Dumfries and Galloway cycle trip June 2011 - Day 1

With our trip to Orkney confirmed for the end of June, we had been looking for an opportunity to test the bikes and kit out on a three day camping trip. The weather having been so dismal on the last Bank Holiday weekend in May, we decided on a cycle between Stranraer and Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland. This trip would take us three days, a journey of approximately 115 miles, so a Monday holiday was booked and we were all set. The weather forecast didn’t look too great but our theory was that it would ‘test our mettle’ and really give us an idea of what a trip like this could throw at us. As the wind direction was set to blow from the east we decided to give ourselves a fighting chance and travel west from Dumfries to Stranraer. Faced with the prospect of showers and some pretty prolonged climbs this seemed like the best plan to keep the wind at our backs as much as possible.


Saturday 4th June - Dumfries to Ross ( 38 miles )

Dedicated cycle space on the train!

Slightly bleary eyed, we set off for Dumfries by train at 7am on the Saturday morning. The train was tiny, only two carriages, but had a dedicated cycle area to the rear ( for up to 6 bikes ) where we could hang our bikes up.
With the bikes duly strapped in we settled down for the two hour journey. Arriving in Dumfries we quickly got everything off the train (thankfully the train was pretty quiet but was continuing its route onwards to Newcastle), checked the maps, and headed down towards the river to pick up the cycle route (National Cycle Route 7). We got a few cheery waves from some road cyclists out for their Saturday run, and found the signs for the route without too much difficulty.

Route 7 takes you along minor roads, this one an old Military Road, all the way from Dumfries to our first real stop at Castle Douglas. The countryside is pretty rural with rolling hills, which tested out tired morning legs but gave us regular freewheeling opportunities which were much appreciated! At some point on this leg, my bike stand decided to shear off completely, leaving me with no option but to lean my heavy bike against a wall etc for the rest of the trip. Note to self – look at buying a Pletscher twin leg stand when I get back.

There had to be at least 1000 calories
in this piece of cake!

By the time we reached Castle Douglas the clouds had cleared to give us patches or warm sunshine, so we decided on a coffee stop where Al managed to consume single handily a calorie laden piece of cake. Think ‘Death by Chocolate’ filled with slightly salty runny tablet, and then covered in single cream! God knows how many grams of fat it contained but skinny ones like him can afford to eat this kind of stuff. Even on a cycle trip this would have made me put on a couple of pounds instantly.


Castle Douglas is a lovely wee market town, and well worth a visit if you like individual and quirky wee shops, particularly good for jewellery and house wares etc. It also has a pretty good cycle shop, and a Tesco which you pass on the way into town if you’re needing to stock up. On this occasion we weren’t stopping to shop, so headed on towards Kirkudbright on the coast, roughly another 15 miles away.

Once again the roads were really quiet and our reward for a fairly long climb was a lovely descent through almost ‘tropical’ woods down into the town itself. Dumfries and Galloway really is big tree country and is beautifully lush at this time of year.


Our second pit stop of the day saw us now sitting in bright warm sunshine for half an hour, eating a sausage supper on a park bench ( lovely! ) and unhappily burning our peely-wally Scottish legs in the process. Scotland’s sunshine isn’t really that warm but it taught us a lesson that sunscreen should always be applied even if you think it’s not that hot! Kirkudbright, which we’ve visited before, is also worth spending an afternoon in.

Fishing boats at the harbour, and plenty of little art galleries give this small artists town a faintly bohemian air. We sat and watched kids excitedly catching crabs on the harbour front before heading off to the ubiquitous Tesco to stock up on supplies for dinner and breakfast the next morning.

Heading for Ross bay before we had to turn back!

Our destination was a campsite south of Kirkudbright, continuing on via the minor coast road. I had seen this site on the internet and thought it sounded ideal. Reaching it involved a run down a long hill, by a single track road which I couldn’t imagine anyone taking a caravan along with any ease. When we reached the site we were reliably informed by the slightly offhand owner that it was open to Caravan and Camping Club members only, and that we could only stay if we paid the annual membership fee of £39.50!! Al and I have been camping for years and have never, ever had to join this to find a decent site, in fact any camper worth his or her salt wouldn’t bother as there are plenty of lovely sites in Scotland to choose from without resorting to these kind of archaic rules. So our answer was a swift no thanks, and we headed off back up the hill towards the next one. This site’s restrictions seemed like commercial suicide to me, and I wouldn’t have wanted arrive with my caravan only to have to turn round and head back as we did.


Eventually we found the ‘Holiday Park’ at Brighouse Bay about a mile or two further on. Crossing fingers we went into reception and luckily they took tents and had plenty of space for us. As a rule we try to avoid these kinds of places, preferring to go for the more basic ones where you really feel you’re getting away from everyday life. That said this site was lovely. Well landscaped areas hid the fact that you were staying on a huge site, and our pitch was fairly sheltered and came with a handy picnic table, perfect when you’re on a bike. Our only gripe was that it cost £21 for the night which we thought was a bit steep for a tiny tent and two bikes. The chap at reception said they were trying to encourage cyclists, and I nearly said that lowering their prices would be a good place to start.

Our tent was up and pitched in minutes ( more on the tent tomorrow night ) and after a wee walk to stretch our bike legs we got tea on the go. In hindsight risotto on a tiny gas stove on a breezy campsite was perhaps not the best idea! We used up way too much gas, and it took an absolute age to cook, but you live and learn, and it was at least very tasty when it was finally finished! We climbed into our sleeping bags at about 10pm after a few beers and slept snugly for about 10 hours, despite the overnight temperature dropping to about 6 degrees. I'm sure there's a knack to sleeping in these small tents that I'll get used to eventually.....

Routes in and around where we live.....Part 2

Some local Glasgow routes...continued. I've managed to include a couple of maps which should help explain things and hopefully will get round to completing the set soon. Any feedback as to whether these are working, and are of help would be great!

 Clyde Walkway - Glasgow to Uddingston ( 20 miles )

For map click    http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201316007435304884837.0004a38a85c3359bf0a04&ll=55.857973,-4.203472&spn=0.049328,0.130806&z=13


This is a nice run for an evening if you're based in Glasgow as most of it is on the riverside path. Starting on the north side of the river the path takes you through Glasgow Green and onwards along the Clyde as it wends its way towards Uddingston no more than 10 miles away. Recently resurfaced in places to smooth out the bumps, it's pretty good all the way but do watch out for the odd patch of smashed glass - seems to be unavoidable in Glasgow. The scenery is lovely and green and you can forget you're just outside the City Centre. Admittedly there's not much to visit along the way but it's a nice route all the same. Once you reach Newton there's a small stretch on the road, but soon after you rejoin the cycle route and you're nearly at journey's end. Once reaching Uddingston over the green bridge, we've continued on along the river to Bothwell, which has a castle to visit and is a good place to have a break before heading back.
Note - there's currently a diversion, pretty well signposted, round some of the building works for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It's likely that these will be a common feature over the next few years so be warned.....

Total length of route - 20 miles - allow 1 hour 20 mins each way.
Pubs - we haven't really investigated this as we've usually done the round trip, but Uddingston is a fairly well served town with cafes and pubs in the town centre which is well signposted from the river path.
Options for a shorter route - take the train back from Uddingston to Glasgow.


Glasgow City Centre - Yoker loop via the Renfrew Ferry (15 miles )

For a map click   http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=201316007435304884837.0004a38f8e061ef36fea9&z=13

 This is quite a nice route on a sunny evening, and doesn't take long so can be done even when the nights are getting shorter. Starting in the city centre the easiest way to explain it is, starting on the riverside cycle path, go west until you can cross the pedestrian 'squinty bridge'. Once on the other side continue west along the south side of the river until you get to the Odeon Cinema complex. Cut up through here and join the road leading to Govan ( handilly called Govan Road! ). You want to follow this all the way west, hugging the river, until you have crossed the Clyde Tunnel Entrance. If you miss this don't worry, just carry on until the road becomes Renfrew Road and turns left taking you up to a roundabout. For those that know the area you want to then take a right and head for the Braehead Sainsbury's supermarket at the bottom of the road, so go straight through the next few roundabouts and once you reach Sainsbury's you'll see a wee cycle sign leading you down round the back of the supermarket and once again onto the Clydeside path. If the shipyards weren't in the way this would be a much straighter route but isn't really difficult. Once you're on this path you can then relax for a bit. Finally you'll reach a housing development where hopefully the path will eventually be maintained in a straight line all the way to the ferry. For now though, you have to skip through the estate and try and find the road again ( Ferry Road ) which will lead you to the halfway point. Continue down to the Clyde and you will find a welcome wee pub called the Ferry Inn, which although pretty basic has a bit of history about it and sells beer, which is frankly the most important thing! 
After your pint you can take the passenger ferry, which also accepts bikes, over the river to the other side and rejoin the cycle path on the northern side at Yoker. The ferry runs more or less when it is needed, so the chap will just come and collect you and your bikes if you stand on the slip and give him a wave. Costs about £1.60 per person each way, including bikes, and you can find running times here http://www.clydelink.co.uk/. Once you're over the river you need to continue west along the river path until it loops round to the right and you join back up with the national cycle route which will take you back into the City Centre. It sounds awfully complicated but is much easier in reality than it is to explain. A route which gives you the chance to see bits of the Clyde that you don't see elsewhere, including remnants of past history and newly built navy destroyers waiting to be fitted out...if you like that kind of thing. Also lets you see good views of the new Zaha Hadid Museum of Transport, due to open in June 2010, from the other side of the river.

Total length of route - 15 miles - allow  a couple of hours to take account of possible wait for the ferry.
Pubs - The Ferry Inn, Renfrew. The Mint hotel next to the big squinty bridge does nice food and also has an outdoor terrace on the water's edge for sunny days or evenings.
Options for shortening the route - none.

Helensburgh to Kilkreggan (15 miles )

For map click   http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201316007435304884837.0004a38e46ef0f6ec6627&ll=56.046733,-4.760513&spn=0.196354,0.523224&z=11

This route is on the road for the majority of the way, with only short opportunity to nip through the caravan park at Roseneath and along the coast, but the roads are generally pretty quiet. From the station at Helensburgh ( reached from Glasgow Central Station low level ), make your way down to the shore road and take a right. Once you’re on this road it’s pretty easy all the way to Garelochhead following the signs for either this or Kilcreggan. There is a steep section to take you up and round the Faslane Naval Base (home to the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear deterrent, though you won’t see much here unless you happen to spot a sub heading up the loch – don’t let this put you off, the scenery is lovely), but this is pretty much the only hill in the entire route. Garelochhead is a quiet pretty village at the head of the loch with a couple of nice coffee shops and a small Spar if you want to make a picnic. We can say in good authority that the craft coffee shop just beyond the curve of the road is open on Sunday mornings which is quite unusual in this part of the world, but perhaps this is just in the summer months.

Continuing on towards Kilcreggan, you will eventually come to a Caravan Park at the point where the loch meets the Clyde ( Roseneath Castle Park ). Here you can cycle through the site to the bottom right hand corner where you will find a forest track which is pretty OK for cycling, although it could get a bit muddy in wet weather – if in doubt just stay on the road. If you go through the gate and onto this track it turns into a small tarmac road a couple of hundred yards on, which eventually leads to a junction with a farm track leading along the coast. Again we did this in good weather so it may not be best to choose this is it’s been raining recently. The farm track takes you all the way round the Roseneath peninsula, finishing just before Kilcreggan which you can easily see from the track itself. If you choose to stay on the road you’ll get here just the same but will have a wee climb over the hill to contend with.

Once at Kilcreggan, there is a small supermarket, coffee shop and a pub where you will no doubt find what you need. There’s also a bank machine and public toilets. Your only options from here on are to do the route back to Helensburgh or get the ferry to Gourock, where you can catch a train back to Glasgow. The ferry is passenger only but does take bikes and runs a fairly regular service throughout the day, taking about half an hour. You may also be able to get this ferry back to Helensburgh and hop off there but check the routes on the Calmac website ( link on the home page ).

Total length of route – 15 miles – allow about two hours maximum without stops.

Stopping places – plenty along the way but Gareloch is about half way.

Options for a shorter route - none