Day 56 - At Last A Decent Meal

The highlight of today was food. I was busy in the morning but by lunch time figured I best go and check out the Heritage Centre in the library. On the way I made a point of visiting the Electric Bakery which I had spied the day before. And what a fine choice it was - a brilliant steak pie and tasty jammy donut was just the breakfast I probably shouldn't have had!

At the library I managed to get a few documents but nothing that I didn't already know about. I was trying to find a birth record for James Stewart but either it was the one that was too smudged to read properly or I have the wrong parish / year. Will go back tomorrow but I felt a bit in a rush due to a large amount of things I had to catch up on back at the B&B.

Popped out for dinner at The Beresford which was a fine choice - gnocchi with chorizo and Roquefort. So rich but sooo tasty and its been a while since I've had a really good meal.

Day 55 - Ayr

Packed up my troubles in my old kit bag and headed for the train and Ayr.

I'd already received a call from the Chalmers Bed and Breakfast that there were problems with the kitchen and they wouldn't be able to offer me breakfast. Having had my fill of full English's over the last couple of months and struggling to get out of bed before the 9am last orders please, I was more than happy to take a discounted rate and make my own breakfast plans.

The choice to come to Ayr was partially to go to the local history centre and partially because this is where David's from so thought as I was close by would be nice to check it out.

Seems like a nice town - will explore more over the next few days.

Day 54 - Fairlie Interesting

Had a lot to do today but I did take a quick trip down to Fairlie. The Stewarts lived in Fairlie when William Stewart was born.

It's a small village with some really beautiful houses - some stunning restorations as well. It looks like one of the churches in the village had been converted into a house even.

I had a bacon sarnie and cup of coffee by the water and headed back to Largs.

Day 53 - The Isle of Cumbrae

I woke up to blue skies this morning so thought I might take the ferry to the Isle of Cumbrae which is just across the Firth of Clyde. Took the bus to Millport and had a good wander around. Great views across to the snow capped mountains on Arran.

Had a cup of tea just as it started to rain a bit - not too heavy so I thought I would walk the length of the island to the ferry stop. It seemed a good idea at the time but as it got wetter and my feet started to protest I questioned my logic. But I said hello to a sheepy and a cowy and all in all it was a nice way to spend some of the day.

Day 52 - Closed for Winter

Not up to much today - lots of things to catch up on. I did go to the library and read a bit about Largs history and called the Museum to see if I could get access to the old graveyard but unfortunately they are closed til May.

Day 51 - Largs

The foggy skies started to clear to reveal sun today - good news for a travel day and I am off to Largs.
Got here quite early and my room at Tigh-An-Straun Guesthouse and so my room was not quite ready - so I headed off for a walk. The fog was still clearing up here and I walked into Tescos and the guy at the counter asked me where my accent was from - Australia I said - did you not bring the sun with you? Wait an hour I said and it will be here! He asked what I was doing here and I quickly told him (glancing at the queue behind me) and he gave me a present of the local paper as a welcome to Largs! The lady next to him gave me some good info about the local museum as well.

The sun was soon out and it was nice to be beside the water so I had a good walk around until my little feeties were starting to hurt (not wearing my walky all day boots today) but its a lovely town and I'm here for a few more days. I stopped for an icecream at Nardini's which is a lovely Art Deco Italian Ice creamery - must be super packed in Summer!

Day 50 - Blue Steel

I woke up this morning to see snow out the window - snow snow snow. My plan for the day was to go to Fenwick, Newmilns and Galston on the search for the Steel family.

I hopped on the bus as the snow fell around - it was melting pretty much as soon as it hit the ground so there was only white patches here and there. The driver asked me where in Fenwick I wanted to get off and I replied err ... luckily it's not that big so I got off outside the pub and as the snow started to get heavier walked in the direction of the church.

Fenwick is where Janet Steel was born - Janet being father's mother's great grandmother. Janet and her brother came to Australia together.


I found a James Steel's gravestone who was Janet's great grandfather! The family had lived in and around the area for some time.

Fenwick is a nice village with many old houses that have been updated with care and the pub did a really good lunch. It was fun to walk through the snow but I had more towns to visit so I jumped on the bus and headed for Newmilns.


A much bigger town by the time I got there the snow was falling much more heavily so I headed for the church looking for the grave of George Steel - Janet's dad. Unfortunately I did not find his but found some other Steel headstones which I will work out their relation.

Back on the bus to Galston - the church here had laid the headstones down and there weren't many surviving so finding Gabriel Steel's here was a dead end (pardon the pun). Enough of the snow I headed back for a bath and a snooze.