass in front of the first house and then turn right to pass a couple more houses before forking right to go through a walker's gate into a field with picnic tables. Pass the tables and another gate to return to the car park.
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