Club News

South Ayrshire Ramblers On Saturday, July 22, the group are organising a fairly easy circular walk of about eight miles starting at the Auchinstarry Marina near Kilsyth. The route follows the footpath along the Forth and Clyde Canal before heading out onto open moorland. It then heads for Croy Hill, catching glimpses of the Antonine Wall. It is then downhill and onwards towards splendid views at the top of Castle Hill ( where the remains of the Antonine Wall are more obvious). Here there is the opportunity to examine the remains of an old Roman bathhouse. The route continues down towards Twechar before turning right to follow the towpath along the canal back to Auchenstarry. For more details, contact walk leader Iain McMurdo on 07540 170982. To join the walk, meet at Prestwick Town railway station car park for an 8.50am departure. Ayr & District Rambling Club On Sunday, July 23, the group are organising two walks. The more strenuous is an 8.5- mile route with a total ascent of 700 metres starting at Wanlockhead Visitor Centre. The walk joins the Southern Upland Way towards Stake Hill and Whiteside, before veering off to climb East Mount Lowther and cross to Thirstane Hill, from where there are excellent views of the Lowther Hills. After descending Thirstane Hill, the route joins a track which crosses Mid Burn and the Enterkine Burn. After a lunch stop here, the walk heads north along the valley to follow the line of the burn, cross it and start the ascent following the line of poles past Crawstone Snout to rejoin the outward route near Rough Cleuch, for the final descent back to Wanlockhead. For more details, contact Denis Duke on 01294 239070. The second walk is a circular route of about 10 miles starting at Pinwherry Community Hall. The route follows a minor road for a short distance before proceeding to Glenduisk, where there is a short ascent followed by a walk in fields, past farms and forestry. The route descends to Barrhill by Balluskie, and joins a track along the Duisk River, the main tributary of the River Stinchar, which leads back to Pinwherry. For more information, contact Niall Mearns on 07968 749911. To join either walk, meet at the Millbrae car park in Ayr at 8.50am. Bridge If you are going to follow the guidance given by the pro’s over the past two weeks, you will want to be sure how to respond to partner’s overcall, with the understanding that his HCP range could be as wide as 8 – 18. Most guidance takes the view: the beauty of promising a 5- card suit for an overcall means that partner needs only 3 cards to support. There is no need to vie with partner to be the declarer – especially if a Major suit has been suggested – unless you have something a LOT better in mind. Despite the incredibly wide range for the overcall, coupled with the fact that there may be as few as 8 HCPs lurking in partner’s hand, your range of responses is simple: 1. If you can support partner’s suit, a raise to the 2- level = 6- 9 HCP, to the 3- level = 10- 12 and to the 4- level = 13+ 2. Responding in NT requires greater strength: after 1- level overcall, 1NT = 8- 11 HCP, 2NT = 12- 14 and 3NT = 15+ and, after a 2- level overcall, 2NT = 10- 12, 3NT = 13+ 3. Changing the suit is your last option and suggests better things ahead. The message is, clearly, constructive but is not forcing and promises at least a good 5- card suit. To force a response from partner, a jump is required. That is a simplified set of responses. In his book, “Partnership Bidding At Bridge”, Andrew Robson devotes pages 83- 116 to the subject and the guidance given is well worth reading; we may return to this area in later weeks, particularly if so requested by readers. Next week we will start a new series looking at the club player’s nemesis – when to compete and when to back off. We will use Andrew Robson’s excellent exposition of a fundamental concept, the ODR ( Offensive/ Defensive Ratio).