With apologies to all those members confined to barracks by pouring rain today, it was quite a nice day here - dry and bright with a mixture of sunshine and cloud, so I went for a ride up to Loch Doon, where I hadn’t been for a few years. I headed straight up the A713 Castle Douglas-Ayr road, which is both scenic and lightly trafficked: an ideal combination.
A few miles north of Carsphairn, I passed a modern copy of a 16th century tower house, built about 15 years ago. The original builder had rendered it with some drab grey-brown cement porridge, but the recent new owner has painted it, which looks a lot better. Still a fake, though.
Soon after, and shortly before Dalmellington, I turned left on to the climbing twisty road which leads to Loch Doon. It offers some fine views to the north:
The road then leads on through the lovely Ness Glen before arriving at Loch Doon. While just in Ayrshire, Loch Doon is in the Galloway Forest Park, immediately to the north of the two biggest ranges of Galloway hills, the Rhins of Kells and the Merrick range.
What a gorgeous day out and the bike looks perfect for that type of ride but if I was a sensitive soul I could be offended by your remarks towards the wondrous county of Cumbria. I admit some residents have a far too close affinity with their wool clad livestock but the rest of us are almost house trained.
