Ayrshire Ambling Run

Email drops with the rarest of things – a run to the seldom visited south west corner of Scotland! Not only that but it’s a first time lead for our Troon based Ben Pointer. Too good to miss and with forecast for the day looking fair, I cancel swimming and set my alarm for the middle of the night (7am) as it will need an early start to make the rendezvous in Kilmarnock for a 10.15 kick-off.
Being the beginning of August I dress appropriately in full textiles and puffa inner jacket and brave the 14C of the early morning. As I pushed my bike out of the garage I was surprised by just how light it was before 9am. Not quite as surprised as my dog walking neighbour though – “What are you doing up this early?” she enquired. With earplugs in and helmet on I explained what I was up to and where I was going loud enough for the street to hear. “Enjoy your day!” she said. And that’s exactly what I did……
My most direct route would take me on the dreaded M8 through Glasgow, over the Kingston Bridge and on to the M77. In all fairness it wasn’t bad at all and, before I knew it, I was pulling into the BP services filling station where there was already a huddle of SMCers ready and waiting. Our party would comprise of run leader Ben Pointer on his KTM, Allan Jones on his Honda, Kenny Anderson on his Triumph, Ian Ness, our TEC for the day, on his Triumph, myself on my BMW and Frank Dolan and our guest of honour, soon to be Primary 7 (no, not teacher but student), Madison on Frank’s Honda.
Our run was to be split in two almost equal parts with lunch in the middle so off we toddled on part 1 heading down the A77 to the Alloway turn-off where we would make our way to the Ayrshire coast. Alloway struck me as a fairly well to do residential area with some very nice houses and gardens. I was particularly taking note of the lovely hydrangeas in the area as I’ve had a bit of success with them myself this year and have another to plant when I get back. Sorry, back to the ride……..
I’d forgotten just how much of a holiday area the Ayrshire coastline is but was reminded by the holiday parks that were in full swing with loads of kids enjoying the outdoor facilities. Have I forgotten to mention the sun was out? We didn’t see any rain all day (though we clearly missed one or two showers later as there were some stretches of damp roads). Continuing south we passed Croy bay where, over lunch, I reminisced about the Boys Brigade camp I’d stayed at once as a wee boy. Further tourist attractions on route to Girvan included Culzean Castle, the Electric Bray (Kenny is going to have to go back as he missed it!) and the orange one’s golf club at Turnberry. As I looked up to the clubhouse as we passed I could still clearly see in my minds eye the woman protester with that placard…
Exiting the small town of Girvan we headed away from the A77 and on to the squiggly road to Newton Stewart. I have ridden this road once before with my wife aboard but today, solo and following Ben’s nice pace, let’s just say my new tyres were well and truly scrubbed in by the time we reached and joined the A75.
A few miles of open A road with light traffic saw us arrive at our lunch stop at Gatehouse of Fleet. I have to say I was really glad to see the miles count down to the lunch stop as I was truly Hank Marvin. Fortunately the menu was good and my sandwich was a whopper so no complaints there. A really handy place with parking and no problems in seating seven of us. Great destination for further rides down this neck of the woods. Usual good conversations across the lunch table but the highlight being Madison filling us in on her ‘buddying’ duties with the new kids when she goes back to school in ten days 🙂
Part two of today’s ride would take us briefly back to the A75, heading in the direction of Castle Douglas, where we would turn inland and northward toward Thornhill. A right old mix of roads here with a few stretches that had been freshly resurfaced, some tarmac’d, some with the dreaded loose gravel. Nothing too bad but discretion was called for…..though not for long as we entered the Dalveen Pass. First time I’ve ridden this road and, following Ben’s spot on pace, I got my big old bus of an RT to boogie all the way to Elvanfoot. Most enjoyable!
From there it was pretty much the warm down lap along the A702 to Abington and then the old A74, B7078 to our finish at Cairn Lodge services. A few minutes to thank Ben for a well planned, well paced first time run and we were all making tracks for home in a multitude of directions.
Great day and, as always, in good company. We need to get some more runs in this corner of Scotland.
And I mentioned earlier we had no rain? Well, wasn’t long indoors and there was a torrential downpour. Couldn’t have been better timed in more ways than one – that hydrangea I was due to plant will have to wait for another day.