Nice warm sunny weather was forecast for this weekend. Yeaterday I had to help SWMBO to do a holiday cottage changeover, and today I planned a longish bike ride, probably further exploring the remote bit of north Cumbria (where be dragons) that I found earlier this year. However, Fate intervened. The party of three people who left the cottage yesterday morning were, frankly, pigs. Most guests are fine, or at least OK, but this lot… I won’t go into detail, but a changeover that we can usually do in six hours took twelve hours, finishing at quarter to one this morning. I eventually got to bed at three o’clock, and didn’t wake up until 10.30, which kind of knocked a long bike ride today on the head.
However, I was determined to get out this afternoon, if only for a localish ride. I set off through Glen Yerrock for Castle Douglas, then up the Ayr road alongside Loch Ken. There is a splendid view across the valley to New Galloway on its hill.
I turned left on to the Ken Bridge, and stopped to look at the view downstream
Riding through New Galloway, I dismissed the temptation to take the hill road by Clatteringshaws to Newton Stewart, and instead rode down the west side of Loch Ken.
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Back at Castle Douglas, I took the single track back road through Gelston, and picked up the coast road as far as Auchencairn, where I turned down the shore road alongside Auchencairn Bay to the end of the road at Balcary, with its view of Hestan Island.
From there, I turned back for the last four or five miles home. It was probably nicer than going to north Cumbria anyway.
