Long Way Up, Bradford to Girvan, West Scotland.

[Lonewolf]

What seems like yonks ago now I got a free A5 supplement in the MCN which contained info on many UK coastal routes. Recently I decided to try out one of the routes. The plan was to set off early doors, head up through Kirby Lonsdale, and onto the M6. Then pick up the A75 towards Dumfries and onto Stranraer.
If anyone else has the MCN booklet its Route number three. The route takes you from Stranraer to Girvan along the A77 coastal road, a grand total of 29 miles. (I must be mad be mad to travel all this way just to experience this coastal route).

Time was going to be tight because I had to get there and back in a day and do some sight seeing in between, but the guide suggests Castle Kennedy just outside Stranraer is worth a visit, apparantly it was the location for the film The Wicker Man in the 70's. Dont think I've ever seen that or know whats its about, so it was a bit of an educational trip as well.

The Guide also mentions Portpatrick and claims it is one of the most picturesque fishing villages in Scotland. Almost forgot, Alisa Craig at Girvan, a volcanic plug, that promised to be interesting.

I'd never attempted this much mileage in one day before so it was going to a battle of wills and endurance.

The journey began shortly after 6am. The roads were relatively quiet, it was pleasantly warm and thankfully there was a blue sky overhead. The easiest and quickest way from home for me to get onto the M6 is to go through Skipton, North Yorkshire and out on the A65 towards Kirby Lonsdale. So thats the route I took, mostly single carriageway with a few miles of double carriageway beween Keighley and the far side of Skipton the rest of it made up of link roads between small villages and in general surrounded by lots of greenery and beautiful countyside with at this time of the morning still, unpolluted air. Definately the best time of the day.

I stopped for a quick breather at Kirby Lonsdale, more to catch the atmosphere than anything else. Its very rare you will see it deserted like this.




Looking back towards the main road through the trees you can just see small portions of the brighly coloured bridge, its a nice spot is this. For anyone who still hasnt been to Kirby Lonsdale, and explored the local roads around this region, it should be one of those things on your list which you should do before you hang your boots up for the final time.



Well, I was off again, its not too far from Kirby Lonsdale before you reach the M6 intersection. Making sure I turned right (North) and didnt end up in the wrong part of the country.....I've done it before, so yes it is possible!

The M6, same old, same old. I hate motorways, but this motorway isnt too bad. Its relatively little used and unlike most other motorways where at each side you overlook industrial units and cities, the M6 divides mountainous views of breathtaking proportions, making it actually a quite pleasant route.

Well, off the M6 just above Carlisle and onto the A75 towards Dumfries. Not a bad stretch of road, but I was eager at this stage to get out to the coast and soak up that terrific scenery. I still had quite a distance to travel though. One thing I will comment on here and its not because I'm crawling, I did genuinely find the Scottish drivers more switched on and courteous than their English counterparts. It took me by suprise a bit. I came up behind a small van and it pulled over so far to the nearside to let me pass I thought the driver must have suddenly fallen asleep. But no it happened time after time. So fair play to the Scots for that.




The route, (A75) to Dunfries was uneventful, coming away from Dumfries you pick up the signs for Stranraer and it knocks you for six a bit. I cant remember the exact figure but I thnk it was about 90+ miles, I thought bloody hell, thats further than I thought. But again, it was a good road and pretty quiet although traffic was building up slowly. I didnt see any Police presence at all, and what with the majority of motorists being courteous and moving over to let you through you were at least able to keep the pace going if you wanted to. There are plenty of small layby's to stop in so I did just that, best keep myself alert and hydrated. One quick energy bar, a bottle of water and two quick photos and I was soon on my way again.

A Kawasaki with wings.




Even the views from the layby aren't too bad.



Just off the A75 near Newton Stewart is the Galloway Forest Park, http://www.forestry.gov.uk/gallowayforestpark





Three hundred square miles of forestry! Vey peaceful location, although only a few hundred metres from the A75 it had an air of calm about it. My dogs would have loved it. If you enjoy walking and nature, this is an ideal location.

I decided that I would visit Portpatrick and have some lunch there before I did the short route between Stranraer and Girvan.

Portpatrick is a little bit like some of the older, untouched fishing villages of Cornwall.

A welcoming sign, beckons you into the town.




A couple of hundred metres further up this road where the road splits is a cenotaph, remembering and honouring those men of the Parish who gave their lives during the Great war 1914-1918.



The sun was out and beating down, and I was getting quite peckish.





You couldnt miss The Waterfront in its vivid blue/lilac decor. The Crown was next door, but I thought The Waterfront looked the most appealing and interesting so in I went. Perhaps it was just my imagination and feeling of hunger emerging but I thought the lady behind the bar was a tad abrupt, firstly I got reprimanded by her for not having already picked a table number. Apparantly if you are going to order food you must have a table number, doh, I should have known that. Then when I ordered my food and beverage it came to just under £10, so the answer to my question, "Can I pay by Switch"? was greeted by a resounding "No you canna, theres a minimum spend of £10 for Switch".
Thankfully the Missus had packed me away with some cash for just such an emergency, I thought, just my luck now she probably wont accept English money. But she did and I ordered a grilled cheeseburger and bacon butty with fries and salad & a coke to wash it all down with.

I presumed she would bring it out to me when it was ready so I sat myself outside at my selected table, table 20.

It took a while to arrive did my food but thats usually a good sign that its being made fresh rather than just re-heated. The lady from behind the bar appeared maybe fifteen minutes later with the largest burger I had ever seen. I thanked her and off she went to get me some sauces while I tucked into the half cow. (The burger not the landlady)





Fully refuelled and feeling a bit stuffed I went for a walk around the town, down by the harbour. Portpatrick is like so many other towns of this ilk, where the 'Old Town' area is relatively untouched and then the outer areas are more recently developed, sometimes damaging the heritage of the area.

As you walk around the older areas of the town you get a feel for the place and although you may have never been there before, as I hadn't it just felt right as if you could see yourself living there.

How could you not feel comfortable with views such as this?






















I know that this doesnt appeal to everyone, but when I retire, thats the sort of place I want to settle in.

Back on the front, just to the left of The Waterfront is a strange shop selling some extremely detailed works of art.






I'm having that big gorrilla if ever go back there in the car. It'll fit nicely in one corner of my garden.

Well I reluctantly left Portpatrick, oh, almost forgot on my way out through the town there was a wedding taking place, traditional, kilts etc. The photographer decided that while I was riding towards him it would be a good time to have the Groom, Bestman and some other chap walk up the road infront of me while they took a few photos. Not a care in the world, snap, snap and then they waved me on. If you did that in Bradford, firstly you would get run down or alternatively the driver would get out of their car and smack you and then run you down. Now perhaps you see why Portpatrick or somewhere similiar is appealing come retirement. As Danny Glover once said in a well known film, "I'm too old for this shit".

Where was I, oh yes, I'm leaving Portpatrick and heading upto the A77 to do the run, the purpose of my trip. A short while later I'm in Stranraer. I decided not to stop here but to continue straight through and head up to Girvan. I'm on the A77 now, the coast to my left. The coastline here was not as attractive as it had been in Portpatrick but nevertheless it provided a cool and refreshing breeze.



The route between Stranraer and Girvan is just under 29 miles which throughout its duration mostly hugs the coast line. There is just a small portion of it which nips inland slighly before it juts out again, placing you as close as you possibly can get while riding to the sea.

Now unfortunately I was not paying attention when I took these next few pictures so although they were on the A77 route I cannot remember specifically whereabouts they were.







As you continue along the A77 to your left out to sea there is the Ailsa Craig, a plug from an extinct volcano. Just to give you a sense of scale it is about eight miles out to sea and it still looks fairly grand.



Here's a picture which I have 'borrowed' from a website. I claim no rights to it at all Your Honour!



Some relics, moored for retirement.





One other thing I'll just slot in here. The Scottish people are very friendly, I struck up a conversation with a couple in Portpatrick down by the harbour, the woman was telling me she used to ride pillion on the back of her ex's KTM 950 Adventure and she had just been admiring the Kawasaki. She was as Scottish as you get, I mentioned where I had travelled from and she announced that she was from Hebden Bridge a mere twelve miles from my home address. She now lived with her new partner up in Scotland. Very nice couple, I got the impression though she wanted a ride on the GTR!
Then I got chatting with another biker who lived at Girvan but had just pulled over to have a cig where I took the photos above.



Well my mission was at an end. Here I was in Girvan.



Now in hindsight and hindsight is a wonderful thing I should have turned around and retraced my steps on the A77 back to Stranraer, and then picked up the A75 and that is what I fully intended to do. But no, I was the grand explorer, I had travelled all the way from home to Girvan, I was now invincible and I knew best. So instead I foolishly took a different route back home along the B734, alternatively now called by me the road from hell. I've no idea why I did this at all, even now a day later while I'm sat at home looking at an Ordnance Survey map I cannot for the life of me see the logic in this route. After a pointless excursion on the road from hell I picked up the A714 taking me through vast areas of nothingness. Boy was I relieved when I hit the A75 again and civilisation! A drop of petrol or two was soon to be on the cards as well and things were getting a bit touch and go for a while. I have form for this. I can never be bothered to fill up, always thinking, there's bound to be another garage further on with better prices.

Well the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, I had completed my purpose and was very pleased I had made the effort to do so. The weather had remained dry for me all day and the sun had been out cooking me too. It was a cracking day and I would do it again although perhaps next time try and get an overnight pass and do it in two days so I can spend more time exploring.

The final picture shows the bike home safely, total mileage covered was 496.3 at quarter to eight in the evening. Almost fourteen hours out on the bike although some of that was walking and exploring. For those that are interested in fuel consumption the bike returned an average of 50.7 mpg. Thats not too bad for a 1.4 litre engine. I think I must have killed half the population of midges and flies on the trip, thats a job for later today, give the bike a good clean.




Hope you enjoyed the write up and the photos. There were so many other things I would have liked to photograph but time restraints prevent that. But then all the more reason and excuse to do it all over again. ;D

[Rusty]

Lonewolf .... You deserve a medal for putting all that on the site.. well done you !
What a great day you had ! The photos were very good, and nice to see the bike taking prominent place amongst the scenery ! I live down in Sussex and whilst we have the South Downs and plenty of pretty villages and windy country roads there is nothing to match the dramatic mountain scenery that is in abundance where you are.
Thanks once again for taking the time to entertain us all.... I am sure the others will agree !

[Lonewolf]

My pleasure, I will try and dig out some more bike excursion photos and write ups.

[Kwikasfuki]

Echo what Lord Rusty said. TBH, I don't normally stop on my travels to take pics, but seeing Lonewolf's pics I may start. Last time I stopped was to watch a game a village cricket as it was just too damn hot to be on the bike.

[Martin#30]

Excellent photos, and sounds like a very enjoyable trip. Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy reading about trips.

Martin.

[Mr Blek]

Old chap, that is an absolutely splendid writeup and is an indication of the immense joy that only a bike can bring. There are many a tour that is but a distant memory as we never catalogued the journey.

[Lonewolf]

Mr Blek & everyone else, many thanks for your kind comments. I always take many photos of my trips, I never go anywhere without a camera on the bike, there is so much to see and experience out there.   :)