A nice sunny warm day again today. As usual, I set off with no very firm idea of where I was going, but headed northwards up the A713 Ayr road, vaguely thinking about going to Carsphairn, Loch Doon or the Dalmellington area.
However, by the time I was approaching Dalry, it looked as if rain clouds were looming ahead to the north. As the sky was clear and sunny to the east, I turned right towards Moniaive. I was on the same road last week, but (a) I didn’t mind as it’s a road I like, and (b) I knew that there were various good route options after Moniaive.
From Moniaive I headed eastwards over the steep single-track hill road towards Tynron.
Onwards as far as Penpont, I turned south by Keir Mill, with some fine views down over Nithsdale.
I passed the low-lying hamlet of Glenmidge. No prizes for guessing where its name must have come from.
I soon struck the A76 ar Auldgirth and headed south towards Dumfries. I stopped for a nosey at Holywood Service Station - a Royal Enfield dealership I had often passed but never visited before. The guys who run it were very friendly, and they had a lot of interesting bikes: the whole RE range, an Indian BSA Gold Star, a Voge 650, a couple of Benellis, a Herald, and some others I didn’t recognise. (And we Triumph owners with our Thai-built bikes have no right to be snooty about Chinese and Indian bikes nowadays: they all looked pretty well made to me.)
After Dumfries, I turned homewards, taking a scenic detour via New Abbey and Beeswing, and passing the River Urr at full tide, winding its way towards the sea at Kippford.
