Scrubbing the Bridgestones? Somebody has to do it and it might as well be me. At least this post has nothing to do with getting rid of grafiti – but – I must admit I’ve been tempted to stop and try to clean the many Yes’s and Saltires which now adorn each stone of a fine old bridge parapet in one of my favourite remote places. The recent Referendum has left it’s mark on Scotland in more ways than one.

No worries. I had better things to think about today as I scrubbed in the new Bridgestone 023’s on the Pan but I was at the A75 roundabout on the outskirts of Newton Stewart before I had decided on a route for the afternoon ride.

The church on the first photo is on the Girvan road but I didn’t reach the Ayrshire coast today. Instead I hung a ninety right after the  bridge at Bargrennan and took in Glen Trool on my way over the hills towards Crosshill and Maybole on single tracks.

The heavy morning rain that hit south west Scotland had gone for the day leaving clean dry roads over the hills.

Magic!

And I couldn’t resist the odd stop to take in the views.

It was a beautiful day to be out there – better still – the new Bridgestones had transformed the big Pan European.

She was amazing. Fast or slow – she did it all with minimal of effort on my part.

A twitch of the knees had her dodging potholes and I could savour the effortless drive of the big V4 or just trundle along smoothly at low revs as the mood and road dictated.

Judging by this ancient milestone the road I took over the hills and through the forests was the main link between Newton Stewart and Ayr in days of yore – but I wasn’t heading for Ayr today.

Instead I took a sharp right onto a potholed farm track that led me over another hill to Straiton.

Yup – the Buck was the attraction in Straiton. A nice wee tearoom that serves a fine scone with a pot of tea and home made raspberry jam – just what I was needing by mid-afternoon. From Straiton it was a nice blast on yet another unfenced single track that dropped me onto the main Ayr to Castle Douglas trunk route.

Any bits of tyre that hadn’t been scrubbed on the way to Dalmellington were certainly taken care of on the inviting fast sweepers as the Pan and I swept back south down that wonderful ‘A’ road.

I’ve seen a new set of tyres transform the handling of many a bike but never as much as these Bridgestone 023’s have done for the Pan Euro. She has improved beyond my wildest dreams and I’m definitely looking forward to our next ride  🙂