While I wasn’t looking, they reinstated the Cage Walk car park

When I discovered Ayr’s Cage Walk (see this post for explanation: The ‘Cage Walk’ post I promised somewhere in the past), the Smith Street entrance (opposite Ayr Central shopping centre’s entrance) at the station end was next to what amounted to a muster area for works being carried out within the station, and occupied what had been a car park.

Last time I was there, it looked as if the work was done, and the area was being cleared.

It was, and it took me so long to get back for another look – the car park had been reinstated.

The entrance to this feature is just about in the centre of the pic.

It’s an odd shortcut, using this rail bridge over the River Ayr.

It’s not an area I have much reason to wander into (Wallacetown), but it is handy to know if you happen to be in the area of the station, as it saves having to head into the town and make the trip via something like the Auld or New Bridge, or even Turner’s Bridge.

Two, no, THREE bridges over the River Ayr

A pic I grabbed some time ago, and had really expected to catch up on my backlog by the time I got to it, but obviously am now hopelessly behind.

This matters here because I can’t refer to some more detailed pics and history for the subject material, so I’m hoping embarrassment will force me to dig out that material, and get those posts done.

For now, I’ll just do a short post with this one pic, and leave the full stories (or what little I may have found) for later, when I do individual posts on these bridges.

What I will say is that despite spending decades in annual visits to Ayr, I only set foot on Turner’s Bridge a year or two ago, while I wouldn’t even know about Cage Walk had I not seen the name on a map, and dug into what I thought was a mistake.

The two obvious bridges in this pic looking east along the river Ayr, from the Auld Brig, are Turners’s Bridge in the foreground, a steel and iron footbridge from 1900, funded by Mr Turner who wanted to provide an easy route across the river for the workers in his brewery, and the rail bridge which leads to Ayr Railway Station, just to the right of this view.

I just realised the title could have referred to FOUR bridges in the title, as I was checking the pic. The fourth I noticed was the road bridge, carrying Station Road over the river – it’s the grey structure (with sheeting over works on the right-hand part) visible through the arches of the rail bridge.

However, the THIRD bridge intended to be referred to in the title can be found at the top (platform) of the rail bridge, and is picked out in red – and that turned out to what was identified as Cage Walk on my map.

It’s a footbridge attached to the side of the rail bridge, and barely two people wide.

In fact, if you meet someone going the other way, you really have to be polite to one another, and turn side on to pass without bumping or colliding.

So, now I HAVE to go find those previous pics and do those missing posts on these bridges.