I’ve long admired the Co. Monaghan-born poet, Patrick Kavanagh. He has always been amongst my favourite writers. One of my favourite poems is ‘Dear Folks’ where he wrote the lines:
‘Just a line to remind my friends that after much trouble Of one kind and another I am back in circulation.’
I believe he wrote that whilst recovering from lung cancer but I’m not 100% sure on that point.
The words went through my mind a few days ago as I was riding my bike. My mind can take me to all sorts of strange places as I cycle. One of the joys (or hindrance) of being a predominately solitary cyclist is the freedom to allow the mind wander without interruptions. Thankfully, I didn’t have anything as serious or life-threatening as cancer, but I did have chronic sinusitis over the winter. This also led to a post nasal drip with a lot of phlegm, and I spent much of the winter feeling stuffed up and trying several nasal sprays as prescribed by the doctor with varying degrees of success.
I also hurt my back quite badly, this was mostly as a result of a latent issue resulting from my accident and the fact that one of my legs is much stronger than the other now which caused an imbalance. With help from a physiotherapist and leg-strengthening exercises, it is now mostly better. These two issues combined meant that my cycling over the winter has been quite limited in comparison to what I would normally do. So, like Patrick Kavanagh, I am now back in circulation!
It’s only really in the past few weeks that I’ve been starting to ride regularly again and I’ve been regularly doing an eighteen-mile loop after work in an effort to get fit again. I’ve never really been into hard training. I’m not training for speed. My preferred form of cycling is long meandering day rides to absorb the areas I pass through. It wasn’t long before my thoughts started to turn towards longer riders and wondering how I would get on if I tried on.
After a pretty awful week from a weather point of view, suddenly there was a nice, sunny day. It also coincided with a day off work as I used up some leave left over from last year. It was time for a longer ride. I’d start local. I prepared some sandwiches and food for the way, loaded them into my Carradice saddle bag along with my usual tools and bits and pieces I carry on any ride of reasonable length. I also packed a waterproof jacket. In the west of Ireland, it is always best to be prepared no matter how sunny it appears when you leave home. Only the day before, there had been sleet and hale! I would take my Townsend BX-40. I’d probably appreciate the low gears today as I regain fitness.
I didn’t really cover any new ground on this ride but enjoyed it all the same, and after the long winter of cabin fever and discontent, it was so nice to travel some familiar roads. It’s true I was lucky with the weather, but with the right frame of mind and the right clothes, I can enjoy riding in almost any weather.
It made me ponder how Springtime must be one of the most rewarding times to be a cyclist, causing me to mentally reference another of Kavanagh’s poems – Canal Bank Walk. With buds on the trees, the green grass, the new-born lambs so full of cuteness and character and of course the many bunches of beautiful daffodils which are often seen along rural Irish roads at this time of year. I can see why William Wordsworth took inspiration for writing one of his most famous poems from seeing daffodils. The world is renewing and re-growing following the winter slumber, just as I was doing myself. People who don’t take time to enjoy nature miss out on one of the simplest joys in life in my opinion.
It was a simple route, leaving Letterkenny going to Ramelton on a slightly roundabout route via New Mills and Kilmacrennan. I like this road as it’s mostly lightly trafficked. Taking the R254 would be faster, more direct, but also horribly busy. With little traffic to bother me, I could take my time and look over the hedges. Saying that, I really hate crossing the N56 in Kilmacrennan, a horribly dangerous junction with poor sightlines and crossing a really busy main road. Oddly enough, it seems easier and safer to do it by bike than by car.
The heavy rains of the previous few days were very much in evidence in any of the rivers and streams I seen en-route. The contrast from twenty-four hours previously could not have been greater or more obvious as torrential rain, sleet and greyness had been replaced by clear blue skies and a warming sun.
I had considered exploring some new roads and making my way to Milford but decided against it. I would keep that for some other time. I continued on my way to Ramelton. On the outskirts of the Ramelton, off to the right on a minor road, you find what is known as the salmon leap on an old weir as the water passes under a centuries-old stone-arched bridge. This is one of my favourite places, I could stand here for ages just watching the water flowing. It was especially good today as the water level was high and the river fast-flowing.
From there, I continued on into the town of Ramelton and along the river to The Quay. I love this town as it’s so full of beautiful Georgian era architecture. Sadly, much of it is very run down and derelict now. Ramelton once was the most prosperous town in Donegal with thriving industry and in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Quay would have been lined with ships. The warehouses and the mills of that era still stand opposite; but mostly in a poor state of repair. Work has been done in recent years to save them and redevelop them into apartments and other uses and I hope more of these beautiful old buildings can be saved. The decline of Ramelton began in the nineteenth century when nearby Letterkenny gained railway connections which meant it became the main town in the area. Ramelton never gained a railway line and commenced its slow and sad decline in fortunes.
I sat on a bench at the old quayside and ate my lunch and watched the world pass by for a time. The cargo ships are long gone now (modern cargo vessels would be much too big to navigate the river anyway) and the quay is deserted apart from a few dog walkers taking advantage of the nice weather. I took a little time to look at some of Ramelton’s other history.
I know little about rugby but there is a monument to David Gallaher, a local man who moved to New Zealand as a small boy with his family and went on to became captain of the Original All Blacks rugby team in 1905 – 1906. I believe they were really successful. Sadly, he lost his life at Passchendaele in 1917 like so many others.
One of Ramelton’s other famous people is William Cecil Campbell (born 1930) who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2015 for his work on parasitic diseases. A statue in his memory has been erected.
I then made my way towards the seaside resort of Rathmullan. I had intended to use a slightly longer but quieter route but discovered my intended road was closed for road works so I continued along the main coast road. I didn’t find it too busy despite the nice weather. I always love the view along this road as you look across Lough Swilly towards Inishowen, especially on clear days such as these.
I’ve been to Rathmullan many times but today, I decided to make my first visit to Rathmullan Priory. I’ve walked, cycled and driven past it many times in my life but never took the time to look around it. It is a ruin now, but nicely situated looking out over the water. The Priory was built in 1508 by Rory MacSweeney. It was plundered in 1595 later used as a barracks from 1601.
In 1618, the nave was adapted as a castle-residence by Bishop Knox and survived a Jacobite attack in 1689. The Chancel (eastern part of the building) continued in use as parish Church until being abandoned in 1814.
From there I made my way to the pier, sometimes there are interesting ships docked here but not today. The calmness of the water was unbelievable. Rathmullan is best known as a seaside resort. I’ve written about Lough Swilly several times before on this blog. Because it is one of the deepest natural harbours in the country and relatively safe and secure, it was always very highly prized by the British which is why there are so many old fortifications along the Swilly, mostly dating from the time of Napoleon when the threat of invasion was high. The old fort in Rathmullan itself has been restored recently. There used to be an information centre to the Flight of the Earls in it but there is no sign of it now.
The Flight of the Earls is another famous event in the town’s history. In 1607, the last of old Gaelic Chieftains left Ireland to flee their hostile English overlords, one of the watershed moments in Irish history. Today, there is a sculpture to commemorate this hugely significant historical event.
I carried on along the coast just a little further, to Kinnegar Bay, one of my favourite beaches which I like to walk on as it’s usually quiet and peaceful. I also made a brief call at Rathmullan House hotel, a magnificent building dating from 1760 and was part of the Knox family estate. Later in the 1800s, it became the country residence of the Batt family, linen merchants and bankers from Belfast. It remained with the Batt family until the 1940s. After the war, it became a centre for walking holidays, before being turned into a hotel in the 1960s by the Wheeler family. It is now in the second generation of the family. The hotel has extensive grounds to be enjoyed and paths which lead to the beach, through many old wooded areas.
It was time to re-trace my steps. My journey home was mostly the same as the outward leg. I did stop near Kilmacrennan at the old Friary, another local ruin I had often meant to explore in a bit more detail but never did. The Friary was built in 1537 by the clan leader, Marcus O’Donnell for the Franciscan Friars. It was built on the site of an earlier monastery founded by Colmcille which dated from the sixth century. For over four hundred years, the O’Donnel Chieftains had been inaugurated at this place. The religious ceremony was held here whereas the civil ceremony was held at nearby Doon Rock. The Friary was abandoned in 1610.
After that, my ride was uneventful in the glorious March sunshine. It was never particularly hot but it was nice to see such weather after a week or more of rain and wind. I was happy too. The total for the day was just over sixty miles which makes it my longest ride since I was on the Isle of Islay last year. As seemed appropriate, I would celebrate my ride to Kinnegar Bay with a bottle of the locally produced Kinnegar Beer!
Like Kavanagh, it felt good to be back in circulation again, to honour my soul with a new dress woven, to wallow in the habitual, the banal, and to grow with nature again as before I grew. I feel inspired to be out and about again and hope this is the first of many enjoyable day rides in 2024.
I bought my 2006 Brompton second-hand in 2016. It came with new tyres fitted and I gave it a service at the time but didn’t do much else beyond make a few tweaks such as fitting the sprung leather saddle which gave me just enough extra extension in the seatpost for efficient pedalling without the expense of buying the extended seatpost. It is also much more comfortable in my opinion; I favour leather saddles and sprung saddles may have gone out of fashion over the years but can add a lot of comfort on any bike with an upright riding position.
After eight years of use, and many thousands of miles, now on my fourth rear tyre and second front tyre, I could no longer ignore the need to give the bike some tender loving care. When I bought it, I did so because I always liked the design and I thought it would be useful to have to carry in the car. I never really expected to use it as much as I have. I have been as far afield as Loch Lomond, muscled it up hills it in the sort of terrain where most people would say a triple chainset would be required and often carried heavy loads – luggage when touring or shopping, etc when used locally as a utility bike. I’ve also used it on many occasions for a bit of gentle off-roading through forests or along riverside paths.
I often wonder did Brompton ever design their bike to take the use that some people have put them to. The reality is that they make excellent touring bikes if you don’t mind walking the odd hill here or there. They carry luggage so well and can be folded up to be easily transported by bus/train/car/boat/plane. They also make excellent utility bikes as when equipped with large front T-bag, they can carry a lot of messages and because the load is carried low down, it doesn’t affect the way the bike handles. Indeed, my personal opinion is that a Brompton is nicer to ride with a bit of weight on the front.
I could no longer ignore the wear that was apparent in some of the components in my bike. I had changed the headset last year as it was worn out and was affecting the steering. I was also aware of the wear in the chain and drivetrain. The thing with hub gearing or singlespeed bikes is that you can keep riding with a worn chain long past the point where a derailleur geared bike would most probably slip. I could pull the chain about half an inch away from the chainset, a sure sign of wear. The chain was also very noisy by now. The bottom bracket was also showing signs of protest with a roughness apparent. During my Scottish tour in June. It also developed a pronounced click with each revolution. I originally thought it was a pedal doing this as drivetrain noises on a bike can be difficult to pinpoint but then came to the conclusion it was the bottom bracket itself.
The point was rammed home to me somewhere on the Isle of Arran in June where I met several other Brompton tourists and I did ride for a few miles alongside someone else who had a nice, shiny new titanium Brompton. The silence was remarkable compared to the cacophony of noises that came from mine. I think it was one of those things that because wear is a gradual thing, I was used riding it and didn’t notice too much. Hub geared bikes can be ridden like this without too many issues. I think the reason the chain was so noisy was down to the chain tensioner on the Brompton and the chain wrapping around it. On a roadster, this doesn’t happen and I’ve seen vintage roadsters work happily with unbelievably worn chains.
It was time to go on a shopping spree! I stripped the bike down earlier this month to check what I needed. In particular, I really needed to measure the bottom bracket width to ensure I was ordering the correct one. It was 119mm and on one my age, it is the less common ISO taper. With the bottom bracket cartridge removed, it allowed me confirm my diagnosis. There was no mistaking the noisy bearings and the tight spot which produced my click on each revolution. Cartridge bottom brackets are usually just made with standard sealed bearings and I did try to remove mine, as it would enable me to buy two new bearings from an engineering supplier and save the cost and the waste of replacing everything but they were contained in a plastic housing and I couldn’t find any way of working on it as any of my attempts to hold it or try to tap the bearings of the spindle was starting to crack the plastic.
So, my shopping list was one bottom bracket, a chain, a new sprocket and new jockey wheels for the tensioner. I am undecided about whether or not the jockey wheels are the same as those on a derailleur. I believe they are, but I ordered the Brompton ones anyway as they’re not expensive. My chainset was fit for further service. For touring, some people have modified their Bromptons to take double chainwheels or sometimes fit the optional 44 tooth wheel. Sometimes I have felt like having a play with fitting a double chainset and increasing the gear range but in reality, the standard 50 tooth ring works for me. I think fitting a 44 tooth ring would leave the overall gearing just too low. The double chainset setup would give a much better range but add complexity. The lovely thing about a hub geared bike is the simplicity; let’s keep it like that!
It was all pretty straight forward putting it back together and I took the opportunity to clean things as I worked through it. I probably should have taken the opportunity to strip and paint the rear triangle when I had it partially stripped anyway but I decided not to. There is no sign of breaking out into rust and this is a functional, well used bike ridden in all weathers and all road conditions. It would never remain shiny for very long.
Replacing the jockey wheels on the chain tensioner was straightforward, the only tool required being a flat head screwdriver. You need to pay attention to the positioning of all the washers to preserve the chainline. I always apply a little grease to the plain bearings of jockey wheels. This is possibly one of those things where some might argue that doing so would attract dust but I still think these things are better lubricated. They spin much more freely.
There was definite evidence of wear on the hub sprocket. I had a replacement but decided not to use it at this time as I just reversed the original to now wear the opposite side of the teeth. This is possible when the sprocket isn’t dished as it won’t interfere with the chainline.
I cleaned and greased the bottom bracket threads (standard 24 TPI British Cycle threading) before installing the new bottom bracket. It is always worth taking care with bottom bracket threads to ensure they are clean and lubricated. A 24 TPI thread is quite fine and it is easy to cross-thread it and cause damage. Never force a bottom bracket retaining ring or cup into a frame. It should screw relatively easily. If force is required, unscrew it and try again as something is wrong. Also always remember on bike with standard British cycle threading, the drive side cup will have a left-hand thread and tightens anti-clockwise. I also apply grease to the square tapers of a bottom bracket when installing the cranks. I know this is controversial but I’ve always done it and it seems to work for me.
Like most single-speed and hubgear equipped bikes, my Brompton uses the traditional wider 1/8 inch chain. Derailleur geared bikes with more than four rear sprockets use a narrower 3/32” chain. A 1/8” chain is stronger, longer lasting and probably cheaper to buy. Basically all modern cycle chains are of bushingless construction. They are lighter and allow more side flex which has enabled the increase in sprockets on modern derailleur systems. KMC still offer a traditional bushed chain which are supposed to last longer. I ordered one of these as I ride this bike a lot.
The wear in the original chain was very obvious when I examined the rivets of the joining link with a definite wear ridge apparent. There would be similar wear on the bushes of the chain as well. This shows how a chain appears to “stretch” in use with the wear in the rivet and the bush combining to make each link seem longer. Bicycles us a half inch pitch chain so each link is one link long. You can measure the wear of the chain by measuring its length with a 12” engineer’s rule which should show 12 links as being 12 inches long. Mine was measuring something like 12 3/8” so way past the point where it should have been replaced. I counted the links of the old chain to make sure I was shortening the new one to the correct length before installing.
With the chain installed and the tensioner and wheel in place, the bike was now good to go, the only remaining thing to do was to adjust the gear indicator rod, something that needs to be done on a Sturmey hub every time the wheel has been removed. When installing the indicator rod, tighten it and the release it half a turn or so. It should not be screwed in completely tight. Then put it in 2nd gear and adjust it so the flat part of the indicator rod is level with the end of the axle when viewed through the window in the wheel nut. This assumes you have the correct indicator rod which may not always be the case on older bikes. If not, just put it into 1st gear and adjust so the cable is tight and then back it off to allow a tiny amount of movement. I can explain this in more detail if anyone wants to know.
A quick test ride showed how much better the bike rides, no mechanical noise and everything silky smooth. It was all very worthwhile and my Brompton is almost as good as new again from a mechanical point of view for a tiny fraction of the cost of actually buying a new one and shows how cheap running and maintaining a bike is compared to running a car!
I haven’t done very much cycling at all these past two months due to a bad cold, sinus infection and then a back injury but have started doing short rides again so look forward to giving my refurbished Brompton a much longer test ride soon.
I look forward to many more Brompton adventures….Where do I go next year?
It seems unbelievable that the summer has passed and I haven’t really had any cycling adventures at; a combination of bad weather, rising accommodation prices and generally been busy with other things. I had been doing regular twenty or thirty mile rides all summer so had at least maintained an acceptable level of fitness but hadn’t been doing any touring or even the long, meandering day-rides I like to do in summer.
I felt the need to make some sort of plan to do something before the dark evenings set in for winter. September has traditionally been my preferred month for touring anyway as you often get decent weather, the days are still long enough and many places are quieter as the schools and colleges have gone back. I started looking around at what I could do. The good thing that had happened this year was the return of the Kintyre Express services from Ballycastle so I decided to go to visit the Isle of Islay. I could book a return ticket from Ballycastle to Port Ellen. The service only operates Friday to Monday so I could go on a Friday and return on the Monday; giving myself a long weekend on the Island. The decision was made when I was able to book a bed in the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel for a very reasonable price. I booked the ferry and hostel a few weeks in advance. I had never been to Islay before so I was looking forward to experiencing something new. The island isn’t very big in the great scheme of things but I could also make a day-trip to the nearby Isle of Jura.
I had considered making a proper tour of it and taking my touring bike and riding to Ballycastle on the Thursday and spending the night and again staying in Ballycastle on the Monday night and riding home on the Tuesday. I tried to book the Ballycastle Backpackers Hostel where I had stayed in the past but the proprietor was going away for her own holiday so I couldn’t stay there. Unable to get any affordably priced accommodation, I decided I would just drive to Ballycastle early on the Friday morning and leave the car in Ballycastle.
So, with all packed up the night before, I made my way to Ballycastle, enjoying the lightly trafficked roads in the early part of the journey. I arrived in Ballycastle earlier than I had expected and had most of an hour to wait for my 9:30 AM sailing on board the Kintyre Express. The weather looked promising as the early morning mist began to burn off and it looked like it would be a smooth crossing, never a guarantee as the seas around Rathlin Island are often rough.
I went for a walk along Ballycastle beach for a while before getting ready for departure. I had decided to bring my Brompton on this trip. It travels easier by car and carries luggage well. Also, I was going to a small island which seemed to be pretty flat according to the maps I looked at so I didn’t need a huge range of gears. I like my Brompton for touring, it’s practical and relaxing to ride. Touring, for me, is more about taking the time look around and stop and enjoy the view, rather than attempt to set personal bests. A Brompton lends itself to that type of riding. Any three-speed bike does really, but a Brompton is easier to transport.
The ferry operators store the bikes (there were a few other cyclists) outside while asking us to remove our luggage which is then stored in the hold of the boat. This is a fast ferry, and covers the trip to Port Ellen in just over an hour. I had travelled on this boat once before when going to Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre in 2019 so I knew what to expect. Travelling on this boat is more like being in a small aeroplane as you are supposed to stay in your seats and there are even seatbelts. At speed, on rougher seas, it is very rough as the boat crashes through waves. This is really a big speed boat. However, as this was such a calm day, we were allowed out to the outer deck on this occasion and it gave a good opportunity to see Rathlin up close, including two of its famous lighthouses.
Once docked in Port Ellen, the luggage was unloaded and I was able to re-attach my bags to the bike. As has become my normal touring routine on the Brompton, I had my front T-Bag and my Carradice Saddle bag. I could have put everything in the front bag but I prefer to split the weight. The front of a Brompton is very convenient for carrying loads and in my opinion, a load on the front improves the handling of a Brompton. Despite this, I am always wary of putting too much weight on the front luggage block for long trips. Perhaps I’m being overly cautious. I really must find out if there actually is a recommended weight limit on the Brompton luggage block.
It was nearly eleven o’clock by the time I was ready to set off. I had a much earlier than usual breakfast so was starting to feel hungry already. I always find sea air always makes me feel hungry anyway. I decided I would find a café in Port Ellen and eat before going on my way. I had barely gone more than a few hundred yards before suffering a rear puncture. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be one of those days! I removed the T-bag and my tool kit and turned the bike upside and set to work. People make a lot of fuss about how difficult it is to remove the rear wheel of a Brompton but I’ve found once I did it the first time and worked out how the chain tensioner works, it is no big deal. Of course, like all Sturmey-Archer hub equipped bicycles, you need to remove the gear cable. On a large-wheeled bike with hub gearing, I probably would just remove one side of the tyre with the wheel in-situ but with the smaller wheel size, removing the tyre is never quite as easy.
It was easy to locate the puncture as I could clearly see the piece of wire that had somehow pierced the sidewall of the tyre, missing the puncture protection layer. This one could be put down to bad luck but it is always nice to see an easily visible cause of the punctured tube as you know where look to find the hole and patch it, and you can be certain you have removed the problem from the tyre. Sometimes with punctures caused by pieces of glass or small flints, it can be tricky trying to find the problem. I did have spare tubes anyway but just patched it as it was a nice day and the rubber solution dries well in the sunshine. Punctures in the rain on dark, unlit roads are never as easy, but sadly more common! The secret of doing this is to prepare the tube properly. I always carry some sandpaper for this purpose in my puncture repair kit. The tube needs to be roughened and if there are any raised lines on the tube, they need to be sanded off or the patch won’t sit properly. Then apply and spread a layer of rubber solution and let it dry before applying the patch. I have a preference for Rima Tip-Top puncture repair kits as I feel they are much better than the ones from bargain basement stores.
I was quickly on my way again, albeit with filthy hands. I often think about adding a pair of rubber gloves to my touring kit so I can do these things without getting oil from the chain on my hands but I never do and forget until the next time something goes wrong. I located a café, ordered my late breakfast/early lunch and washed my hands in the toilet whilst I waited on my food.
I was then able to start my Islay adventure properly with a full stomach and topped up energy supplies! I had booked the Youth Hostel in Port Charlotte but it wasn’t too far away and I had all afternoon and the sun was shining. I decided to extend my ride and explore a bit so I headed off in the completely the wrong direction to see what I might find. I found three whisky distilleries and a very nice off-road path that linked them together as a shared use path ran alongside the admittedly lowly trafficked A-road.
Whisky is of course what the island is famous for; it is in many ways the capital of the Scottish Whisky industry. Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg are all famous whisky producers located just a few miles outside of Port Ellen. They would be the first of many distilleries I would encounter in the coming days. I didn’t go inside any of them, just took photos of the outside. These are all old characterful old buildings and clearly popular tourist destinations. I was speaking to some Germans who had come on a “whisky holiday” and were walking around to all the distilleries on the island to sample the different whiskies. I can definitely see the appeal of doing so. I didn’t really want to start my afternoon ride with a wee dram though so I continued on my way.
I back-tracked back into Port Ellen and continued on the correct road towards Bowmore and Port Charlotte this time. There is another distillery on this side of Port Ellen (called Port Ellen). I believe Port Ellen distillery originally closed in 1983 but has recently been re-opened following a huge investment. There is a rum distillery in Port Ellen too and there is also a gin distillery on the island. The rum and gin are much more recent but the whisky heritage of the island dates back hundreds of years as it was a perfect place to make whisky, well away from the prying eyes of the dreaded excise man. With some good farmland for growing barley, peat to dry the malted barley and a plentiful supply of unpolluted fresh water, it was a perfect place to start a distillery. The use of peat to dry the malt is what gives the Islay malts their distinctive flavour which differentiates them from something like a Speyside whisky.
The coast road is a pleasant route with good sea views and despite being the main road, had little traffic. It is also mostly flat at this point and has many long straights that seem to go on for miles. It was an unusually calm day but I suspect this could be a very exposed route on a windy day. You pass the tiny airport and the Machrie Golf Links which are alongside Laggan Bay. There is also an inland option on a minor road but I saw little reason to take it so I continued on the A846 (the low road) to Bowmore. Bowmore is another pretty seaside town with a nice little harbour and also the Bowmore distillery, home of another of the famous Islay whiskies.
From Bowmore, continuing on the A846, you arrive in the village of Bridgend where I made my turn-off for Port Charlotte/Portnahaven. The road continues to hug the coastline and remains mostly flat and brings you to Bruichladdich, home of yet another distillery. There is an off-road shared use path from Bruichladdich to Port Charlotte. I arrived in Port Charlotte much earlier than I had originally anticipated. I not used riding flat routes and it is surely rare to have a day without wind! I could have spent more time exploring. I decided it was too early to stop for the night. I bought basic groceries in the shop in Port Charlotte as I knew it closed quite early and then continued along the coast to Portnahaven. I think this was the most interesting bit of today’s cycling. The terrain becomes a little more challenging and the scenery becomes more interesting. Portnahaven is a lovely little seaside village with some nice views.
After sitting on the seafront for a little while, I re-traced my steps back to Port Charlotte and checked into the Youth Hostel and had a shower before preparing my evening meal. I had covered about forty-five miles today, all at a leisurely pace but that is the whole point of a trip like this. I went to the public bar of the Port Charlotte Hotel where I sampled a locally produced IPA and dram of Bowmore. I don’t think you could come to this island and not sample the whisky.
Saturday dawned somewhat overcast, a stark contrast to the previous day which was the warmest and sunniest I remember since the middle of June. It was still very warm though. Hot, sticky, humid weather is my least favourite kind. Today would be my big adventure. I had a vague plan to ride to Port Askaig and possibly take the ferry to Feolin on the Isle of Jura. I was putting myself under no pressure. The whole purpose of this weekend was to relax and unwind after a stressful few months at work.
After breakfast, I set off on my way along the A846 again. I was able to leave my saddle bag and basically all my luggage at the hostel; the advantage of touring from a fixed base. I would have to go back to Bridgend before taking the turning to Port Askaig. The road is mostly pretty flat here too, although you are surrounded by hills which take on an eerie mysterious feel in the morning mist and drizzle. Cycling on days like this always give something of a conundrum. Do you get wet from the light rain or do you put on waterproofs and get wet from sweating under the waterproof fabric on what is still a very warm day.
There were various turnoffs available to me to take me to more distilleries and other visitor attractions but I ignored them and kept going. I might check out some of them on the way back, time permitting. As you approach Port Askaig, the road suddenly drops down a long, steep descent into Port Askaig with several hairpin-like bends to negotiate. This is a good test of brakes. Fortunately, the relatively short reach dual pivot calliper brakes on a Brompton are perfectly adequate for the task. This is why I shy away from touring on my 1951 rod-braked Rudge roadster even though I often fancy the idea. On a wet day on a hill like this, the brakes would be completely ineffective. I met a few other cyclists coming pushing their bikes up the incline in the opposite direction.
In Port Askaig, you find a hotel/bar, a shop and post office and the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry terminal which is bigger and better equipped than I was expecting although it’s probably more for the benefit of the people using the larger ferry for their journey to Kennacraig. Tickets for my short ferry journey to Jura are bought onboard the ferry and not at the ticket office in the ferry terminal building. I bought some food to have in the time-warp Port Askaig stores as I waited for my ferry. I wanted to make sure I had something to eat as I wasn’t sure what I would find on Jura.
The iconic Paps of Jura were hidden in the mist as I boarded the ferry. The sea was still very calm for the short crossing across the Sound of Islay to the ferry terminal at Feolin. The Feolin terminal is much less impressive, just a shelter. I headed on my way along the single-track road. There isn’t much road on the Isle of Jura but it must be one of the best cycle routes to be found anywhere. With so little traffic, stunning scenery of sea, mountains, rivers, peat bogs, stone walls, old woodland and some interesting old buildings, it has basically everything you could wish for. The only downside is the cycle-unfriendly cattle grids with four-inch gaps between the bars. They are definitely not for small-wheeled bicycles and care is needed not to twist an ankle when walking over them.
I passed the Jura distillery. Jura has always been one of my favourite Scotch whiskies so in some ways it was something of a pilgrimage. I decided against visiting the distillery itself though as I have done tours of distilleries in both Scotland and Ireland in the past so know the basic process and I didn’t want to buy anything to have to carry it back. The normal Jura single malt is easily available in Tesco’s anyway so there would be little point in buying a bottle here and my budget probably doesn’t stretch to their more exclusive offerings! I did stop for lunch at a café close by to the distillery and bought my lunch and ate it outside as it had stopped drizzling. I was downwind of the distillery and enjoyed the sweet scents of the whisky-making process which hung in the air as I ate my food.
I didn’t quite exhaust all the available road on Jura. I didn’t have any detailed maps but any map I seen just seemed to show the one coastal road I was using leading to a dead end so there was no option for doing a loop of the island. Rather than continue, I decided to return to the ferry. I still had to return to Port Charlotte and I wanted to go to the supermarket in Bowmore which would add a few miles extra. Also, I think the ferry becomes less frequent after 5 p.m.
I turned and retraced my steps on the island’s only road. It was still very calm and humid and the overcast skies with drizzle or the hint of drizzle remained all day. I arrived back at the ferry terminal with seconds to spare which saved waiting for half an hour or more until it came back again. I had obviously correctly judged the correct place to turn around!
From Port Askaig, I knew I had a long 14% hill to climb and I had assumed I would have to walk most of it but I was able to climb it without too much difficulty. It confirms my view that if you gear a Sturmey Archer hub correctly, it will be adequate for most situations. Unfortunately, many three-speed bikes are too high geared from the factory and need a larger sprocket.
I continued along the road I came but this time, taking the time for some detours, to other whisky distilleries. I really liked the Caol Ila distillery, it has a beautiful setting and its own pier. I believe they once owned their own Steam Puffer to transport their produce to the mainland. I believe 95% of their output goes into the Johnny Walker blends. I believe Johnny Walker is the world’s best-selling whisky brand and has an interesting history in itself. The original Johnny Walker was tee-total but started blending whiskies in his grocery shop in Kilmarnock to suit his customer’s tastes and his son, Alec, expanded on that and showed some marketing ingenuity. Johnny Walker whisky is always sold in square bottles as they could fit more in a crate and that made it easier to transport them on the new Kilmarnock railway line. The label on a bottle of Johnny Walker is always at a very precise angle as it is possible to use bigger writing and make it more noticeable. The angle was set as any more of an angle, it became more difficult to read the label. Alec Walker was actually far ahead of his time in terms of his marketing ability. Caol Ila also sell some own brand single malts.
I also visited the Islay Woollen Mill which is just off the A846 and down a short gravel road, Unfortunately, it was closed when I was there but it was nice to have a look around the outside. The mill dates from the 1880s. I don’t know much about its history but I made the assumption it was originally powered by a waterwheel. I believe they still have two working 1920s looms inside. It would have been nice to have seen them working but I continue my long tradition of arriving at tourist attractions at the wrong time to visit!
From there, I made the detour to Bowmore and bought some groceries in the supermarket as I knew the shop at Port Charlotte would be closed before, I got back there. I made the six-mile journey back to Port Charlotte and had a shower and made my evening meal before relaxing for the evening. I had covered just over sixty miles for the day.
My penultimate day on the island dawned more promising than the previous day. There was a bit of a breeze but the sky was blue and clear and the sun was beginning to shine. Today was to be my lazy day with no particular plan. Just ride and see where I ended up. After breakfast, I set off quite early. My only real plan for today had been to do a loop which leads from Port Charlotte to Kilchiaran and then down the west coast of the island to Portnahaven and Port Wemyss before going back to Port Charlotte. After that, I would make it up as I went along.
This route involved quite a bit of climbing but it was worth it. It passes through some beautiful scenery on its way to Kilchiaran and also past a ruined church. Then you can see the coast again as you head south towards Portnahaven. I had been in Portnahaven a few days previously but only quite briefly. I paid more attention this time before continuing on towards Port Charlotte. My route took me on to some unsealed road surfaces in places, something I always enjoy as a change from tarmac. The weather was still dry but overcast and breezy and I now found myself riding into headwind.
After completing the circular route back to Port Charlotte, I continued on my way back to Bridgend. I could see some minor roads to the north-west of the island marked on the maps and I had wanted to explore these. Near Bridgend, I took a left turn on to a minor road towards Coullabus and continued on that road all the Killinallan which leads you along Loch Gruinart. This road took me a dead end but was nice and peaceful. I don’t think I seen a single car.
I retraced my steps and cycled north along the west side of Loch Gruinart towards Ardnave. These roads were passing through the RSPB nature reserve and I saw a few birdwatched armed with binoculars on my travels. There is a visitors’ centre for the nature reserve but I didn’t visit.
I stopped to have a look at Kilnave Chapel which I found particularly interesting. Kilnave chapel (now a ruin) dates from the late fourteenth century. Just in front of it stands Kilnave cross which is even more interesting than the ruined chapel. It dates from the eighth century and isn’t particularly well preserved but it is very interesting to see. I took time to have a look around the graveyard too. It is always interesting to do so and read a few random gravestones as sometimes interesting things can be learned. It was interesting to note that some had mentioned that the deceased were managers of the some of the distilleries on the island, evidence of the importance of the whisky industry to island life. I also noted the grave of Horseman J, Linton who was noted as having been lost on the S.S. Englishman in 1916. I had never heard of this ship but assumed a wartime connection. I’ve since looked into it and seems the S.S. Englishman was a Liverpool Steamer which was lost just thirty miles North-East of Malin Head following a hit from a German torpedo on 24th March, 1916.
I continued my ride through the nature reserve and to Samaigmore and to Coull and to Machir Bay which is a beautiful beach, the nicest I had seen on my travels around the island. I also done a loop of Loch Gorm and stopped briefly at Kilchoman distillery which I believe is attached to a farm before making my way along the B8018 back to Kentraw and then the now familiar return journey to Port Charlotte through Bruichladdich on the A847. Just as an example of how localised the weather patterns can be on an exposed island like this, on the road heading south from Kilchoman, I was caught in a complete torrential downpour and got well and truly soaked on the inland section, yet when I reached the coast road, the road was bone-dry with absolutely no evidence of the there having been a thunderous downpour. Despite getting wet, I had had an enjoyable day. Relaxed days without a proper plan and the freedom to go where the fancy takes you are very often the most enjoyable. Despite intending to make this a simple, easy day, I was surprised to see I had clocked up in excess of sixty miles for the second day in a row. Today was the most challenging too with quite a lot of gradient and also sometimes tough headwinds which necessitated grinding along in first or second gear. It was nice to get freshened up and fed and watered and to relax for the evening.
Monday, which was to be my last (half) day on the island looked promising with blue skies and not much cloud. There had been a notable change in the weather though as it was now colder with a fresh breeze in contrast to the sticky heat of the previous few days. After breakfast and a final walk around Port Charlotte, I loaded up my Brompton ready for the return journey to Port Ellen. My ferry back to Ballycastle was to be a 3:30PM sailing so I had all the time in the world to get there. I would make today a leisurely ride.
There was a sudden and heavy shower before I reached Bowmore but it passed quickly. Progress was slow along the coast road back to Port Ellen. Partly because I was in no hurry and partly because of the headwind. The road along the coast here is flat and straight for miles on end and as is often the case in such places, with little coverage or shelter, there was quite a strong headwind. I miss my Donegal hills which usually provide a shelter! It was nice to take it easy though, just to enjoy the ride and see the things I hadn’t noticed on Friday when I was riding thins road in the opposite direction.
I reached Port Ellen just after midday. I had lunch in a café, my last meal on the Isle of Islay. I had a couple of hours to kill before the need to go to the harbour to check in on board the Kintyre Express. I possibly should have gone to have a quick look at the Mull of Oa and the American Monument. Instead, I decided for the easy option and having a look at the distilleries again.
I made my way along the Three Distillery Path again, a very nice shared-use path in its own right and took the time this time to have a look around the distilleries’ shops and visitor centres and view the many whiskies on sale, some priced at up to £2,000 per bottle and other things like t-shirts and hip flasks as well as learn a little of the history of these three famous distilleries (Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg). The whisky industry is worth an absolute fortune to the Scottish economy and the gift shops and tours actually forms a large part of the distilleries’ income too. I was on Islay just to sightsee and cycle mostly but there is a large influx of visitors annually, just to see the distilleries and sample their wares, not just on Islay but in the other whisky regions like Speyside and Campbeltown.
I made my way back to Port Ellen Marina and loaded my bike on to the Kintyre Express, ready for the return back to Ballycastle. I really enjoyed my time on Islay and Jura and despite the relatively small size of the islands, I could quite easily have spent another few days as there were places that I didn’t get to. There are also many other options to expand a tour to Islay by taking ferries to other islands or the Mull of Kintyre. The friendliness of the natives made this a memorable tour and it was with some sadness that I watched Port Ellen fade to the horizon as the boat left the harbour. The island is very welcoming and despite not being a large island, it has a few interesting routes to cycle and a laid-back pace of life quite different to more populated places these days. I had managed to cover in excess of two hundred miles in a long weekend. I would happily go back to do it all again and fill in the places I missed!
After a walk along the seafront, a leisurely breakfast and the purchase of some provisions in Tesco’s, I made my way to Largs Railway station. I didn’t start as early as I usually do as I didn’t want to be on a rush hour train, potentially packed in like sardines. So, I took a later train and it was worth the wait. I basically had the carriage to myself and with no other bikes, I didn’t feel the need to fold the mine. Of course, others did get on at the other stations but it was never crowded.
About an hour later, I arrived in Glasgow Central Station. I’ve used it before in the past several times and it is a large and busy station as well as being a beautiful building. Someday, I must take the time to have a proper look around it but today wasn’t to be that day as I didn’t want to leave my Brompton unattended in such a busy place.
At home, I rarely think too much about bike theft as none of my bikes are likely to attract the attention of thieves and I’m usually riding in sparsely populated areas but you do wonder how much of a risk it really is in somewhere like a busy railway station. I’d be very wary of leaving an expensive road bike in Central Station but a heavy touring bike loaded up with luggage surely isn’t that attractive. The Brompton is a bit different of course and very easy to steal but there again, I didn’t have it folded down and it had a lot of luggage hanging of it. Subconsciously, I have always packed my panniers with my bag of dirty washing on the top so if anyone does open it up when I’ve wandered off, they don’t see anything worthwhile. My wallet, phone, camera and anything else of value will never be left on the bike. When I’ve done tours with a large wheeled bike and panniers, I’ve always liked to use a handlebar bag which I can easily unclip and carry over my shoulder when I leave the bike and keep my money, etc. in it so anything of value is always with me.
I must admit my original plan the previous day had been to get a connecting service to Balloch (from Glasgow Queen Street) but I decided I’d ride instead as it wasn’t terribly far and I could pick up NCN 7 again as it runs along the Clyde on its way to Dumbarton and beyond. This would be interesting as I don’t like riding in busy urban settings, I don’t know my way around Glasgow and had no idea where I was going. I’m not the most confident or assertive rider in these situations. On a lightweight road bike, I can mostly keep up with the traffic in an urban area if necessary but with luggage, it’s not so easy to do so. Anyway, I just had to find the Clyde and turn right! How difficult could it be?
It was actually very easy. I found blue cycle route signs near Central Station listing a number of options, including NCN 7. I just had to follow them and there were cycle lanes on most of it and shared-use bridges to cross the busy city arterial roads and I saw the Clyde and I knew I was on the right track. The fact that it easier and safer to ride and navigate through a major metropolis like Glasgow than it is to ride through provincial Donegal towns like Letterkenny or Ballybofey highlights the complete lack of planning and foresight on behalf of Irish local authorities or a lack of interest as the car is king in Ireland and cyclists and pedestrians are never considered.
The distance from central Glasgow to Balloch where I had booked two nights’ accommodation isn’t huge so this would be a leisurely, relaxing day. The cycle route along the river Clyde is a shared use path and quite busy with pedestrians and cyclists but it is wide and didn’t feel too crowded a reasonable speed could be maintained. It is very interesting to ride along this path. There is a lot to see with various bridges, the Glasgow Science Centre and various other places of interest but I didn’t stop anywhere. I saw signs for the Glasgow Tall Ships exhibition initially but somehow lost them again. I would be interested in seeing it but I didn’t bother to retrace my steps. I was also surprised how many of the other path users, on bike or on foot waved or said hello as I was passing. Not really what I would expect in a large city.
At least some of this part of NCN 7 is on disused railway line judging by the bridges and the infrastructure. It also highlights just how large the city of Glasgow actually is as I covered a good few miles before properly leaving the city behind. Most of this would once have been a hive of industrial activity. I passed through Scotstoun on the way. It was here where Albion Motors manufactured their lorries and buses (and I think cars originally). Albion Motors were founded in 1899 and were taken over by Leyland Motors in 1951. The Albion name lived on until the early ‘1970s when the attempts to rationalise and streamline the huge amounts of brands owned by the British Leyland conglomerate killed the name off; the production of lorries like the Reiver did continue for a time with Leyland badging. I went to School on a yellow C.I.E. school bus built on an Albion chassis like many in rural Ireland and I remember playing in an old Reiver that ended its days parked in a corner of a field at home. I still have the badge somewhere which I rescued when the scrapman took it – the distinctive and to my eyes beautiful rising sun badge – “Sure as the sunrise, sure as an Albion” went their advertisement slogan. I have no idea if the Albion factory still exists but didn’t go looking for it as I had absolutely no idea where to begin. I’m sure it has probably been flattened to build a retail park like most industrial heritage. The world always seems to need more retail parks.
I stopped and had some food and refreshments at the Clyde Shopping Centre café which is built alongside an old canal and there is an old iron bandstand. I liked it here and was happy to sit and relax for a while. The cycle rack is just outside the café window so I could sit and keep an eye on my bike and luggage while I sat people watching for a time and generally just chilling out. The level of cycle traffic is pretty high along the path and I was not the only cyclist to use the café and sit inside watching out at the bikes.
Also, somewhere along this path you pass what is a huge model of a bicycle frame. I’m not sure if this sculpture is supposed to represent something in particular but I really like it.
Once Glasgow and the River Clyde is left behind, you are following the Forth and Clyde canal which opened in 1790 and provided a route for the sea-going vessels of the era to cross central Scotland from the Firth of Clyde to the Firth of Forth. It gradually fell into decline due to competition from the railways and also the fact that as the new iron steamships grew in girth, they no longer fitted the canal. The canal closed in the 1960s as the maintenance costs were more than the revenue it generated, a largely short-sighted decision in the eyes of many as it had a lot of leisure potential. Sadly, some parts of it at the Grangemouth side were filled in. The canal was refurbished and re-developed before being opened to leisure traffic in 2002. It is possible to ride the whole length to Falkirk and I think on to Edinburgh but I wouldn’t be doing that today. I continued on towards Bowling.
You cycle underneath the Erskine Bridge which is interesting as you see the sheer scale of this box-girder bridge. The bridge was built between 1967 – 1971 and has a span of 1,001 feet and spans the river, the canal and a railway line and station. It replaced a ferry service which ran across the river Clyde at this point for many years.
A little further on you come to Bowling which I found the most interesting part of the route. Bowling is where the canal terminates on the Firth of Clyde. This would have been a busy place in the canal’s heyday and even included its own shipbuilders. Bowling is the birthplace of the Clyde puffers. I had heard that phrase before and thought it was just another name for the Clyde steamers but a Clyde puffer is actually something quite different as they were a small, simple steamship with a flat bottom, designed for use on the canals. There were actually indoor puffers built purely for use on the canal network and also stronger versions which could face the open sea. The term puffer refers to their early, simple version of a steam engine which made a puffing sound. Today, there are only five of these left in existence.
I spent ages walking along the canal banks and looking at the bridges, the lock gates and the many boats which were moored. What is also interesting is the remains of an old railway line which would form part of my path from here to Balloch. There is a rather interesting bridge which pivoted around powered by steam engines so sailing ships could pass underneath. The bridge is locked in position now (I was to ride over the top of it) which is sad as it would have been fascinating to see it if it was still operational. I guess most of the works were taken away when the canal closed as it probably cost money to maintain it.
I carried on from Bowling through Alexandria an on to the river Leven which exits Loch Lomond. I had made it to Balloch, a leisurely thirty miles completed on pretty much completely flat terrain but a lot of civil engineering knowledge acquired. It shows what a fascinating voyage of discovery cycle-touring can be. My modest efforts on this trip had taken me from a medieval castle in Stranraer, to an early nineteenth-century lighthouse at the Mull of Galloway, to the stunning scenery and the Neolithic standing stones of Arran, to the interesting Gothic inspired architecture of the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport, to studying the industrial heartland of Glasgow and its shipbuilding heritage and the civil engineering marvels along the Forth and Clyde canal. If I had been travelling by car, I would have seen some things but missed most of it as well as missing the various interesting people I had met along the way, all with a story to tell.
Despite the slow pace of my ride and many photo and information stops, I was still in Balloch before five o’ clock. The sun was shining, I was feeling relaxed but hot, dusty and thirsty. It was still a bit early to check into where I had booked so I stopped at a pub which had outdoor seating overlooking the boatyard at the start of Loch Lomond and treated myself to a nice, cool, refreshing pint of cider which was just the thing on this warm day. I realised I was only about two minutes’ walk from where I had booked to spend the night. I ended up sitting there quite some time as I had a lot of people stop and talk to me about what I had done and where I was going.
After that I went and checked in, and had a wash and change of clothes and ate my evening meal before going for a walk through the boat yard and along the bonny banks. I went into the grounds of Balloch castle and I was treated with a spectacular sunset. I had booked a cruise on the loch at noon the following day and I was really looking forward to it.
Day 8: Loch Lomond, by boat and by bicycle.
I had booked a cruise on Loch Lomond leaving Balloch pier at noon so I had my morning to fill. The first thing I did was find where the P.S. Maid of the Loch is in dry dock as I wanted to have a look at it. The boat is currently berthed at Balloch on a slipway near the pier. The paddle steamer Maid of the Loch was built in 1953 by A & J Ingis, Glasgow, and was to be the last paddle steamer built in Britain and the last of a long line of paddle steamers which plied their trade on Loch Lomond. The first thing that struck me was the size of the ship. It weighs 550 tons and is 208 feet long. It is much bigger than I expected. It is actually the largest paddle steamer to be used on any of Britain’s inland waterways. The interesting thing is that it was “knock down” ship (like the S.S. Sir Walter Scott which has lived on Loch Katrine since 1899) in that it was built in Glasgow, sea-trialed on the Clyde before being taken apart and transported to an inland Loch and re-assembled. It was fitted with two-cylinder compound steam engine, less sophisticated and less powerful than the triple expansion engines fitted to the larger, ocean-going paddle steamers like Waverley but considered sufficient given the limited range of service expected on an inland lake. The Maid of the Loch was operated originally by the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. It made its final commercial voyage in 1981, as it was no longer profitable to operate it due to rising maintenance costs and falling passenger numbers.
The once-proud and much-loved vessel sat deteriorating at the side of the Loch for many years and that could have been the end as it would likely have eventually gone for scrap. However, Dumbarton District Council bought the ship in 1992 and in 1995, a charitable organization called the Loch Lomond Steamship Company was set up to restore the iconic ship. The fundraising and restoration work continues to this day, including the renovation and restoration of the steam-powered slipway where the work is being carried out (the first attempt to bring the ship out of the water failed). Unfortunately, I was there on the wrong day to see around the ship and the shipyard, not being able to see things I wanted seems to have been a feature of this tour as I’d missed out on the Mull of Galloway lighthouse tour, the Arran Brewery tour, the Arran distillery tour and now the Maid of the Loch due to bad timing. However, I do hope work can continue and perhaps on a future visit to Balloch, I may actually get to sail on it!
From the Maid of the Loch, I took a leisurely ride around the grounds of Balloch Castle, including some rough stuff riding through the forests. Bromptons aren’t ideal for this but you can manage if you take your time. I got chatting to an elderly gentleman who filled me in on a lot of the history of the area and pointed out all sorts of things of interest. I learned that a lot of the land on this side of Loch Lomond actually belongs to the city of Glasgow as the council bought it many years ago to give the people of Glasgow a place to go and escape the pollution of the heavily industrialised city. I also learned that Alexandria, which I had passed through the day before was the home of the Argyll Motor Works and the factory still exists even though the company went into receivership in about 1920. When the factory opened in 1906, it was apparently one of the biggest car factories in the world.
Balloch Castle was built in the early years of the nineteenth century on the site of an earlier castle. It is an imposing building, now lying derelict although it seems some work is being carried out on it. The grounds are extensive and very beautiful and I enjoyed cycling around the paths. There is also a walled garden which is very beautiful now at this time of year. You could easily spend much longer than I had to spare in the grounds of the castle but I had to make my way back to the pier for my boat trip.
The boat trip was very enjoyable and informative and it was nice to see around the islands and the various points of interest. Both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce had both used these islands as hiding places. Loch Lomond is an incredibly beautiful loch and it is also interesting as it is divided by the fault line that separates Lowland Scotland from the Highlands and along the banks the soft rolling hills give way to the more mountainous terrain of the Highlands and the beautiful Ben Lomond rises out of the water. The loch, is of course immortalised in the Scottish folk song of uncertain origin called the “Bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond” which tells the story of a Jacobite soldier who was sentenced to death in the aftermath of the failed 1745 Rebellion and would never again meet his lover to walk on the bonnie banks and braes of Loch Lomond.
The boat trip lasted two hours so I still had the rest of the evening when I came ashore again. I decided to ride a bit further. NCN continues into Drymen and Drymen isn’t far from Balmaha. I’d been to Balmaha many years ago (by car) and have fond memories of the place so decided I would go there. This part of the NCN 7 is mostly on rural roads with some shared use paths in it too. I struggled to follow the route and got lost several times. I found the signposts were missing at junctions. I enjoyed the ride through but it took much longer than I expected due to the unintentional additional mileage and some of the off-road paths were very slow progress.
It was about 5:30 by the time I reached Balmaha. I was very hungry and it would probably take me another two hours to ride back to Balloch. If I ate my dinner in the pub in Balmaha, I would feel too full and heavy to enjoy the ride back. I checked the timetable on the bus stop and I could get a bus back to Balloch at 6:00, so decided to do that. The next bus would have been at 8:30. I had a quick perambulation around Balmaha before folding my bike up and getting on the bus. Even the bus journey took nearly an hour. I was definitely ready for dinner when I got back to my hotel. I really do wish we had a local bus service at home too. It is so easy to combine bus and Brompton on a day trip. After dinner, I took a walk along the bonnie banks in the gloaming.
Day 9: Back to Stranraer.
I had really enjoyed myself but all good things come to an end. I had a plan to meet with a cousin who lives in Glasgow but that was no longer going to happen due to a change of plan so I decided to ride back into Glasgow again rather than take the train. I had booked myself on an evening coach for the journey between Glasgow and Stranraer. I would just be repeating the ride I had done in the previous direction along NCN 7 again but it can be nice to see it from the other side too.
I had nearly all day so was in no hurry whatsoever. Of course, things expand to fill the available time if you let them. I enjoyed another leisurely ride around the grounds of Balloch Castle. Intrigued by the story of the Argyll Motor Works, I detoured into Alexandria to see the sandstone factory building which still stands. I spent a lot of time at Bowling again exploring the canal locks and the railway bridge. I talked to random strangers. I made minor detours. I had a leisurely lunch in a café.
All this meant that I ended up with less time than I thought when I finally reached Glasgow. I paid a very quick visit to the Tall Ships Exhibition where I saw the Glenlee, but sadly didn’t have time to go on board or visit the museum. The Glenlee is a steel-hulled three-masted barque, built as a cargo ship at Port Glasgow under the name Glenlee in 1896 for Glasgow owners. With later owners she was named Islamount and Clarastella. From 1922 she was the sail training ship Galatea in the Spanish Navy. Since 1993, carrying her original name, Glenlee has been a museum ship at the Riverside Museum on Pointhouse Quay, Glasgow, known as The Tall Ship at Glasgow Harbour. The Glenlee has had a distinguished career at sea and has sailed the notorious waters of Cape Horn fifteen times and has circumnavigated the globe on four occasions. Today, she is living out her retirement in preservation. I believe the Glenlee is the last Clyde-built large, fully rigged sailing ship still afloat.
I then had to ride to the city centre again to get my bus from the bus depot in Buchanan Street. I didn’t know where I was going but knew it wasn’t too far from Central Station so I made my way back there and then asked for directions. I had about twenty minutes to spare and to relax before boarding the coach. I was one of only about eight passengers and the driver told me not to bother removing my luggage or folding the bike as there was plenty of room for it in the hold anyway.
After so much cycling and being out in the open in all the heat, sun and dust for the past ten days or so, it was actually nice to sit in an air-conditioned coach and look out the window at the scenery passing by. When I reached Stranraer, I just had a short ride to reach the B&B I had booked. I took a ride around the Agnew Park first. I love this park.
Tomorrow, all I would have is the six-mile ride back to Cairnryan for the ferry and then the train back to Derry and a leisurely ride home. I had been really lucky with the weather and had enjoyed this immensely and it helped me get back the confidence on the bike that I had lost since my accident. My fitness wasn’t too bad at all too, certainly up to leisurely touring rides. I had seen a varied selection of things and had the time to enjoy it rather than trying to fit too much in. It was a bad tour in terms of seeing exhibits as I didn’t see the Mull of Galloway lighthouse as they had been forced to close unexpectedly and I didn’t get to see the Arran Brewery, the Arran Museum, the Arran Distillery or the Glasgow Tall Ship and Museum mostly due to poor time management but it doesn’t really matter. I really enjoyed all the routes I did and would be happy to do any of them again. I rode about 350 miles on Scottish soil, not a huge daily target but sufficient as there were days I did very little cycling as I was on boat trips or whatever. I think it also proves what a capable machine the Brompton actually is. Small wheeled bikes carry loads better than large wheeled bikes due to the centre of gravity and they are surprisingly usable despite having only a three-speed version. All that’s left now is to plan another tour somewhere else!
It also made me ponder the question on the best way to tour. All the tours I’ve done in the West of Ireland have all been spending just one night in each location and moving on. This tour was spending at least two nights in each location. I have decided it’s more relaxed to do that. Can leave your luggage where you are staying and go off an explore. It also avoids having to pack everything up each morning which can be more time consuming than you realise. I guess there are merits in both ways. The most important thing is to not make anything too rushed and enjoy it.
I had booked on the mid-morning ferry back to Ardrossan so I had plenty of time to get packed up and have a leisurely breakfast before making the short trip back to Brodick to catch the ferry back to Ardrossan. I had given myself plenty of time in case of delays but had done this small section of the Isle of Arran so often in the past few days I felt I knew it intimately. The unusually good weather was continuing and again the ferry crossing was smooth on the glass-like water on this calm day. The mornings were often dull and overcast but it always brightened up into a glorious day.
From Ardrossan I’d be back-tracking a little first of all as one of the things on my itinerary was to visit the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine. I had hoped to do this on the way up but I hadn’t enough time. It would be about ten miles back along NCN 7 to reach Irvine. It can be nice to do a route in the opposite direction too as you sometimes see things you’ve missed.
The journey back to Irvine was relaxed now with no time constraints. The Scottish Maritime Museum is quite large with both outdoor and indoor exhibits. On the outside, you can see various old boats as well the tools of the trade such as steam hammers. Building ships is engineering on a large scale and the machinery used is huge. The indoor museum is housed in the Linthouse, which is an historical building in its own right. Inside you can learn of the origins of shipbuilding on the River Clyde and I was surprised to learn that the modern River Clyde is much modified from what it was naturally as it was deepened and narrowed in the eighteenth century deepen the water channel and make Glasgow more successful as a port.
The importance of Glasgow as a centre of heavy industry cannot be over-stated. Many shipyards lined the river Clyde and some famous ships were built here such as the Cutty Shark. The other side of Glasgow also had other heavy industry building railway locomotives, etc. There are also other industries like Albion lorries and buses (I went to school in one) and the Singer Sewing Machine company related to Glasgow. At the museum, it is possible to listen to interviews recorded in the 1980s with people who had worked in the shipyards all their and it is fascinating. It was hard work and work wasn’t always guaranteed. One carpenter said about seeing lorry loads of timber and following them to see if he could find work.
Shipyards would have been dirty, noisy places to work. You can handle some of the tools involved. The riveting gun is pretty heavy to hold, try to imagine holding it for maybe an eight-, or twelve-hour shift. I am pleased to report I was able to use the tongs provided to place all the rivets in the right holes but I’m sure those that did this could do it much faster. Also remember they would have been working with the rivets when they were red hot and the noise would have been deafening. From the interviews I had listened to, it seems everyone tried to keep the riveters on side as they always had fire to heat the rivets and there useful to be on friendly terms with them as they would let you boil your tea tin on their fire. Rivets were fitted hot as when metal cools, it contracts which means they fit tighter than they would have done if fitted cold.
You can also visit a small room which gives some of the history of lighthouses which is very interesting in its own right. I definitely enjoyed my visit to the museum. It is very informative and very interesting to anyone with an interest in the history of engineering. The scale of the machines used is on a different scale to anything most people will have come across. You can also see cutaway exhibits of various engines used over the years. Of course, shipbuilding on the Clyde is no longer the busy industry it once was and all the dozens of shipyards have gone. I think one or two might still exist. I have travelled on three Clyde-built ships that I am aware of – The 1899 S.S. Sir Walter Scott (on Loch Katrine), the 1947 P.S. Waverley, and the Clare Island ferry in Mayo is also an old Clyde-built vessel. The Clyde shipyards started to go into decline in the 1960s; partly due to being slow to adapt to electric welding as opposed to riveting and other newer production methods.
I then retraced my steps back along NCN 7 through Saltcoats to Ardrossan. On a week day, it was much quieter than it had been the previous Saturday. From there I continued on to the seaside resort of Largs. I did this route too last year. You ride on paths and minor roads which run alongside the A78 and I would consider it a pleasant route if you are not in a hurry.
I reached Largs at about a half-past six. The approach to Largs on this cycle route is very nice and you can see the monument which I always associate with Largs – the “small” round tower built to commemorate the Vikings in the area. Largs is one of the traditional seaside resorts popular with the people of Glasgow back in the day and could easily be reached by rail or paddle steamer.
I had covered around forty miles for the day, although it was mostly flat terrain. It was nice to stop and relax for the evening though as even if it wasn’t long in distance terms, I had still fitted a lot in with the ferry journey and the museum visit. My plan was to go to the island of Great (or Muckle) Cumbrae the following day. I was treated to a dramatic sunset to end the day with.
Day 6: Millport and Great Cumbrae
Great Cumbrae or Muckle Cumbrae is often described as Scotland’s most accessible island. With an approximate ten-minute ferry journey, that is most probably true. The ferry runs on a very regular basis throughout the day so there wouldn’t be a problem. After breakfast I cycled the short distance to the ferry terminal and bought my ticket. I was one of a handful of cyclists waiting.
The crossing was smooth and sun-blessed, just like all my other nautical adventures on this trip. This was a much smaller ferry than the one I had sailed to Arran on. In about ten minutes, we were on disembarking on Great Cumbrae (the smaller Cumbrae island is quite nearby. The only town on the island is Millport but the ferry stops at the slipway a few miles from the town. Millport has a pier, which dates to 1833, and was a traditional stopping point of the Clyde paddle steamers until they were withdrawn from service in the 1960s. The modern car ferry uses the Cumbrae Slip.
I turner right on leaving the ferry, making my way towards Millport, past Fintry Bay which has a café. I didn’t need anything this early so continued riding. This would be a leisurely day. The road around the island is only around eleven miles so I wouldn’t be covering huge mileage today. I continued along the coast road into Millport.
The town of Millport grew up around the Garrison House built in 1745. As the Clyde’s importance as a shipping route grew, Millport became an important base for Customs and Excise. The town grew rapidly during the Victorian era, I guess it made a good holiday venue and stopping point for those taking a trip “doon the water” on the Clyde steamers. Many buildings of the Victorian era can still be seen.
The main street and most of the seafront was closed to motorised traffic when I was there for resurfacing work but cyclists were allowed through which made for a pleasant cycling experience. The harbour and seafront are attractive, as are the many Victorian buildings. I can definitely see the appeal for a seaside holiday. I believe there is a music festival in Millport every year too which brings in the crowds.
I didn’t spend too much time in Millport at this point but I’d be back! On such a small island I would explore most things several times before going back to the mainland. Like Arran, I was surprised by the sheer volume of cyclists on the roads here and the bike shop on the main street was doing a good trade in cycle hire from what I could see.
Before leaving Millport for the first time, I did visit the Cathedral of Isles, something I had been looking forward to. The Cathedral opened in 1851, designed by architect William Butterfield and patroned by the 6th Earl of Glasgow. I believe it is the smallest Cathedral in the British Isles and belongs to the Episcopal Church of Scotland. It is the tallest building on the island (the spire is 123 feet tall). The Cathedral is nice, inside and out. At the entrance you can see a selection of Celtic crosses which were excavated at various locations on the island during the Victorian era.
I continued on my way around the coast. On such a clear day, the island offers great views and Ailsa Craig can be seen in the distance. It is pretty easy cycling terrain for the most part. I continued along the coast road until I reached Millport again. I had some refreshments, then turned and rode the island in the opposite direction. I also explored the inland roads, which did have some hills but nothing serious. I stopped in Millport again for time and watched a group of pipers play on the seafront for quite a while. I found them very good and enjoyed watching them. I happily put some money in the bucket as they were doing it for local charities.
One of the interesting things I did learn about on the island was about a Scottish polar expedition led by Williams Spears Bruce which made their first Scottish landing on their return from the Antarctic at Millport. I had read about Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Tom Creann and have always had an interest in the race for the Antarctic but hadn’t heard of this expedition before. I found a tourist information board telling the story.
After riding every road, I could find on the island at least once, and many twice or more, I decided it was time to return to the mainland. I made my way back to Cumbrae Slip to await the next ferry. I had managed to make over forty miles riding on this little island and had enjoyed it immensely. The largely traffic-free roads, the respectful drivers, the beautiful scenery and beautiful Victorian seafront at Millport, there is a lot to like on Cumbrae and it’s well worth visiting.
After getting back to Largs, I left my bike where I was staying and had a walk around the town before having dinner for the evening. There is a lot to like about Largs too as it also has a nice seafront and many characterful old buildings.
I hadn’t really planned anything beyond this point but I still had time and the weather was still amazing so I had looked ahead and booked two nights accommodation in Balloch, on the shores of Loch Lomond. I decided I would like to see the paddle steamer Maid of the Loch which is in dry dock undergoing restoration at Balloch and I also fancied a boat trip on Loch Lomond. In the morning I would catch the train Glasgow and make my way north.
I had been really lucky with the weather so far and that looked to continue into today. Lamlash seemed no less impressive this morning than it had the previous evening. I took a leisurely walk along the sea front and the pier before buying some food in the shop. The good weather meant it was quite busy, even so early on a Sunday morning. People were getting their boats ready. A group of people were getting ready for a boat trip to Holy Island. This would have been nice a nice thing to have done as I believe it offers nice hiking opportunities but the trip was booked up quite a few days in advance.
I was in no particular hurry and had a leisurely breakfast before getting ready for the road. The perimeter road around Arran is around sixty miles from what I understand so could be done in a day by an experienced cyclist but I had given myself two days as I wanted it to be an unhurried affair. I suspect most people do it in a day which can be seen by the fact that the earliest ferry from the mainland the last ferry back again are often booked out with cyclists.
Route options are somewhat limited on the island as there is the perimeter road and a few roads through the middle but not much else. I made my way heading south. The natural beauty of the island is not in doubt as each corner turned seemed to unveil yet more beautiful scenery. I think the decision to take more than one day on the island was the correct one.
The Isle of Arran (Eilean Arainn in Scots Gaelic) is the largest of the Firth of Clyde islands with an area of 167 square miles and population of over four-thousand. The island, like the Scottish mainland, is divided into highland and lowland areas divided by the Highland Boundary fault. It has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and as such, has many historic remains. I would be visiting at least some of them in due course.The island belonged to the Norwegian Crown for a period before becoming part of the Kingdom of Scotland again in the thirteenth century. The Highland clearances of the nineteenth century lead to signifigant depopulation and the end to the Gaelic way of life but the island has recovered in recent years due to the growth of tourism.
A few miles south of Lamlash you find Whiting Bay which is one of the notable beaches on the island offering long golden sands which people in this amazing weather were enjoying. The thing that was taking my attention was the sheer amount of cyclists which I was seeing. Arran really is a popular destination for cyclists and I definitely understand why. Not only is it very scenic but the terrain is more challenging than I thought it would be along the south coast and the roads are very quiet and what traffic there is very respectful.
From Whiting Bay, I continued along the coast road. It definitely isn’t flat but there was nothing overly tough so far (that would come later). There are a few rural pubs in this area, now an increasingly rare thing. You reach the Torrylin Cairns near Lagg. These are the remains of five thousand year old burial chambers. These types of monuments are always interesting to see I think. It is amazing how much work must have been put into them considering their primitive tools. What I hadn’t realised before was how much effort went into the burial procedure as apparently the dead body was left on a platform beside the tomb so that wild animals could strip the flesh from it. The flesh was seen as part of this world and therefore unclean. Once the flesh was stripped, the soul was released and the bones were then seen as clean and placed in the tomb.
Also at Lagg, you pass the Lagg Distillery. I had an idea I’d like to visit one of the distilleries on the island but they don’t do tours on Sundays on Mondays apparently which were the days I would be here! Lagg Distillery originally closed in 1837 but has been re-opened in recent years by the company which owns the Lochranza Distillery. There is an old whisky still at the gate of the distillery. It’s only when you see it out in the open that you realise how big they really are!
Continuing the coast road brought me to one of the island’s other beaches are Blackwaterfoot. Blackwaterfoot (Bun na Uisge Dubh literally ’foot of the black water’). Nearby are the King’s Cave, thought to be one of the hiding places of Robert the Bruce and also an Iron Age fort. I didn’t visit either on this occasion.
This was the end of my coastal riding for now as I turned inland to go back to Brodick using an inland route. This road would take me to Brodick. There was one other option that would have taken me back to Lamlash but the signs had said it was closed for repair. It would probably have been possible to get past whatever obstructions on a bike but I wanted the longer loop anyway.
It is easy to see why the island is sometimes referred to Scotland in miniature as the inland route is like a trip through the Highlands and some tough climbing it to be found. I managed it, just about, just about being able to turn the pedals but just about able to keep going. I wasn’t paying too much attention to time but I must have rode like this for an hour so it was a long climb, and a tough one. I stopped for a much-needed rest at the top. As I stood and looked down the steep valley I had just cycled up, it is amazing at what can be done by human endeavour. In cyclist terms, I’m not even that fit.
The next part was straightforward with a nice descent into Brodick. I took the time to explore Brodick a bit more this time but I was much to late to visit the brewery or the museum. After that, it was just a case of repeating the same ride I did the previous night back to Lamlash where I was staying. I had ridden about forty miles, not huge distances but some of it was tough, especially on a bike without any really low gears and many people would only consider suitable for riding in a city. I also spent a lot of time stopping to look around me too. This is what cycle touring is all about in my opinion.
Back in Lamlash, I had dinner at the Pier Head Tavern and sampled one of the Arran Brewery’s delightful ales. When you are able to rest after a day’s pleasant cycling in the sun outside a nice pub, with friendly staff, nice food, nice beer and have nice seaside views to look at, you can consider yourself truly blessed!
Day 4: North Arran
I decided I would start where I had left off the day before. I would cycle to Brodick and take the inland route towards Blackwaterfoot, up over the mountain again! To my surprise I had no difficulty riding the three miles to Brodick. I did think I would need to walk a little bit of it. This was also good practice in a way as I would know how long I would need to give myself to reach the ferry when I was leaving the island the next morning.
I certainly did need to walk a little of the steep bits of the mountain from this side but I don’t mind. I wasn’t in a rush anyway. I do sometimes wonder if we overthing gearing. There comes a time where it’s more efficient to walk anyway. Prior to my injury, I used to attempt to climb anything no matter what the gearing. Now I’m more likely to just get off and walk if speed drops below a certain point. I suppose like most things, it’s down to personal preference.
As always, a steep hill is followed by a descent which is the fun starts, although I have never been the most confident descender. In fact it surprised me during my time on the island just how often I caught people on bikes which would be theoretically a lot superior for hillclimbing on the hills.I guess the other thing about not having really low climbing gears is you just attack and get on with it rather than change into low gears and that can sometimes be faster. I also live in a hilly area and have much practice.
Somewhere along the road I came across a stone monument remembering that Edward VII had taken his lunch there whilst stalking deer in 1902. It was part of his Coronation tour along with his Queen Consort. It was nice to know I was following in the footsteps of Royalty although I did not do any stalk
I didn’t continue to whole way into Blackwaterfoot as there was another road which would take me to roughly where I specifically wanted to visit next. I wanted to visit the Machrie Moor standing stones so took a more direct root directly to Machrie and then had to turn left to head south on the coast road for a bit to reach the standing stones. These stones are quite famous and well know and are another of the examples of how long Arran has been populated by humans. These monuments date from the Neolithic period or early Bronze age. There are actually six stone circles and several standing stones in this area. The six stone circles are situated below a prominent notch on the skyline to the northeast where Machrie Glen divides into two steep-sided valleys. At the summer solstice the notch is intersected by the sun at sunrise, and this may explain why the circles were sited in this location. A lot of work was done by James Bryce in the 1860s to catalogue the various monuments. There is too much to list here but sufficient to say, they are definitely worth a visit. I enjoy seeing these types of monuments and we can but wonder at the knowledge and skill of the people built them.
From Machrie Moor, I turned north again to make my way to Lochranza on the coast road. The sun had burned off any early morning mist by now and the sea breeze was appreciated in bright afternoon sun. I suffered a puncture which seems to have been caused by sharp piece of flint. With the bike upside down, I removed the rear wheel and set to work. Bromptons have a reputation for being difficult to remove the rear wheel from but once you’ve done it once or twice, it is no big deal. I did have spare tubes but decided to patch the existing tube. I had time and it made a nice change to be able to sit and apply the patch in sunshine with sea views. Normally, I get punctures on dark, winter nights! A Dawes rider was helpful enough to stop and ask me if I needed help with anything. Helpful people still exist in the world.
This north-west corner of Lochranza is pretty flat but that will change after you pass through Lochranza. Lochranza is another beautiful village, set on the shores of Loch Ranza, a small sea loch. Lochranza is said to get the least sunshine of any village in the United Kingdom but there was no shortage of sunshine during my brief visit. You can catch a ferry to the Mull of Kintyre from here and it forms part of the five ferry challenge. Lochranza and the areas surrounding it are noted for their red deer population. There is also a popular youth hostel and a castle. The castle is a tower house situated on a promontory and dates from the thirteenth century. It changed hands many times and used by Robert the Bruce and Oliver Cromwell at different points in it’s history before falling into disuse in the eighteenth century. The village was also celebrated in Sir Walter Scott’s Lord of the Isles:
On fair Lochranza streamed the early day, Thin wreaths of cottage smoke are upward curl’d From the lone hamlet, which her inland bay And circling mountains sever from the world.
From Lochranza, the road very quickly starts to climb. This is the most difficult climb I came across on the entire trip and I did have to walk parts of it. It does give extra time to admire the views! Eventually you reach the top and can continue on your way to Brodick along the coast, passing through Sannox and Corrie. It was too late for tours of the distillery, or the brewery or the museum once again as I arrived in Brodick but I wasn’t overly bothered. I had been delayed by a puncture but mostly, I just kept stopping to admire the view. Arran is definitely one of the places I’ve visited on tour that I’d like to return to but I may never see it in weather like this ever again!
From Brodick, again I repeated the three miles to Lamlash to spend my last night there. I was getting to know this particular stretch of road really well. I had enjoyed my few days on Arran and would be disappointed to leave. I had attempted to book a further few days where I was staying but that wasn’t possible. I probably could have looked for somewhere else but decided to move on. On my second day on Arran, I had covered about fifty miles, so not a bad day’s touring and some of it was pretty steep. I would definitely sleep well tonight! In the morning I could look forward to another chapter of my odyssey.
I didn’t have a great spring for cycling really as a bad ‘flu that really settled in my chest kept me off the bike for most of March and April. It wasn’t the start to the year I had been hoping for. Still, I was able to ride regularly by the end of May again and I was feeling much better. I had two weeks off work in the beginning of June and was determined to do some sort of tour. My original plan for these two weeks had been to cycle the Hebridean Way but I hadn’t put together any proper planning or booking until the last minute as I wasn’t sure how I would feel. I then ran into problems trying to book ferries in the Hebrides with all the bike slots taken. Mostly my own fault for not being more organised. I decided to do something simpler.
I had enjoyed my time in Ayrshire last year and I still had things I had wanted to do in the area. My proposed ride around the Isle of Arran didn’t happen last year due to tyre failure. I also cycled around the Mull of Galloway last year and enjoyed it despite truly horrible weather. I fancied doing it in better weather. I also fancied doing a tour of the Lighthouse which I didn’t have time to do last year. With good weather forecast, I decided to do the Mull of Galloway, visit the lighthouse and then make my way to Arran. I just wanted a simple tour with no hard rides or pressure to make long distances. I decided to use my Brompton as it works well for leisurely riding, carries luggage well and it is also easier to transport if I felt the need to get it on a bus or a train.
As usual I caught a train from Derry to Larne, with a change at Belfast Yorkgate for the connecting service to Larne. I then got the ferry to Cairnryan. It was nearly seven o’ clock when we docked in Cairnryan. All that was left for me to do one the first day was to cycle the six miles into the Stranraer where I had booked two nights accommodation. I had no need to fold my Brompton on either the train or ferry. I use a touring setup on my Brompton of the large front T-Bag combined with a large Carradice Longflap saddle bag. I prefer to do this as I feel it spreads the load more evenly between the front and back and there is also a limit of ten kilos on the front luggage block so I want to make sure I don’t exceed this. I’ve used this setup many times now and find it can carry enough and it’s also pretty user-friendly. I can easily remove the front bag and the Carridice isn’t quite so convenient as it is necessary to open it to undo the two leather straps which hold it the saddle bag loops but it’s awkward rather than difficult or time-consuming to do this. I put a shoulder strap on to the loops on the Carradice so I can put it over my shoulder like a holdall. I can then lift the Brompton with one hand the T-Bag with the other and walk with them. Because I would be staying a few nights in each location instead of moving on all the time, I would be able to leave most of my luggage where I was staying for most of my rides.
I like Stranraer as a town. It is a reasonably large market town with all amenities and is located in a nice setting on the shore of Loch Ryan and offers many nice coastal walks around the harbour area and also has a very nice park with a small lake in the middle and family of swans. The town is the administrative centre for West Galloway and was once a busy port before the Northern Ireland ferries moved to nearby Cairnryan. It has a long history and has many nice old buildings including a castle which can be visited. I’ve also always found it a very friendly town to stay in. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic An t-Sròn Reamhar meaning “the broad headland” or “the fat nose.”
Day 1: Galloway
After an early breakfast, I began my trip around the Mull of Galloway using a variation of the route I used last year. I did pretty much a full loop of the peninsula, going via Kirkcolm and Corsewall Lighthouse before making my way towards Portpatrick. I like this ride. The roads around there are mostly very quiet and the views and scenery are nice, especially on a day such as this. It was very hot and you could see the tar on the road beginning to melt. I took to riding with a broad brimmed sun hat which may not be particularly fashionable or aerodynamic but it kept my face and neck out of direct sun and I found it very good. It suits a Brompton of course as the riding position is pretty upright. This wouldn’t work so well on a road bike. Cycling on days like these makes one appreciate the cooling effect of the descents in coastal areas. All bikes come with air-conditioning as standard!
Corsewall Lighthouse was designed by Robert Stevenson and was first lit in 1817. Apparently, when an early test flight by Concorde flew overhead, it shattered some of the glass in the lighthouse. The lighthouse is still in operation but is fully automated since 1994 and the rest of the building has been converted into a hotel. I can definitely see the appeal of staying here, given the historic and beautiful building, the stunning natural beauty of the area with many hiking opportunities but I fear it may be priced beyond my budget.
I was making steady progress despite the heat. This area isn’t really very hilly and a three-speed bike is perfectly adequate around here. I was worried I might struggle for lack of fitness for longer rides as I hadn’t done any in a while but all was going good so far. I was definitely enjoying this route in this weather. Galloway may not have the romance associated with it that places in the Highlands might have but it’s a beautiful part of Scotland in its own right. I love the greenness and the soft rolling hills, not unlike East Donegal but with the advantage of being surrounded by the sea. Traffic levels are very light in this area too, always a nice thing when cycling. The standard of driving here is much higher than in Ireland too with no close passes or other dangerous behaviour.
I stopped in Portpatrick to eat my lunch. I love this little seaside and harbour town. The harbour must be one of the prettiest I have seen and there are many old buildings. On a day like today, the various pubs, hotels and cafes which have space for outdoor seating were doing a roaring trade with people sitting enjoying their food and beverages in the sun. Portpatrick as a settlement dates back over 700 years to Dunskey Castle. Its success was built on the fishing industry and it is just twenty-one miles away from Ireland and was used as a port for many years but that was abandoned in the seventeenth century as strong winds made it impractical. Today, it is definitely a nice place to just sit and watch the world go by.
I continued on my way south. Following the road signs, I ended up on the other side of the peninsula and followed the coast road south from Sandhead which is another beautiful place with many beaches as is suggested by its name. I was riding into a slight headwind but making good time. I decided to stop in and buy ice cream in what claims to be Scotland’s most southern store. I then continued on my way to the Mull of Galloway. The road turns singletrack from here but there are plenty of passing places. This is where one of the differences between cycling in Ireland and in Scotland become apparent very quickly as any car which comes up behind you on a road like this will wait until you can move safely over rather than just force past in an aggressive manner like a lot of drivers in the north of Ireland.
There are also a lot of cattle grids on this road. These are something any cyclist should be wary about, particularly if is wet. On a large-wheeled cycle I would just ride over them slowly. This is one of the downsides of small-wheeled bicycles. The gaps between the bars of the grid are so great in some cases that it could easily cause a problem to small wheels. I just stopped and wheeled the bike across them but I am not chasing personal best times.
I love the view as the lighthouse becomes visible. This is Scotland’s most southerly point and lighthouse. This lighthouse was built in 1830 and also designed by Robert Stevenson, the grandfather of the celebrated Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson. The Stevensons were noted lighthouse engineers and designed many of the lighthouses around Scotland. It is thought that visiting these windswept lighthouses with his father and grandfather when he was a young boy provided the young Robert Louis with the inspiration to write the novel “Kidnapped.”
The lighthouse tower stands 85 feet high so the light is 325 feet above sea level and has a range of 28 nautical miles. The lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper’s buildings are now designated grade “A” listed buildings. Since automation, the keeper’s buildings have been made into a visitor’s centre. I was looking forward to seeing around their exhibition and to climb the stairs to the lantern. Unfortunately, it was not to be. A serious oil leak earlier that morning had meant they were forced to close to the public while it was being dealt with.
You can climb down stairs down the cliff to where the foghorn is located. From what I was told, it is still in working order, one of very left now they’re not used any more but there are a lot of restrictions on when they can actually sound it. They can’t sound it at the moment due to the nesting birds and oddly enough they can’t sound it in fog as it is no longer a recognised international signal, it could cause confusion to any passing ship.
I was disappointed I couldn’t sea around the lighthouse visitors centre but I still enjoyed my day. There is also a café located at near the lighthouse (also closed when I was there!) and public toilets and lots of hiking opportunities if you had time. I still had to ride back to Stranraer so wouldn’t have time to do that.
There aren’t too many other options here for route selections. I re-traced my steps as far Sandhead and then took a more direct route back to Stranraer, part of which is a convenient cycle path thar runs alongside a busy trunk road. I had covered in excess of seventy miles in my travels around the Rhins of Galloway, all of which I enjoyed immensely and I didn’t feel tired.
I settled down for the night after getting dinner in a local pub. Tomorrow it would be time to move on new pastures.
Day 2: The Heads of Ayr
After loading the bike up, I knew I was moving on although I had no exact plan for the day other than make sure I got to Ardrossan for the final ferry of the evening to the Isle of Arran. I did not fancy riding the A77 north of Cairnryan to Ayr; it’s too busy, too many badly sighted corners, quite hilly and the distance was probably too much for me in one day on a loaded bike. I made my way to Stranraer station and found out I had missed the early morning train to Ayr and the next one would be sometime in the afternoon. That wasn’t very helpful to me so I went with plan B.
I rode to the bus stop and unloaded my two bike bags, folded up the Brompton and caught the service bus. I decided not to travel the whole way to Ayr. The A77 disappears inland around Turnberry and the coast road would be slower and less heavily trafficked. I bought the bus ticket to Maidens. Even if I don’t fancy cycling on the A77, I do enjoy travelling on it. I enjoyed just sitting in the bus looking out the window at the beauty of the coast and the views across Ailsa Craig. Any early morning mist on the sea had burned off by now and the bus was sweltering despite all the windows being open.
After getting off the bus in Maidens and unfolding my bike and refitting my bags (which sounds complicated but only takes a few minutes), I started to make my way on the A719 coast road which leads to Ayr via Dunure and along the coast. I did consider a few miles of a detour to visit Souter Johnny’s cottage. For anyone familiar with the works of Robert Burns, Souter Johnny was Tam O’Shanter’s trusty, drouthy crony. The home of the man who is thought to have been Souter (shoemaker) Johnny in real life is nearby here and is now a sort of museum where the tools of his trade can be seen. I noticed when looking at Google Maps to check my route that it was listed as temporarily closed so there seemed little point in making the diversion. As it turned out, it was fortunate I didn’t.
I have driven the A719 in the past many years ago and often fancied cycling it so it was with great glee that I set off from Maidens. I knew it would be hilly in places and I was aware that I may have to walk some of it but it turned out to be fine. The hills are rolling hills rather than really tough climbs and my forty-inch bottom gear was perfectly sufficient. It was interesting to see the sprinkler system used by Ayrshire farmers to water their crops in the drouth conditions being experienced. People complain about rain but it is necessary for things to grow and what gives most of the British Isles their fabled lush green appearance.
The interesting thing on this road is the Electric Brae (properly known as Croy Brae) near Croy where a strange phenomenon occurs whereby the surrounding landscape makes it appear you are going uphill when you are actually going downhill. It does make for an interesting riding experience as you can freewheel uphill. I stopped at the top of the brae and ate my lunch. It was interesting to see how many of the passing cars stopped and put the car in neutral. Someone also stopped at the layby and poured water on to the road and it did appear to roll uphill. Definitely an interesting place and one which also offers great coastal views.
I also made a short detour to Dunure where the ruins of Dunure Castle, dating as far back as the thirteenth century can be seen. I didn’t take the time to explore the ruins although they do look interesting.
From there, it is only about another seven miles to the town of Ayr, passing through Alloway, the birthplace of the poet, Robert Burns. I spent a lot of time exploring Alloway and the Burns Museum, etc last year so didn’t spend any time on it today but couldn’t resist a quick look. I have always greatly admired his work.
From Ayr I was able to pickup the Ayrshire Coastal Path which north of Ayr is mostly shared with NCN 7. Riding along the magnificent seafront in Ayr was time-consuming on this occasion due to the sheer volume of people enjoying the beaches and the many seaside ice cream parlours and fish and chips shops. This was to be a harbinger of things to come.
I did this part of NCN 7 last year on my way to Largs and enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed it today too but it caused a problem as there were just so many people on the path where it past all the many beaches along this route. I had to ride at walking speed for large parts of it for safety so I had completely underestimated the time needed to ride to Ardrossan to catch my ferry for Arran. I was forced to really ride fast when the circumstances permitted it.
I still enjoyed the ride and still think it’s a nice route but it highlights the issue with these types of cycle routes that seem to be promoted. They are great for leisure cyclists who aren’t in a rush but if the intention is to encourage people to cycle for transport (and I believe that is something that should be done to reduce congestion and pollution), they fail as they are often too slow. I could have made much better progress on the road but the A78 north of Ayr is also a very fast and busy road and not somewhere I would really like to ride my bike.
I made the ferry with minutes to spare but that was good enough. I was able to have a much-needed meal in the restaurant on the ferry as I hadn’t really had time to have anything proper to eat. The voyage to the Isle of Arran is about an hour and on a day like today, it was really peaceful and serene with barely any movement in the sea and the clear skies offering good views of everything. I always like being on a boat and sometimes wish I had gone to sea when I was younger. I am one of the fortunate ones who has never experienced sea-sickness no matter how rough.
We docked in Brodick at around 7 PM and I got my first look at the Isle of Arran. Initial impressions were good. The idea to cycle around the island was formed last year when I sailed alongside it on the Paddle Steamer Waverley and I liked what I saw. Almost a year later, I had finally arrived! Brodick is a nice harbour and town although I didn’t spend much time here after disembarking the ferry as I had to ride to Lamlash where I had booked accommodation for the night.
I wasn’t really sure where I was going but navigation is pretty easy on the Isle of Arran as there aren’t very many roads. I saw the sign informing me Lamlash was three miles away and it pointed up a very steep hill. I just stepped up on the pavement and walked the bike to the top of it. I would have struggled to have climbed it I think on the gearing I had so just took the easy option. I can’t really explain why but I’ve found pushing a loaded Brompton up a hill is much easier than pushing a loaded large-wheeled bike.
The ride between Brodick and Lamlash is very nice with lots to see, looking towards the mountains behind you and then the sea comes into view before the long descent into Lamlash. I instantly liked Lamlash. I found it so beautiful with a great view across towards Holy Island and the little harbour and the many small boats anchored in the bay. It may be a small village but it is well served with two shops, several pubs and hotels and a café. I bought a few supplies in the Co-Op before locating my accommodation, about a mile out of town. I had covered close to fifty miles today, some of it very slow, some of it at a pretty decent average speed as I tried to make up time and catch the ferry. I walked into the village later and was blessed with the amazing lighting across Holy Island in the gloaming as the full moon rose and shone across the bay and I also found great music in the Pier Head Tavern. My initial impressions of Arran were very good and I eagerly awaited exploring the island in more detail in the coming days.
Sometimes it is good to explore things from a different view point. I have often cycled along the west side of Lough Swilly. On occasion I have done rides on the East side too but mostly from Buncrana and further north. I had often meant to explore some parts I rarely ever touch on. There are some nice routes around Manorcunningham and Newtowncunningham and around Inch Island. This isn’t too far away from where I live but I always tend to avoid going there as there is the need to criss-cross several very busy roads whereas I instinctively head for the relative solitude of the Derryveagh mountains.
I decided to try something different and explore something new quite close to home. I had touched on these areas before but never in detail. This area is actually very scenic and away from the main roads, very quiet too. I would also be in places where the former Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company’s Derry to Letterkenny line once travelled. The final train ran in 1953, seventy years ago this year. Now that the idea of a new rail link between Derry and Letterkenny is finally starting to gain some traction with the powers that be, I thought it would be nice to revisit the old one and see what has survived. Looking out for old railway relics while cycling around the county has become something of a hobby of mine. I’d never explored this line before.
Leaving Letterkenny, following the cycle route signs from Old Town along the Cullion Road, you first need to cross the main road at the bottom of Lurgybrack which at busy times is scary even in a car due to the width of the road and the speed of the traffic. I think the council really need to do something with this. It is a signposted cycle route yet crosses a major arterial route just yards from a major roundabout. There is a 60km/hr speed limit but this is routinely ignored and apparently never enforced.
Once safely across the N13, you are on a peaceful route with little traffic. This is the old road really, as the traffic is now on the dual carriageway which mostly runs alongside and in places you are just on the other side of the dual carriageway’s crash barrier. Riding alongside the dual carriageway, you are really aware of just how much noise is created by cars travelling at 100km/hr. I remember riding along this road during the first Covid lockdown in 2020 when there simply was no traffic on the dual carriageway and it was peaceful bliss. When you consider the noise, the pollution and injuries and fatalities caused by motor vehicles, it really is necessary to try to reduce or dependence on the things, especially for short, local journeys.
Then you need to cross the N14 to continue on your way to Manorcunningham. This never seems quite as bad as crossing the N13 but again, you have to wonder why the council signpost a cycle route to cross and major high speed road with absolutely nothing to control the traffic. There is quite a drag into the village. I had been studying the Ordnance Survey map and had several possible routes in mind. I had even brought the map with me in my saddle bag. I sometimes feel I’d like to buy one of those map holders that fit to the handlebar stem so I could follow the map on rides like this. On occasion, when touring with my Brompton, I have tucked a map under the strap of the front bag and it can definitely be helpful. I suppose I could move into the twenty-first century and use a GPS device or my phone but I try to never use GPS whilst cycling as I want to be aware of the landscape I’m passing though rather than just blindly following the instructions.
Manorcunningham (or just Manor to most local people) is a pleasant little village with its origins in the Ulster Plantation. It is a rapidly growing village due to it’s location partway between Letterkenny and Derry and is becoming a commuter town. There was a railway station, operated between 1883 and 1953 on the Letterkenny – Derry line.
Leaving Manor, I decided to just follow the signposted route to see where it took me. I knew it took me across the N13, again having to cross a major road, and on towards the Swilly. The route leaving Manor involves quite a bit of climbing but as you get closer to Lough Swilly, the land levels off. These are nice roads to cycle. Mostly very quiet and remote with views across the Swilly as well as the surrounding landscape which for the most part if very green and colourful. Eventually you end up at Newtowncunningham via a very indirect route.
There is evidence of settlements in this area going back centuries with very visible reminders like the ringfort at Grianan of Aileach and the sixteenth century Burt Castle. Like nearby Manorcunningham, Newtowncounningham (usually just called Newtown by the locals) is named after John Cunningham who originated in Ayrshire who was one of the first settlers granted land in Ireland during the seventeenth century plantation of Ulster. Burt castle is a very prominent landmark in this area.
After a very brief ride along the hard shoulder of the main road, I turn left again and back to peaceful roads. From here I am starting to see evidence of the railway line. You can see the raised causeway which carried the line over the water and assorted bridges in the same vicinity.
The track cutting has been filled in mostly to reclaim the fields but the bridge the bridge which carries the road over the track is still very visible and you can see the top of the archway if you look where the train would have passed underneath.
The other very prominent landmark here is the ruin of Burt Castle. It is also sometimes known as O’Doherty’s Castle and was constructed during the reign of Henry VIII. It is a ruin today and I don’t know a huge amount of its history. I had never visited it before. I sort of circumnavigated it on the road but didn’t see any obvious way up to it without going across what seemed to be private land. I will try doing that on another occasion.
In the distance you can see the ringfort of Grianan of Aileach on the distant hilltop behind the village of Burt which dates back much further and is easily accessible and offers amazing views over this whole area. I have cycled there in the past (covered in this blog in one of the early entries) but it is a journey I must make again.
Eventually I came to Farland Point which nowadays forms part of the Inch Island nature reserve and this area is very popular with birdwatchers. From Farland’s point you can cross to the island (on foot or bike, not a car) across a raised causeway. You can also ride or walk along the old railway line from Farland Point to Tooban. Tooban was the junction where the Derry line split for Letterkenny or Buncrana. Only a few miles of the track have been surfaced for shared use. It would be wonderful if they could do more of it, potentially to Derry or Buncrana and back to Letterkenny again. Much is made of the scenic former CDR-JC through Barnes Mór and how it should be converted to a greenway. This line may not be quite as spectacular as the Gap but it would still be a very scenic route in its own right. Sadly, as I already seen, large parts of the track bed have been filled in or built on. Not so much nowadays but when I was younger you could still see where the dismantled railway track irons and the sleepers had been re-purposed by local farmers as gate posts, roof trusses and every other purpose you could imagine. Many old railway goods wagons were used as sheds as well. I did spot at least one railway gate post which still remains. The quality of the steel used was very high of course and they don’t rot away.
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company was formed in 1853. The line between Derry and Farland point opened in 1863 and later the junction was added at Tooban and the service was continued to Buncrana and Carndonagh. The line was continued eventually to Letterkenny. The original track laid in 1863 was Irish standard gauge (5’3”) whereas the Letterkenny line was Irish narrow gauge (3’). The line from Tooban to Derry was later re-laid as the narrow three foot gauge to allow direct services to Letterkenny without the need to change trains. A further extension was built in the early twentieth century from Letterkenny to Burtonport on the west coast of Donegal. From 1929, L&LSR started to concentrate more on road transport. The Burtonport extension ceased service in the 1940s and the final Derry – Letterkenny train ran in 1953. L&LSR, usually just known as “The Swilly,” continued to operate bus services in this area until going into receivership in 2014. They were the only railway company established in the Victorian era that continued in business into the twenty-first century and their fleet of old but characterful Leyland buses were once part of the scenery in the north of Donegal, all sadly gone now and public transport has largely ceased to exist in parts of Donegal since their demise.
As you come to the end of the shared use path, you can cross the road bridge across on to Inch Island. Inch Island is bigger than an inch of course. It’s about five square miles. The name “Inch” is not related to the unit of measurement but to the Irish language name An Inis which literally translates as “the island.” There are remains of a portal tomb and other ancient monuments on the island as well as a fifteenth century castle and Inch Fort. Inch Fort is one of the many defence structures dotted around the Irish coast as part of the British defences during the Napoleonic Wars (and Lough Swilly was an important base for the British Navy). The fort was abandoned by the military in 1905. The island is also an important wildlife sanctuary and a popular place for bird watchers. You can see the many birdwatchers hides along the paths I was cycling on.
I wouldn’t really have time for visiting those things today although they do interest me and I really should. I think a leisurely afternoon spent on the island with a Brompton might be a good idea and learn more of the history of this small but interesting island as well and try and see the many different species of birds. I am no bird expert and not good at identifying the different species but I do enjoy seeing them. Today I just followed the shared use path around and over the causeway back to the mainland. It was a nice place to eat my lunch.
After reaching the mainland again, I began my way back home. I didn’t want to make it too long and I wanted to make it home before it go dark. I’ve learned to not try and do the sort of really long all-day rides I often did before my ankle injury. I can still do them but I need days to recover. I have mostly been concentrating on twenty or thirty mile rides as often as I can manage with a few longer ones thrown in when time allows. I definitely feel much fitter than I did even before Christmas but just wary of not over-doing it. My days of doing rides of eighty miles or more on successive days is over for the moment but I hope to back there again in the not too distant future as my I build my fitness.
The return journey was along similar lines to the outward leg with some slight variations as I used slightly different roads. I stopped briefly in Newtowncunningham outside the Church of Ireland church. Nearby you can see an impressive work of art; countless old horse-shoes welded together to create a Celtic Cross. It was made by a local man during the first Covid lockdown. I had heard about it but it was my first time to see it in real life. I think it’s very nice and shows great imagination and creativity.
I had covered an estimated sixty miles by the time I arrived home. My cycle computer decided to stop working during the ride. I can’t complain as it’s more than ten years old and was only a cheap wired type. I will try a new battery but I don’t think that’s the issue. There are more sophisticated methods of keeping mileage totals today but I must admit I like simple wired cycle computers. They sit unobtrusively on the bars, are easy to read when riding and the battery will usually last for years. On the other hand, there is an argument for not measuring speed or distance at all and just forgetting statistics and just ride the bike.
The gear cable to my front mech also broke during the ride. I adjusted the limit screws on the mech to lock it in the middle chainring of my 28/38/48 chainset. I didn’t miss the 28 tooth small ring, but then again I had no serious climbing to do. I didn’t miss my large ring as much as I thought I would either. I can’t remember when I last changed the cable, perhaps I never did and it was original to the bike. We take cables for granted, I think. They should be checked regularly for signs of wear or fraying. It will be a straightforward repair and you wonder if the trend towards electronic shifting is really a good thing as any problem is likely to be more costly and much harder to rectify. Like many of the recent innovations in modern cycling, they’re quite possibly of use to genuine racing cyclists but offer no useful advantage to tourists, utility riders or leisure riders.
I had enjoyed my day despite these few minor technical issues. I definitely should explore this area more as the days get longer. It was also nice to explore parts of another of Donegal’s lost railways. Donegal must have been blessed with some of the most scenic rail services in the entire country. I live in hope that the line between Letterkenny and Derry will be re-laid in the not too distant future but I won’t hold my breath. I would imagine any new line would more than likely take a completely different route to the original.
It also reminded me how much I enjoy winter cycling when the weather is dry and clear like it was during this ride. The air always seems fresher and you can often see things you wouldn’t see when the trees have their leaves in the summer months. Hopefully I will continue to regain my fitness this year. This time last year, I was following advice from the physiotherapist, making a few tentative short rides to see how I felt. I have recovered well, all things considered.
The world seems to move at an ever-faster pace and everyone always seems to be in a hurry. This causes an increase in stress for many people. Many members of the medical profession say stress is one of the biggest causes of disease. Stress is something that can often creep up unnoticed.
With so many other distractions open to us these days, very few people make the time to switch off and enjoy the natural world or to take sufficient exercise. This is a real shame as doing so can bring many benefits to both our physical and mental wellbeing. Many people, including myself, have come to realise this over the years.
Cycling is of course a great way to see the countryside. You cover more ground than you could do on foot but you are still going slow enough take in your surroundings and you are out in the open and interacting with nature; unlike in a car where you are totally disconnected from the outside world and usually going much too fast to fully appreciate it.
Driving a car also creates both noise and air pollution and poses much more risk to both wildlife and humans. People driving too fast for the road conditions and without consideration or regard for anyone else is also a big part of the reason many people are afraid to walk or cycle on rural roads in Ireland. There seems to be little genuine political will to really address this problem at the moment but it will gradually change in time.
For now, we can utilise the labyrinth of minor roads which exist in many parts of the country. It seems the modern version of cycling which gets promoted is the sports and racing scene where people charge along the main roads, head down, trying to find marginal gains. There is of course nothing wrong with this in itself; it’s good to push ourselves sometimes too for the fitness benefits. I’m not that way inclined though. I was never sporty or competitive, in cycling or in anything else in life.
There are other times though where it’s good to do the opposite, slow down and get off the beaten track. This is the type of cycling I enjoy best if I am honest. I rarely enjoy cycling in urban areas or high speed National Primary routes. To me, those are things you do out of necessity to go places. Sometimes it’s good to go out with no particular place to go and to ride the roads where very few others go.
With a day off work, I did have somewhere I wanted to go. I felt I’d like to visit Glenveagh National Park. I hadn’t been in a while. I like it at this time of year when there are not so many visitors, and I like the snowdrops. They are of course in abundance in many places but there are a lot at Glenveagh too, and quite a few different varieties. The humble snowdrop is amongst my favourite flowers; a little harbinger of spring and longer days ahead as the dark days of Winter retreat for another year.
How to get there was where the mystery tour element came in. I took my usual route to Churchill and from there I had options. I changed my mind several times on the ride from Letterkenny to Churchill. What I usually do is to either follow the signposted route to the visitors centre on the road or take the bridal path from near the Glebe gallery. I could also turn off before Churchill for Doochary on the R254 and ride into the castle along from the other side. This is a more difficult option and one which I hadn’t done since before my accident but I am feeling a bit fitter now so I decided I would do it this way.
Then I changed my mind again! I would use a different variation of the route. There is a small and little trafficked road which runs along the northwest side of Lough Gartan from near St. Columbkille’s birthplace to where it re-joins the R254. I think it is unclassified and doesn’t have a road number. I have ridden it in the past several times but always as part of a circular route around the shores of Lough Gartan.
I do like this road a lot. It is scenic, properly rural with little traffic and only a few remote farms and has lakeside, mountain and forest views. There is a steep hill initially before it starts to go gradually downhill. I stopped to say hello to three donkeys which had came to the fence to meet me as I approached.
Further on there is what I think must be the remains of some sort of old fort. Today the sheep where taking shelter in it but it seems too big to have been built for sheep and most sheep pens are square. I’m not sure what it is really. It’s not marked on the Ordnance Survey map. It’s nice to see though.
A few miles past the “fort” there is a sharp left-hand bend which leads to the bridge which crosses the River Bullaba just before you arrive at the junction with the R254. I turn right at the junction, heading for Glenveagh. I love this road, and take every opportunity to ride along it. It’s so scenic with the surrounding mountains and the countless little burns and mountain streams. Despite its Regional Road status, it is mostly single track and doesn’t carry very much traffic.
It isn’t necessarily an easy route though and I was riding quite a low gear along here, partly due to gradual increase in elevation, partly due to the headwind. It’s one of those roads that always seems to have a strong wind. There is little to provide any kind of shelter and I guess it is funnelled through the mountains. It’s always there, just a question of whether or not it’s for you or against you. Today it was against me but such is life. I’m sure it all evens out anyway during a long ride. I had toyed with riding my single speed today. I’m pleased I didn’t. My fitness isn’t quite there yet.
The wind was bitterly cold too. I didn’t expect it to be this cold as weather had been quite mild recently. Luckily, I had some extra layers stashed away in my saddlebag. People ask me why I always suffer the weight of Carradice saddle bag but on these types of rides which I do as often as I can, I am cycling alone into often remote places and I like to be prepared for any likely eventuality.
I always ride past the entrance to the Glenveagh estate for a few hundred yards first to admire the magnificent view down the deep glen along the meandering river as it flows towards Lough Beagh in the distance. Today, Lough Beagh, far in the distance was reflecting the hazy sunshine.
And then it’s time to exchange a sealed road surface for an unsealed one. This is why I like using an old mountain bike as a touring bike. With two-inch wide tyres I can easily ride places like this. On a modern road bike with skinny high-pressure tyres and lightweight wheels with little spokes I couldn’t have done the ride I was undertaking today. I would likely have damaged something.
There is a quite a long descent from here down to the castle, gentle at first before becoming quite severe and then it levels out again. I would advise caution on the steepest parts. It would be very easy to pick up too much speed to negotiate the sharp corners and you always have to be aware that you could easily meet hikers or other cyclists on the path and it’s not very wide at this point. It’s also rather unpredictable. The steepness combined with the looseness of the surface means its different every time you come here. It can get washed by heavy rains, disturbed by a lot of footfall or by quadbikes belonging to the estate workers.
I always go down it pretty slowly and cautiously. I know the cycle industry has increasingly moved towards disc brakes on new bicycles now and my cantilever brakes are decidedly last year’s trick and scorned by many. I don’t think it’s entirely deserved. It’s true they can be a bit of pain to set up initially but once you understand how they work and take the time to adjust them correctly, I find my Shimano Cantis are actually very powerful and I was able to lock wheels which is all any braking system can do. It was dry though, depending on the type of pads used and whether you have chrome or alloy rims, all rim brakes can potentially lose a lot of their effectiveness in the rain. Properly adjusted Cantis are infinitely better than calliper brakes in my opinion.
This is another route of which I never tire. It was so good to do it again for the first time since before my accident. This is the part of the National Park I suspect most people never see though. Most arrive at the visitors centre carpark and walk, cycle or take the bus the few miles along the lough shore to the castle and then go back. You pass a few waterfalls along the way and river cascades it way down the hillside before levelling out as you get nearer the lough.
I stopped at one of the vantage points to sit on the bench to eat my lunch. I had covered around twenty-five miles so far and it had taken me pretty much all morning as it was now noon. Definitely a slow ride. Some might argue that all my rides are slow! I had kept a steady touring pace but had made photo stops and all the gravel paths really slows you down compared to riding on tarmac. I was happy to sit and admire the view as I ate my lunch but I didn’t hang around as it was still pretty cold.
At the back entrance to the castle courtyard, you pass what once was a small sawmill used to cut up the pollarded and managed woodland on the estate for firewood and other uses. It clearly hasn’t been used in quite some time but the three-cylinder Lister of Dursley diesel engine is still in place. The engine is still free to turn over when I rotate the flywheel and seems to have compression. I’d like it if they would get it running again. Listers are very characterful engines of the type we will probably never see again as internal combustion engines get phased out.
I still felt quite cold after the chilly ride over the mountain and couldn’t resist the temptation of a nice bowl of hot soup in the café at the castle. I made time for a brief perambulation around the main part of the garden behind the castle and the gardeners were at work getting the flower and vegetable beds prepared for the spring. The work and time required to maintain a garden on this scale must be incredible but the enjoyment it brings to the countless people who visit each year makes it worthwhile. There are also so many other art works which are actually more visible at this time of year when there is less greenery around to hide them.
Snowdrops are very much in evidence, especially outside the cottage which once was the domicile of the head gardener back in the day. A few years ago, before Covid, I had cycled here one Sunday afternoon and discovered an event to celebrate the snowdrops and some of their history. Incredible as may seem today, they are not a native species to Ireland but it is thought that they were brought here by soldiers returning from the Crimean War and they grew very well here. There are also many different varieties. There are several different varieties to be seen in front of the gardener’s cottage.
There are other things to see too in a display cabinet in the entrance to the orangery. They contain things like old gardening implements, villainous old gin traps, old photographs dating back to the time of the Adairs who created the Glenveagh Estate after they evicted forty-four families from their land and homes in 1861 and began work on the castle. A curse was supposedly put on Glenveagh as a result saying that no owner of the estate would produce an heir (and it proved to be the case). Captain John George Adair never did live to see his dream completed but his American wife Cornelia did and continued to spend her summers there until she became too elderly to travel. Unlike her husband, she was generally popular and well liked. You can see letters she sent to friends including one telling of Glenveagh being raided for arms during the independence struggle.
It was time to continue my ride if I was to be home before it got dark. The return journey would be shorted, easier but less interesting. I took the bridal path which leads past Lough Inshagh as it makes its way towards the shoreline of Lough Gartan near the birthplace of St. Columbkille; basically back to where I started via a different route. I did take slightly indirect roads home though as I visited the remains of what is believed to be St. Columbkille’s abbey and there are also the remains of an earlier settlement, a very old stone cross, a graveyard said to contain some of the O’Donnell Chieftains of Donegal and Holy Well. I also noted the graveyard contains the remains of a former Royal Irish Constabulary officer.
From the Abbey I turned towards Churchill and made the detour through the Garten Estate on the gravel road which runs alongside the opposite shore of Lough Garten. It was time to switch on my dynamo lights in the gloaming as I cycled the last ten or so miles home. I had covered around fifty miles and managed to make it an all-day affair. This is the largely irreconcilable with the type of cycling promoted by the magazines. Before my accident, on my road bikes I could have done a fifty-mile ride in little more than three hours if I put my mind to it and many more speed-motivated cyclists than myself could have done it a lot faster.
On the other hand, I spent a lot of this ride on very minor roads, often poorly surfaced or on gravel paths. This is always going to slow anyone down. But what made it take all day was that I also fitted in a walk around the gardens, a conversation with some of the gardeners as well as a few other people I met. I also studied artwork. I read information boards. I read Mrs Adair’s letters. I had made my already hefty mountain bike even heavier by carrying my lunch, drinks, a spare jersey (which I did end up needing as it was so cold up in the exposed mountains, and a sufficient selection of tools to deal with any likely mechanical. My Townsend is a practical and comfortable bike, not a fast one. I stopped randomly on a whim at many locations to look at something interesting or to take a photograph.
I didn’t go anywhere I hadn’t been before but I still discovered new things that I hadn’t noticed before and learned and experienced new things. This is what happens when you slow things down. There’s a time and place for everything and there is definitely nothing wrong with pushing yourself to the limit to improve fitness. I just feel it should be remembered, and promoted, that there is also a lot to be gained from doing slow bicycle rides too. There again, I’m sure there are many who would consider my fast rides as slow bicycle rides!
In the motortrade the term ‘Bangernomics’ is frequently used to describe the practice of running older, quality cars on the cheap. The phrase comes from a book written by James Ruppert on the subject of running old cars. It can be done for those of us who are prepared to get our hands dirty and fix things ourselves. A large part of any garage bill is usually labour, not parts. Do it yourself, ideally with second hand parts and you can save a lot of money. The important part is knowing the difference between a viable repair to something that has plenty of life left in it and something which is likely to be a bottomless money pit. It’s the approach I’ve always taken to motoring.
It’s also the approach I also take with my cycling. I’ve ridden thousands of miles on bikes many of the modern fashion-conscious cyclist would most likely throw in the dump (which is where I’ve found many! It’s amazing how many people throw away old bikes, many of decent quality, because they think it’s not worth repairing.). It’s even easier to run an old bike than an old car as it is easier to fix them and parts can often be switched between bikes from different manufacturers and different eras with a little creativity.
It makes sense to do this from my point of view. I’m not particularly weathy and could never justify the cost of some modern bikes. I’m not racing anyone so I don’t need the latest, greatest bike. The durability of older components is generally better than what is used today. I favour reliability and durability. It is entirely subjective but I also just simply have a preference for the style of older bikes and feel no attraction for modern road bikes in particular. I personally feel that when you have stripped and rebuilt something yourself you have an attachment that just can’t be formed for something bought of the shelf. There is also the opportunity to experiment with different gear systems or whatever when you are building up your own bikes.
I will provide exhibit A, my early 1980s Record three-speed roadster which I’ve written about often on this blog. It’s a basic gents utility bike built behind the Iron Curtain and very much a budget bike when new. It was workmanlike but decent enough quality and it actually rode pretty well. I’ve owned it for about twelve years at this point and I paid just €20 for it. I have used it a lot, have covered thousands of miles on it, even including a few tours. In the days when I had a commute of over forty miles round trip, I did do it on the Record three days per week during the summer months. I rode it enough to have worn out three Michelin World Tour tyres on the back wheel.
Naturally I did spend money on it. I did replace the sprocket with a larger one to alter the gearing, an inexpensive and worthwhile thing to do to any Sturmey Archer equipped bike as most seem to be too high-geared from the factory. I did change the basic dynamo lamps for better Busch and Muller lamps with standlights (you can’t put a price on your own safety in my opinion. Good lights are always worthwhile if you ride at night). I did replace the front wheel with an alloy rimmed wheel in the interests of better braking and safety, a relatively cheap and very straightforward upgrade to any bike which has chrome rims as polished chrome makes a poor breaking surface in the rain. When I bent the rear wheel beyond repair, I replaced it with a new alloy wheel with one of the modern Sturmey Archer hubs. I had worn out the bottom bracket so I had converted to square taper and did some other things to improve the bike as I documented here.
So it was with some sadness that I’ve been foreced to retire it from service. Also, a bit of a shock given what happened without warning. I was climbing a hill out of the saddle and there was a loud crack and the bike suddenly felt funny. I stopped and got off and didn’t immediately spot what had happened. The bottom bracket shell had broken. There was no rust around it. The break appeared to fresh the whole way around so wasn’t the continuation of a crack that had developed over a period of time. Proof that steel frames can also fail without warning. It was about forty years old and had been well used during my ownership and it cost me so little in the first place. Still annoying though; despite it’s lowly value, the bike was very useful to me and one of my most used bikes. I was able to ride it gently for the eight miles or so back to base, sitting on it to freewheel down hills, walking it up hills and riding it gently on the flat.
I haven’t entirely given up on it just yet. I keep threatening to attempt a welded repair. My concern is that the heat from an electic arc welder would melt the braze in the joints where the frame-tubes join into the bottom bracket. I don’t have brazing equipment and don’t know anyone else who has. The bike has such low value that it’s not worth paying someone else to fix it. If it had been something of value like a curly Hetchins or something, then it would be financially viable to send it of to a frame builder to have a new bottom bracket shell brazed in. In this case, I suspect a professional frame builder would laugh if I sent them this! The other option is to find another frame and re-home the components.
I may be pondering a possible DIY attempted repair just for an experiment as much as anything else (and I don’t really have anything to lose) but in the meantime it left me without a roadster for pottering about on. I do have my Rudge and much as I love it, rod brakes don’t cut it in modern road conditions. They’re fine in the dry but useless in the rain and it tends to rain quite a bit in this country.
I pulled my old Kalkhoff from the back of the shed. I’ve written about this in the past and this is a genuine skip-rescue bike, one of several passed on to me by a builder friend who was working on a house and rescued the Kalkhoff and several other bikes from a skip and kindly passed them on to me. I serviced the Kalkhoff at the time and as the back wheel was bent beyond my ability to repair it, I replaced it with a wheel with a Sturmey Archer hub, added some dynamo lights and rode it as a winter bike at the bike and probably covered a few thousand miles on it. Then I decided to have a play and re-instated the original Sachs derailleur, added a second sprocket to the sprocket to the hub to give myself six gears. I wrote about my hybrid gearing setup here.
I even did a little overnight tour on the Kalkhoff with this hybrid gearing setup – an overnighter to Glencolumbkille. The bike rode well enought considering it’s a basic hi-ten frame with basic components but was never ideal as the frame was a little on the small side for me and the bars were lower than I would ideally like. I decided to fix this by replacing them with a set of North Road bars I had lying around. This effectively turned it into a roadster. I did borrow the sprung saddle from the Record. I may yet borrow the alloy rims and maybe the square taper chainset (but as mentioned, I haven’t completely dismantled it just yet as I may attempt to weld it).
Something concerning that I noted when I removed the old drop handlebars from the bike was once the bar tape was removed, it was worrying how rusty the bars were and how deep the itting was. There is no doubt their strength would have been compromised. It really is worth inspecting components on older bikes, especially if they were stored somewhere damp and corrosion allowed to take a hold. A broken handlebar would be an unwelcome surprise to put it mildly.
With the North Road bars in place, it looked more like a roadster already and it gave a comfortable riding position. The bike had survived well in several years of “resting” and didn’t really need anything other than a check over and some oil on the hub and the chain and a good clean. So I started using it a bit and did a few rides of approximately thirty miles. I found it comfortable and it rides well. It was only a basic five speed road bike originally and somewhat oddly for a bike of it’s type, runs on 26 x 1 3/8“ wheels. The paintwork is tatty but original. I am still running the hybrid gearing system. It works but I have mixed feelings about it as it spoils the simplicity of a standard three speed, probably without too much of an advantage in real terms. I gain one extra high gear really with the other two filling the gaps in the standard three speed hub’s wide range rears. It can be useful, and it is a great conversation piece as few know what it is but I’m tempted to remove the rear mech and the smaller sprocket and return to normal three speed specification.
Then, I suffered another catastrophic failure! Somewhat ironically it happened in more or less exactly the same place as the Record frame broke, again as I was climbing out of the saddle. It was the bottom bracket which failed this time so not as bad a frame failure but I was left with a long walk home as I couldn’t ride the bike at all this time. It also failed with a bang and without warning, the pedals just suddenly felt loose. Something very unusual had happened. The bottom bracket adjustable cup had simply broken in two; the very end along with the lockring had broken away leaving the rest of it still inside the frame. I have never heard of this happening before (nor has anyone else I’ve spoken too).
It is difficult to understand why this might have happened. All I can simply suggest is metal fatigue. Even if it was a manufacturing defect I would have expected it to fail many years ago. I know the cups were in good condition with no deep wear rings or gouges or anything like that and it is a good quality German made part and not some spurious remanufactured rubbish like a lot of cheaper replacement cycle parts today.
It was to be a simple and inexpensive fix this time. I have lots of spare bits and pieces and I was able to just simply swap out the failed part for one of the spares I had in my box of random cycle parts. The bike has a cottered chainset. Much is written about the difficulty with working with cottered chainsets but I have never found them to be that much hassle. In simple terms, remove the nut and washer. Then put the nut on again until level with the top of the threads. Support the crank from underneath (but make sure the pin has somewhere to come out. A piece of steel pipe of between the crank and the floor is ideal as the pin can drop into the pipe). Then hammer the pin out. A typical sixteen ounce carpenter’s claw hammer is best I find. The import thing is to strike it hard and accurately. The shock will drive it out. I see many people who seem to be afraid to hit these type of pins, either on bicycles or other applications. If you just hit it with gentle taps it won’t budge and you will end up rivetting it in place and cause a much bigger problem.
With both cranks removed I was able to remove the bottom bracker spindle before removing the remains of the threaded part of the cup using a blunt chisel to drive it around until it was out enough to get a grip on it. I guess many would probably insist I should have removed the fixed cup for inspection and cleaning too but I don’t consider it necessary unless you need to replace it. It is perfectly possible to clean it in situ. Then apply grease before inserting the ball bearings, one at a time. A normal cup and cone bottom bracket like the one on this Kalkhoff will take eleven quarter inch ball bearings. Then apply some more grease. You can fill the adjustable cup with grease and eleven ball bearings in the same way.
Then you can put the spindle back in place and screw in the adjustable cup. Note that the adjustable cup has a standard right hand thread and the fixed cup on the driveside has a left-handed thread (unless it’s old French or Italian which have right hand thread on both sides – usually!). Work gently to ensure the balls don’t fall out of place. Also pay careful attention to ensure the cup starts on the correct thread as it’s surprisingly easy to cross-thread a bottom bracket cup. Never force it. If it feels very tight at the start, try again. Not relevant in this case but be very careful you have the correct cup type if working on a Raleigh (which had their own unique thread standard) or an old French or Italian bike which are metric threads rather than the more usual 1 3/8“ x 24 TPI standard cycle thread.
Adjust the cup until it spins freely with no free play. In reality, as any bike you will be doing this on will more than likely be old with a few miles on the clock, it may not be possible to get it 100% so you may have to compromise slightly. Then put on the lockring to keep it locked in place. Hold the cup in position while tightening the lockring and ensure it doesn’t tighten. Then check the adjustment again. The tools needed for these job varies as there are a few designs out there. I find German bikes are conveniently designed to take standard spanners (although you will need a very big one for the lockring but pipe pliers will work). My replacement cup was the more typically British design with pin holes for a pin spanner and lockring which needs a C-spanner but you can manage with a hammer and punch and pipe pliers.
You often find bottom brackets (and hubs and headsets) were originally fitted with caged bearings which hold the balls in place. I personally think they are best removed and thrown in the bin. Their only purpose it ease of assembly. Using cages mean you have less balls on each side which will wear more as there are less to take the load and also I have seen bottom brackets destroyed when the cage got out of shape and damaged the cup or the cones.
You can then refit the cranks. With cottered cranks, (which have what I consider and unfair reputation. They only give problems if not installed correctly), you need to be aware of how they work. The nut does not pull them into place. The thread is not strong enough. This is the mistake many make. If you just tighten the nut, they will come loose and cause problems (and never ride with loose cotter pins as you destroy the cranks). They need to be hammered (or pressed if you have the correct tool) into positon and the only purpose the nut serves is to hold them in place. Also pay attention to the angle of the flat part of the pins. On new pins, it may be necessary to file them to a shallower angle so they have better contact with the spindle. Both sides need to be exactly the same or else the cranks won’t align. There is a wrong way to put them in as the threaded part can then catch on the hem of your trousers as it goes around. It’s easy to get confused and it will make no functional difference whatsoever but it can cause them to catch your trousers if you ride in loose-fitting clothes.
Support the crank underneath when hammering to avoid damaging the bearings. Push the pin in and tighten the nut (but don’t over do it as it is easy to strip the threads) and then a few hard and accurate hits with the hammer. Then tighten the nut and repeat. Do this a few times until the nut stops coming loose. That should then be good to go although it’s worth checking after a few rides.
With my skip rescue bike now fettled with second hand parts from with very little money spent to create a perfectly usable, working bicycle, I can look forward to happy miles over the winter. Yes it’s a bit rusty but I don’t need to worry about it getting dirty on mucky winter roads (and I have decent full-sized mudguards. Many modern bikes don’t even have space to fit them). I can also go shopping and not worry about my bike being stolen. I also am not losing money in depreciation. Above all, I have the enjoyment of saving things from the dump and the learning experience of putting it all together again. We’re being told to reduce waste and recycle but I see many bikes with plenty of life left in them, sometimes even quite valuable ones being scrapped as nobody wants to be bothered fixing them which is not very green. Also old bikes have a history and a story behind them.
theoldbikeshome 