Hill: Cairn Table
Date: Thursday 13th October 2011
Company: Just myself
Time: 2Hrs 10Mins

I was working in Ayrshire today, which allowed me to ascend a nearby Marilyn after work.
I opted to ascend Cairn Table.

Unfortunately, today was another day of low clag.

Click here to see a map of the route undertaken

I parked in the walker's car park just beyond Muirkirk.

Cairn Table walker's car park:


I found the routes marked on the information board a bit confusing. The red route on the board seemed to have blue marker posts and the blue route on the boards seemed to have red marker posts. Best to just ignore the board and take the path heading uphill.

Information Board in car park:


The path wasn't too bad to begin with but before long it started to get very wet underfoot.

Looking towards Cairn Table:


Looking back towards Muirkirk:


There were quite a lot of the following type of mushroom growing in the grass – I have no idea what type it is.

Mushroom:


Muddy track:


Looking back towards Muirkirk:


Looking towards the Steel:


Top of the Steel:


After passing the Steel, I was in the clag, so it was just a case of head down and carry on to the summit.

Cairn Table has a few interesting features at the summit – a toposcope pointing out Tinto, Arran, Lake District, etc. I saw none of them today! There is also a large memorial cairn and a very large cairn which I assume is the “Cairn Table”.

toposcope near summit of Cairn Table:


Summit trig point:


Large memorial cairn:


Plaque on memorial cairn:


Vary large cairn near summit:


I returned via the same way arriving back at the car just after sunset.