< In 'The Ayrshire Legatees', Miss Rachel Pringle writes to Miss Isabella Todd:
"We then continued our journey along the foot of stupendous precipices; and high, sublime, and darkened with the shadow of antiquity, we saw, upon its lofty station, the ancient castle of Skelmorlie, where the Montgomeries of other days held their gorgeous banquets, and that brave knight who fell at Chevy-Chace came pricking forth on his milk-white steed, as Sir Walter Scott would have described him. — But the age of chivalry is past, and the glory of Europe departed for ever!"  ('The Ayrshire Legatees', Chapter 1)

The road along the coast is not at all suitable for walking - no pavement and much traffic - so the John Galt Way follows the Ayr Coastal Path which takes you to the landward side of Skelmorlie Castle.

Mark Parker (EUP edition, 2022) explains the references as follows: 'Chevy Chase', one of the finest ballads, printed in 1765, tells the story of a fatal hunt led by the English Percy, Earl of Northumberland, on which he encountered the Scottish Earl Douglas, who considered the “chace” an invasion. A bloody battle ensued. The "age of chivalry" mention is based on Edmund Burke’s famous passage from 'Reflections on the Revolution in France' (1790): “But the age of chivalry is gone . . . and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever.”