#33 Wigtownshire
First ride of my 7-in-7 challenge for MND.
I always knew a 200 mile, 5 hour drive starting at 3:30am wasn’t the best preparation for a 100 mile bike ride – the otherwise wonderful ride around Wigtownshire proved my theory to be correct!
The early morning drive up to Scotland went smoothly, unfortunately the predicted rain greeted me as I parked my fully loaded car in Wigtown town square.
The county hall of Scotlands national book town was a fine place to start my 7 day long adventure. I wasted no time getting going conscious that the sooner I finished the more sleep I could squeeze in before boarding the 4am ferry to Larne.
Barely having left Wigtown, I happened upon the 19 stubby granite stones that make up the Torhouse stone circle. 20m in diameter, Archaeologists have several theories about the purpose of the stone circle dated over 4000 years old, but a burial or ritualistic function is the most popular.
The climbing began almost immediately with a consistent steady gradient along the B733 taking me through Kircowan and up on to open fells in light drizzle.
The exposed characteristic of the road was brought sharply into focus by the quantity of fallen timber providing me with a “be thankful it’s only a bit of drizzle” message as I wandered ever further away from a cosy cafe stop.
I paid the price for ignoring the private property signs, religiously following my planned route until confronted by a high steel fence and gates preventing me from continuing along the shores of the Black Loch and instead having to back track to Castle Kennedy to pick up London Road into Stranraer.
The grounds of Castle Kennedy and the harbour provided more photo opportunities, it was turning into a very chilled start to a long week of cycling.
The cafe harbourside at Portpatrick was an ideal lunch stop. Whilst devouring a more than acceptable tuna melt pannini it dawned on me that I had been on the go for 9 and a bit hours and still had 100km to ride, it was definitely going to be a long day!
The Mull of Galloway delivered empty beaches, stunning views and stories of RAF tragedy along with numerous tight little harbours and quays.
Another shower failed to dampen my spirits on finishing day one in Wigtown but did prompt a rapid departure and I arrived at the Cairnryan B&B shortly after 8pm. With a planned 3am wake-up alarm to catch the ferry the next morning the last thing I needed was to have to fully empty the car searching for the car key which I had inadvertently lost amongst the weeks cycling paraphernalia in my haste to get away from Wigtown promptly.
The ride in numbers
174.08 km Distance
Elevation Gain 1883m
8hrs 5 min moving time (21.5km/h)
3 coffee stops
5 bottles of water
No punctures
7 categorised climbs
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