This south-west corner of Scotland forms a triangle of biking gems – from fast ‘A’ roads to interesting ‘B’ roads and single-tracks winding through the hills and forests with the odd dirt trail coming into the equation.

All that’s needed is a little bit of decent weather and out comes the Tenere —

This ride started with a 50/60 mile mainly ‘A’ road blast to Portpatrick for coffee with the monkees on the seafront where I was just in time to greet the new baby —

I fancied something a bit different for my return ride and got the Ordnance Survey maps out. It looked like there was an interesting single track starting between Stranraer and Cairnryan ferry terminal that would make for a good ride home —

To be honest I was spoiled for choice and could have picked any one of a few routes that presented themselves to take me back to Newton Stewart and the road home.

 

As it happened I chose the long way round and found quite a bit of recent activity due to the monster wind farms being constructed on the hills around these parts. In some cases new roads have been built to access the sites but it wasn’t a problem to follow the old road – as long as I didn’t mind getting my feet wet —

I got more than my feet wet as that river was deep and slippery on the weed covered stones in the middle.

No worries – it was worth it for some of the pictures I got on the way back —

It’s such a beautiful corner of Scotland – I cannot understand why it is so little used —

Apart from the main truck routes heading for the ferries to Ireland there is very little traffic – unless you count the huge four-wheel drive tractors engaged in forestry operations —

They certainly fill the singletracks from hedge to hedge and are not to be trifled with. Forestry is one of the mainstays of the economy here in the south-west and it’s always worth keeping in mind that all those logpiles by the roadside need to be transported to the pulpmills.

 

If you round a blind bend on the singletracks and meet one of these foragers or the mighty trucks loaded with timber there’s just going to be one winner and every chance you will end up in Boot Hill where I met the main road just a few miles north of Newton Stewart —

A sobering thought but I can think of worse places to be 🙂

It’s probably where many of my photos ended up as this is just one of the hundred and something posts I’ve had to re-write. No Worries – there’s less than ten still to do 🙂

Galloway with the Tenere