As usual I planned this two week holiday to within an inch of its life but it still ended up totally backwards.
The original plan was to ride from home to north of Carlisle, spend 4 days doing Lochs and Glens South, catch the ferry to Arran, spend a day going right round the island, then catch the ferry to the Kintyre Peninsula, spend another 4 days getting to Oban, then catch ferries on and off Mull, back on to the mainland, ride up the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness and then get the train home.
Because of Ruth’s accident earlier in the year, and her lack of cycling I decided instead to catch the train to Glasgow, go straight to Arran, spend a few days there doing circular rides to build up her fitness and confidence and then continue as planned but without the Loch and Glens South.
Sunday 15th May
Caught train from Darlington to Glasgow. First class tickets as well which would have been a treat except at the first stop in Newcastle just as we were starting to relax a noisy polo eating Scottish woman got on and chomped, sang along to her Ipod and flicked crumbs everywhere all the way to Glasgow. Even free coffee and a reasonably priced sandwiches couldn’t insulate us against her. Also, as we were walking through the train from the guard’s van it definitely looked like there is two first classes now. First First Class for people who’ve paid full price and Second First Class for people who have bought cheap tickets. We were definitely in the latter.
Originally we had intended to go direct to Ardrossan and get the ferry but the train we needed was today a bus so we caught a different train to Dunlop and we booked a night at a B&B in Dalry which gave us about 10 miles to do after getting off the train. It was pretty wet and windy and Ruth felt pretty upset in the traffic so I was glad it wasn’t further.
When we arrived the B&B was like a stately home. Fine china, handmade wallpaper etc. It was like staying in a museum. Every room was a work of art. We were invited down for tea and cake on arrival and although the owners were completely lovely it felt like a job interview as we had to contribute to a lively discussion on politics, current affairs, the state of the NHS etc, when all we wanted to do was have a bath and go out to eat. There was also a roll top bath in our room which was supposed to be a selling point, but where are you supposed to put your shampoo and body wash bottles etc, or your cup of tea. They would just fall off the sides so not a great success for me. The curtains were all on drawstrings and there were knick-knacks galore and a four poster bed but it was probably a bit too good for us. As it was raining the owners gladly gave us a lift to and from the nearby Dalry Inn, which was run by a very charming Italian man but seemed to have no customers but us.
Monday 16th May
Completed the 9 miles to Ardrossan in the wind and the rain again, and caught the ferry to Brodick. Fought our way up another 12 miles of hill and sideways rain, including a tea and toastie stop in Lamlash to our cottage at Drumla Farm, just up the hill from Kildonan. Had a worrying 5 minutes where we couldn’t find the owner but we got in eventually and had a warm bath but no cup of tea as there was no milk. Discovered soon after that the ten minute walk to the shop and the pub was down a steep tractor track, but we managed to get a meal and some milk from the Kildonan Hotel, which was the village pub and shop rolled into one.
Tuesday 17th May
As the cycling hadn’t been much fun so far, we decided to park the bikes on Tuesday and buy a round the island bus ticket for the bargain price of £4.90 and spend some time getting to know the island. Typical, as we hadn’t chosen to cycle the weather was pretty good. We were escorted down to the bus stop by Connie the sheepdog, who left us in no doubt that she was in charge. The sheep watched in awe as she went past.
She is a somewhat eccentric dog who watches football and racing and who likes to play football and eat breakfast with the campers on the local campsite in the summer.
We decided to go clockwise round the island via Blackwaterfoot (lovely views of the Kintyre Peninsula) and got off at Lochranza, where we had a lovely fry up at the campsite shop and a tour of the whisky distillery, and we saw red deer just hanging around in the village.
Wednesday 18th May
Got the bikes out and did the easy 9 miles via the local shop in Whiting Bay down into Lamlash.
Had another toastie and some coffee and tried to relax whilst listening to a know it all chatterbox woman on the next table bombarding her virtually speechless friend with almost every fact there is about the Isle of Arran. She seemed to be the speed talking equivalent of Judith Chalmers. The only thing her friend said was ‘I don’t mind’ which was just aswell since any opinions she had would’ve been crushed.
Apart from the road that goes round the outside, there are only really two roads on Arran, the String Road which goes roughly through the middle and the Ross Road which cuts across the south of the Island. Today we decided to ride up the Ross Road. It was hilly, not so much steep as continuously up and up. As we got near the top, the rain started, and once we were over the top we got freezing cold wind, which necessitated a change into full fingered cycling gloves. In a brief burst of sun we stopped and ate our Scotch Pies (and a hotdog lattice) which we had bought earlier from the shop in Whiting Bay, and then started the long descent down to the other coast. I was actively hating the weather by this point but it did get a bit better as we swung back south along the coast and back to Kildonan.
We stopped for some soup and a warm at the Lagg Hotel, and then we bought some cheese from the Torrylin Creamery which we had on toast for one of our evening meals, other notable feasts being Fray Bentos pie out of a tin with Smash, and tinned Spaghetti Bolognese with hot dogs.
Ruth made me walk to a waterfall just before we got back to Kildonan, which I moaned about because it was the first time we’d been out in the sun, and we were in a forest, so we couldn’t feel it, but the view was pretty good, and the people who made the woodland path to it had put loads of work in so I shouldn’t be so churlish.
Thursday 19th May
A glorious 38 mile circular ride along the coast to Blackwaterfoot, across the String Road to Brodick and back to the cottage. For once the weather was clear and we could see things that up to now had been hidden in cloud.
Enough to make us want to stay longer on Arran, we decided over lunch at the Shiskine Golf Club (soup and a seafood sandwich which was lovely) to book an extra couple of nights at the cottage, to keep us here till Sunday.
Friday 20th May
After the exertions of the last two days and needing somewhere to stay after Sunday, we decided to get the anti-clockwise bus into Brodick, where we got on the internet at Arran Graphics and organised somewhere to stay for Sunday and Monday nights.
After that we took another trip round to Lochranza to have lunch at the Disillerry which had very nice food but incredibly inattentive staff which for a short time put me in a bad mood, until Ruth gave me a lecture and I snapped out of it.
Saturday 21st May
We had made a tentative plan to ride around the island by bike today but the weather was absolutely horrendous all day. Winds and torrential rain. We didn’t even go outside until around 3 pm when we decided to go to the shop as we had no milk or toilet paper left. We got absolutely soaked walking to the bus stop, did an 18 mile round trip by bus to the shop in Lamlash where we spent 20 minutes getting the necessaries and then after a horrible walk back from the bus stop we spent the rest of the evening trying to dry our clothes and shoes, which thanks to the superpowered storage heaters in the flat we managed to do.
Sunday 22nd May
Every day the weather forecast looked fine for the rest of the UK, but absolutely crap for Western Scotland. Ruth really wanted to go home and try going somewhere very very south of Scotland but I was holding on for grim death, like when you’re watching a really terrible film but you can’t switch it off because you think it might get better. We did however decided to cancel our Sunday and Monday accommodation and head back towards Glasgow, rather than continuing on further north into the wind and rain.
In the event, the weather was lovely as we boarded the ferry at Brodick and when we arrived at Ardrossan I just couldn’t face spending a nice weather day on the train, especially as the forecast was for gale force winds on Monday, so I suggested we might try following some of the Lochs and Glens South route for a while. I usually avoid the purply urban sections at all costs and I considered getting a train to the south of Ayr but we missed one by ten minutes and the next one wasn’t for 4 hours so we set off riding instead and I’m so glad we did.
The cycle path between Ardrossan and Ayr was absolutely excellent. Mostly smooth tarmac , well signposted and actually managing to bypass the urban areas rather than throwing us out into the middle of a major road at times like most cycle paths near us seem to do.
A lot of the ride was right on the coast and as the winds got up mid afternoon we had to dodge some pretty big waves that were crashing over the sea walls.
We stopped at Troon for a hot dog and some shelter from the wind and rain and decided to find a hotel or B&B in Ayr. The guidebook advised us that there is a vast array of accommodation in Ayr but that the nicer places to stay are to the south of Ayr after the Esplanade so that’s where we headed but I got a bit worried when we got to the far side of the Esplanade and we couldn’t find anywhere to stay. Eventually we found Racecourse Road which runs parallel to the Esplanade and the first place we came to was the Chestnuts Hotel which had some expensive cars in the car park and we thought might be a bit too good for us sweaty cyclists. I hadn’t shaved for a week, I had sand in my eyes and my glasses were all crusted up with sea salt. We were really getting tired and we didn’t want to go any further but we didn’t want to spend a fortune either. We decided we wouldn’t pay more than 80 pounds for B&B and so it was a relief when that was how much it was per night. We didn’t have to go back outside and argue about money or look elsewhere.
The hotel was great. The staff were welcoming and helpful, and there was a lively bar where we got a nice meai. The only drawback was that the hotel was full of loud boring golfers, doing that bloke thing of laughing out loud and generally being quite dull. We encountered them again the following morning at breakfast when they spent about an hour trying to decide where they were going, whose golf trolley was going in which car etc.
Monday 23rd May
The severe weather warning for today and the sight as we had breakfast of a dog walker getting blown over convinced us to stay put today and leave the bikes alone. We walked into Ayr, being careful to avoid any falling bits of tree, and did some laundry, bought LG a new waterproof and generally ate too much food for a non-cycling day. We felt a bit sulky and depressed by about 2.30 at being stuck in the hotel but I had been slightly freaked out by the sound of trees creaking and having to step over branches on our morning walk and I didn’t want to go back out again. In the evening we unnecessarily ate a three course meal, partly out of boredom.
Tuesday 24th May
Today our aim was to get to Newton Stewart, which was about 45-50 miles away. We set off from Ayr on a B road, still getting a battering from the wind. The first ten miles of the day took us about 2 hours, the roads were hilly, the wind was howling and the road surface was full of holes. Applying the faulty logic that if I went faster, we would both go faster, I rode ahead most of the way to Maybole, by which time Ruth was very stressed and upset, and wanting to go home.
I tried to think of options but couldn’t find any good ones. The idea of going back to Ayr which was only 10 miles away was rejected as we would have had to do the same horrible 10 miles we’d just done but in reverse. A train was due which would have saved us about 20 miles but it was too full of people fleeing the previous day’s travel disruption and we would barely have fit on it, even without bikes. Ruth had a few tears on the platform and then she decided to set off to Newton Stewart. At first I wasn’t sure where she’d gone so I didn’t follow her with any conviction and so it took me about an hour to catch her up, by which time we were well into Galloway Forest. She had bought sandwiches so when I caught her up we had those and then carried on through the forest up two big hills and eventually down into Glen Trool. Most of the day we’d been feeling stressed and miserable and on the point of divorce and unfortunately when in such beautiful surroundings the day had been a pretty joyless experience.
It was about 5 when we got to Glen Trool and with nowhere booked to stay that night, Ruth asked me to book us somewhere in Newton Stewart while she carried on. I had 3 numbers in the guidebook. The first two I tried were fully booked but third time lucky I eventually got through to Rowallan House and spoke to Julie, a very friendly lady from Zimbabwe, and she had a room for us. Just the sound of her voice made me feel more positive about things and the welcome we received from her and husband Rob when we arrived around 7 pm made all the anxiety of the day fall away. We managed to get a meal at the Galloway Arms and after a good night’s sleep we felt a whole lot more positive about the previous day, and particularly bearing in mind Ruth’s lack of miles this year, we felt pretty good about achieving what we did.
Wednesday 25th May
One thing I had put to the back of my mind the previous night was that my back wheel had felt like I was riding a Pringle for about the last 10 miles of the day. When I got the bike out this morning the tyre was completely twisted and deformed. I remembered going over a cattle grid with a couple of slats missing and I wondered if I had buckled the wheel. Luckily, Rob gave me directions to Kirroughtree Visitors Centre about 3 miles from Newton Stewart where there was a bike shop. I rode there very slowly and carefully, expecting the wheel to explode at any moment but thankfully it didn’t. The young girl in the bikeshop at Kirroughtree tested the wheel for trueness and found it to be okay but replaced the tyre and tube for me and off we went. We considered spending a day mountain biking there and staying another night at Rowallan but in the end we pressed on.
We stopped for lunch at the Mill on the Fleet at Gatehouse of Fleet around 2.30pm and asked the advice of the very smiley owner / waitress about where to stay that night. She suggested a couple of places in Kirkcudbright (Selkirk Arms and Fludha), both very expensive but both very good, she said.
It was more than we wanted to pay so we thought we’d probably just find somewhere when we got there but this proved trickier than expected as some places were full and some places we just couldn’t find. Things were not helped by the fact that I completely lost the use of the speech and memory functions of my brain around this time. I rang up Fludha to ask for directions but I didn’t listen to the answer and eventually when LG phoned them back and we decided to go there and I was talking to the owner I couldn’t remember where we’d come from or even if we had come from the North or the South. Fludha turned out to be very expensive but I would have to say it was more than twice as good as anywhere else we’ve stayed. It was either the only 5 star accommodation in Dumfries and Galloway or the only 5 star guest house, I’m not sure but it had a wonder shower which brought me back to life and everything else about it was wonderful too, including the evening meal which the owners made for us.
In fact, this whole day was a bit like a dream, with the friendly Zimbabweans sending us on our way, to the dreamy bike shop where they fixed my bike, to the dreamy lunch stop at Gatehouse all the way to the dreamy B&B.
Thursday 26th May
Kirkcudbright to Glencaple via Castle Douglas and Dumfries. I think Ruth finally started to relax into the cycling today.
We spoke to each other in lines from films all day and she started to point things out more and generally to notice things other than the terror of passing cars. In the evening we stayed at the Nith Hotel in Glencaple just outside Dumfries which had a very nice view from the window. It wasn’t as good as the night before but it was a friendly family run hotel and we got to keep our bikes in the kennels which was unusual.
Friday 27th May
Glencaple to Gretna via the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Caerlaverock, where I had soup and a toastie and we saw some swans and swallows and also some cattle cos they're big and not very far away
Went for a quick ride round Gretna Green which in the grey and windy conditions of yesterday didn't look much like a very fun place to have a wedding.
Then stayed with a lovely lady called Val who was found for us by the tourist information centre in Gretna Green and she made us tea and biscuits on arrival and generally treated us like close relatives rather than paying guests. She even recommended us a nice hotel to have an evening meal in (Solway Lodge) and it was a nice way to finish our trip.
Saturday 28th May
Set off early to avoid the Bank Holiday rush. We rode from Gretna to Gretna Green Station, then did a spot of bike dragging around Carlisle, Newcastle and Thornaby, on and off trains and had a tortuous ride home from Thornaby Station on cycle paths that mostly don’t go anywhere and which cross major roads every 50 feet and this brought us well and truly back to Earth. The first two trains of the day we got the bikes on no problem in actual bike storage compartments but then the one from Newcastle to Thornaby had one of those bike storage areas that is just a pull-down seat and it’s in the main carriage and it’s not even big enough for a touring bike, let alone two fully laden ones, one racing bike and four BMXs and their owners which was the scenario for the last few stops from Hartlepool. It was like one of those ‘How many people can you get in a telephone box?’ challenges and at each station at least 3 bikes had to get off and back on, if anyone wanted to get off the train.
All in all, not quite the holiday we were aiming for, but pretty good all the same. Shame about the almost constant high winds. As I have all year, I found the cycling itself quite hard going, especially carrying a spare tyre round the middle on top of what was in the panniers. But as usual, the best bits were arriving in new places by bike, and we found a warm welcome everywhere we went. People in shops, cafes, pubs, guest houses and hotels were all unfailingly courteous and helpful to us. And I’m already looking forward to going back again, to do all the bits we intended to do this time, but didn’t manage.
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