Scotland Day 3 - A spot on forecast, a horrible start, but what a stunning finish to the day!!!!.

I woke at 6.45 with my alarm, it is the time I usually set when I am at work and thought I might as well keep it, my way of thinking is that if it is a nice day then I can get up early and take advantage, however if it is not so good like this morning I can look out the window or tent and then turn over for another hour or so, and this is what I did this morning, finally getting out of bed at 8.15 packed my stuff up had a quick shower and shave then down for breakfast. As you can see from the photo, there was nothing to race for, however the forecast said it was going to get better. At a quick stop at the Bank in Dunoon it was off on my way, before turning off to and head over the hills through the very woody part, I was amazed by the amount of Forestry Commission land around these parts and they are managed on an industrial scale with massive one man, tracked machines, that not only cut down the trees, they trim them, cut them to the right lengths then load them onto a trailer they are towing behind.Half way along this section I came to the head of Loch Slieven, with the mist and rain that had been following me, now creating this eerie sight as it now presented this thick wall of mist, luckily I wasn’t going back down it straight away.

My immediate route was to take me down to the A84 and turn left through St Catherines and then onto towards the Colintraive to get the ferry over to the Isle of Bute, my first Island on this Scottish leg, it was a great piece of road with wonderful swooping bends that I could just relax and let the bike do it’s own thing almost, with just small amounts of reverse steering, ( a simple technique) rather than pulling the left handlebar towards you as you go into the bend, you actually give it a little push away, which means the front wheel starts to go to the right and the bike then falls to the left and you are into the perfect lean into the bend, then you then balance the amount of lean with the throttle, in fact you can up to a point lean the bike further the more throttle you apply, a simple matter of centrifugal force. Science lesson over - back to the ride.

About 100yds further on I spotted a grey seal basking on top of a rock, unfortunately by the time I was able to turn around an come back he had moved off, luckily the second time I spotted a seal doing this I didn’t miss out.

On arriving on Bute the road down to Port Bannatyne is not only lovely it is also very picturesque and offered me a view of the RFA ship I had got close to yesterday but too close to photograph if you know what I mean. RFA Orangeleaf, which is a fleet refueling tanker and from this picture you can just make out the giant fuel tanks hidden in the hillside just to it’s right, you can also see the 4 container ships, moored up from another angle.Sorry you can’t really see The Orangeleaf well but she is a 40,000+tonne tanker that was originally a commercial tanker that was subsequently converted in 1984 for fleet refueling. Along with her sister ship the RFA Bayleaf they were both built at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. By the way the two images were taken a short time apart and it was amazing how the day was clearing up.

Carrying on as I came to Rothesay I was able to see Rothesay Castle (48) the castle has been described as "one of the most remarkable in Scotland", for its long history dating back to the beginning of the 13th century, and its unusual circular plan.

The castle comprises a huge curtain wall, strengthened by four round towers, together with a 16th century forework, the whole surrounded by a broad moat. Built by the Stewart family, it survived Norse attacks to become a royal residence. Though falling into ruin after the 17th century, the castle was repaired by the Marquess of Bute before passing into state care last century. During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Rothesay was held by the English, but was taken by Robert the Bruce in 1311. It then returned to English hands in 1334, before being taken again by the Scots. Following the accession of the Stewarts to the throne of Scotland in 1371, the castle became a favourite residence of kings Robert II and Robert III, who died here in 1406. Robert II granted the hereditary keepership of the castle to his son John, ancestor of the Earls and Marquesses of Bute. Robert III made his eldest son David Duke of Rothesay in 1401, beginning a tradition of honouring the heir to the throne of Scotland with this title. In 1462 the castle survived a siege by the forces of John of Islay, Earl of Ross and the last Lord of the Isles.

Rothesay was garrisoned for the Royalists during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, then for the occupying forces of Oliver Cromwell, who invaded Scotland with his New Model Army in the early 1650s. On their departure in 1660, the troops partially dismantled the structure. What was left was burned by the supporters of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll during his rising of 1685, in support of the Monmouth Rebellion against James VII.

Following a long period of neglect, the 2nd Marquess of Bute employed 70 men to excavate the ruins, clearing large amounts of rubbish from the castle in 1816-17. But it was not until the 1870s that the ruins were stabilised. The 3rd Marquess, a keen restorer of historic buildings, embarked upon a series of repairs and restorations, following surveys and advice from his regular architect William Burges. His "restorations" continued until 1900, and include the clearing and shaping of the moat, as well as the red sandstone additions to the forework, which reinstated the hall roof while significantly altering the character of the building. In 1961 Rothesay Castle was gifted to the state, and is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in the care of Historic Scotland.

After touring around Rothesay, which struck me as cross between a commercial seaside town and a county town, as if it couldn’t make up it’s mind what it wanted to be, that or it was playing both sides to ensure economic survival. It was then along the A844 for a while before turning off on the only back lane I would take around the coast on Bute, past Piperhall and then on to Kingarth then past the Golf Course before the next photo overlooking Arran, just as I entered Kerrymenoch. Okay it was an A road again but it was still tight for two cars to pass each other.I have been wondering what my challenge for next year would be and now I think I have it.!
My son has asked me whether we can go camping next year and play some links courses, he suggested Cornwall, while there is no slight meant in this comment, however if you want to play links golf, the only place is Scotland and I don’t mean the big name courses. For example The Isle of Bute is host to 3 courses alone all of which can be described as links style golf. I have played on a number of courses in Scotland and village 9 hole courses are as good as anything you will find, they usually don’t have pro-shops etc. just an honesty box for you to put your green fees in. So the plan next year is to play on two of these courses each day for 5 days and write about them and rank them.

One course that doesn’t count that I have played is Lochmaben, focused around the (Clubhouse) village hall it was a stunning 9 hole course that dated back nearly 100 years that was compromised when they added a further 9 holes, okay I played it 10 years ago and it may have changed but the original 9 hole were stunning.

Although it was meant to be an A road it was very tight and I was met with a family out for a cycle ride and a car coming the opposite way, great just what I needed, the problem being the female cyclist wouldn’t get out of the middle of the road, the children, the father all got out of the way, in the end we all got held up, the car couldn’t pass, because she would stop, I couldn’t pass because she was in the middle of the road, in the end the husband had to shout at her to stop and pull over. I honestly don’t know whether she was ignorant to what was going on around her or she was just being bloody minded, however in the end she had hacked me off but more importantly one of the locals. I just don’t get it. I was in London today walking around The City on business, but the last thing you should do is walk across a pedestrian crossing on Green unless you have double checked each way then checked your health insurance. Bloody Cyclists!, even today I had to pull back twice. Why is it these so called Green Anarchists believe they are a law to themselves and they don’t have to obey traffic signals like the rest of road users. I think I have told the story of when I almost got in a fight with a cycle courier who went across a traffic signal and rode straight into me and then argued that I wasn’t looking what I was doing. The crossing was on green and he was on red, so when he threatened me I was close to punching his lights out.

Anyway after finally getting going again, it was up to a viewing point at Quien Hill to take another photo over towards Kintyre taking in Inchmarnock in the near distance.

The day was really turning out to be a revelation, the weather, the scenery, the people and the roads, Today I really had some serious fun, long may it continue.

Coming back onto the roads that had lead me to Port Bannatyne I quickly turned left to go back towards the ferry over to Colintrave where I took the following photo of the ferry, the sister ship to which I would meet later in my travels. I pulled up alongside another biker near the front of the queue, sorry those car drivers I overtook but usually ferry companies put two bikes in the space of one car, so the fact I jumped the queue didn’t hinder anyone, if anything it helped people out.

The ferry at this point is the Loch Dunveggan and it is said for the distance it covers across the narrows it is the most expensive form of transport available. More expensive than Concorde on a cost per mile basis, it cost me and the bike costing me £9.20 for the return journey of a few hundred yards in each direction. To give an example I used one of the Highlands Ferries a little later at Corran and that cost me just £1.90 for a single.

Back on the Ferry despite the shortness of the trip I ran up the ladder to take a photo of the crossing point, looking up the Kyles of Bute, I only had time to take one before I had to run back down and put my helmet back on and get sorted out on the bike, because I would be let off first.

Back on the mainland it was back on to the A886 for a short while before taking the more coastal road of the B886 and a tough piece of riding that turned out to be as it was yet another stretch of road that has been tarred and chipped and very recently as the everytime I came to a corner either the front or rear wheel would skid, either under braking or accelerating, this made me ultra cautious and therefore it took me a long time to get back to A 886 after a quick 5-6 mile run along the Loch.

Once I reached Ormidale I was turning back on myself along the other side of the Loch on the A8003 this steeply climbing road produced a wonderful sight at the viewing point just after Craig Cottage. This point had one of those metal panorama signs that highlight all the peaks and points of interest for miles around.

Right the way down the Kyles of Bute, although it cannot be really seen from this photo but right in the middle literally is the Loch Dunveggan, the ferry I had returned from Bute on less than an hour ago, once more on the Bute side. Looking back at the bike I was able to view some of the mountains back towards ‘Rest and be Thankful’ that I had crossed yesterday and I would pass close by once again this afternoon.The next hour or so was spent negotiating some very tight and narrow roads, after leaving the A road at Tighnabruaich it was on to Kames then down along a track to Ardlamount House and coming back up to Millhouse before getting back on to the B8000. The road at this section wasn’t too bad in fact it was one of those sections that was one and a half tracks wide so in most cases when cars coming in the opposite direction used their brains it was easy for both of us to pass each other just by slowing down or speeding up rather than stopping completely in one of the ‘passing places’.

However after passing through Drum and just before Kilfinan I was passing through part of the Estate owned by Otter Farms, when I abused all my rules about stopping in passing places, to take some time and a number of photos as I watched a couple of Scottish Black Angus Cows giving birth in a field. I missed the first calf by about 20 mins, by the looks of things as it was on it’s feet and suckling however I didn’t miss the second within minutes the mother was mooing away and licking the calf trying to get it to stand. I stayed around for as long as I could and the second calf was very close to standing before I got under way, I won’t bore you with all the stages, I’ll just post the last one I took. The mother is the one on the left, however the one on the right was very protective almost like an Auntie and was trying to help it get on the feet as well.

A little further up the road I came to Otter Ferry and no sign of a ferry which made me think. So I did some research; Otter Ferry lies on the eastern shore of Loch Fyne, and was once connected to the western shore of the loch at West Otter Ferry by a ferry which began operating some time in the late 1700s, and only ceased operation in 1948. Operating from a jetty and quay built by James Campbell in the late 1700s, the mile and a half crossing provided an alternative to the long trek around the north end of the loch. In 1791 the fare was 3d for a man and 9d for a horse.On the road to Strachur I did pass a historic site although on first sight it didn’t seem that much, yet again it was another Castle number (49) Strathlachlan is the home to the Clan Maclachlan; Euan Maclachlan of Maclachlan is the 25th Clan Chief. Old Castle Lachlan was built at the beginning of the fourteenth century about the time of the Battle of Bannockburn.

It remained the home of the Maclachlan of Maclachlan until it was bombarded from the sea in 1746 by an English warship following the defeat of the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden. This was retribution against the Maclachlans for joining in the unsuccessful rebellion. Lachlan Maclachlan, the Chief, ADC to Bonnie Prince Charlie was killed in the battle.The New Castle started life as a Queen Anne style house at the end of the eighteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth the Scottish baronial transformation was undertaken. Now the whole house can be booked for either weddings or special events, the only warning it is not cheap but it could be very, very special.

I was pushing on at pace, as I was starting to feel it, my backside was aching, however the weather was getting better all the time. And it was becoming a real pleasure to ride, this said I had set myself a target of getting on to Arran tonight, and finding somewhere to stay, if I was to achieve this I needed to get a wiggle on.

It was then on to the A886 and then again on to the A815 for the run up to St Catherines and Ardno before joining the A83 and the quick turn around the head of the Loch to be almost stopped in my tracks by a relatively massive Oyster Restaurant selling Loch Fyne Oysters which to be honest are famous the world around. I wasn’t hanging around and I was shortly in Inverary where you cannot avoid the sight of the Castle (50) The initial design for the castle was made in 1720 by the architect Sir John Vanbrugh, who also designed Blenheim Palace. This design was later developed by the architects Roger Morris and William Adam, who oversaw the beginning of the castle's construction in 1746, commissioned by Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll. It was completed in 1789 for John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll and his wife, Elizabeth. Built in an eclectic mixture of architectural revival styles, it stands on the original site of the village of Inveraray - when Archibald Campbell decided to build the castle he had the village demolished and rebuilt a mile away, so that it would not impinge on the castle's outlook.

The castle was damaged by two major fires, in 1877 and 1975, but most of its important artefacts and features survived or have been restored. It contains outstanding furnishings and interiors from the 18th and 19th centuries. The elaborate decoration of the castle's State Dining Room, completed in 1784, is the only surviving work of the French painters Girard and Guinard, who were also commissioned by the then Prince of Wales (later George IV) to decorate his London residence, Carlton House. The Armoury Hall, which contains a display of wall-mounted weapons dating from around 1740, has the highest ceiling in Scotland (21 metres, or nearly 69 feet).

Inveraray Castle is the home of the current duke (Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll) and his family, but its distinctive appearance, beautiful interiors and attractive setting make it a popular tourist attraction, and it is open to visitors at certain times of the year.

My god this is taking me longer to write about than it took me to ride at times and this is one of those sections when it wasn’t the case, don’t get me wrong the A83 is wonderful coming down the A83 alongside Loch Fyne and in fact this day I enjoyed the experience so much I didn’t get too carried away. I will return to Lochgilphead in the following post as I was able to really enjoy it’s main feature, The Crinan Canal.

Just before reaching Lochilphead there is another castle however it is one of those faux 19th century affairs I have decided to ignore on this trip. However further down the road when I was becoming increasingly desperate for a fuel stop I entered Tarbert, a town with two sides having ferries going in opposite directions, to the East lies Portavadie and the mainland from the West and Kennacraig they run to Islay and Jura. It was then I came upon the following view whilst I was refueling.

Shortly after which I met an Italian couple on their BMW R1200GS Adventure that I would come across at various locations over the following three days. Also whilst in Tarbert I came across Castle (51) Tarbert Loch Fyne Royal Castle. Tarbert Castle was a strategic royal stronghold during the Middle Ages and one of three castles at Tarbert. The castle overlooks the harbour and although pre 14th century in construction, the tower dates back to 1494 and the visit of James IV to the Western Highlands.

In 712, Tarbert was burned by King Selbach mac Ferchair of Cenél Loairn and of Dál Riata and in 731 by his son, Dúngal mac Selbaig. King Edward II of England handed control of the castle to the Scottish King John II de Balliol in 1292. A fortified structure was built in Tarbert during the 13th century. It was reinforced with the addition of an outer bailey and towers in the 1320s by Robert the Bruce, to protect it against the Lords of the Isles. A towerhouse was added in the 16th century, which is the most noticeable part of the remains. The castle occupies high land above Loch Fyne, providing views up East Loch Tarbert and beyond to the Firth of Clyde. This castle was captured from John MacDonald by James IV of Scotland as part of his campaign to destroy the power of the Lords of the Isles. In 1685 the castle was involved in another skirmish when Walter Campbell of Skipness Castle seized it as a stronghold for the Clan Campbell.

There are only a couple of standing walls left and they are considered unstable. The castle has a very commanding view of the water approaches.

Skipness castle would be one of my last points on the mainland today as I headed towards Arran. After refueling I was off further down the A83 before turning off just after Kennacraig and on to the B8001 towards Skipness Castle and the ferry from Claonaig to Lochranza on Arran. The B8001 gave me my first view of Arran as I approached Glenreasdell Mains.

After which I had a quick run to Skipness Castle (52) and back to the ferry point at Claonaig. Skipness Castle was begun in the early 13th century, when Argyll was ruled not by Scotland but by Norway. The builder was probably either Suibhne (Sven) ‘the Red’, founder of Clan MacSween, or his son Dugald. By now, though, the writing was on the wall for Norway. In 1263, when Hakon IV was repulsed by the Scots at the Battle of Largs, he was compelled to return the Hebrides to Scotland. The MacSweens, having backed Hakon, were forced out of Knapdale and Kintyre.

By the end of that century, Skipness had passed to the MacDonalds of Islay and Kintyre. By now Scotland was at war with England. The MacDonalds initially supported the English, and it may have been with English support that they comprehensively rebuilt Skipness much as we see it today – a formidable curtain-walled enclosure, bristling with arrow slits.

The MacDonalds remained lords of Skipness until their downfall in 1493. Thereafter, the castle was held by the Campbell earls of Argyll. During their tenure the lofty tower house at the NE corner was built. By 1700 the castle was unoccupied.

The Ferry point at Claonaig is not a harbour just a basic ferry ramp, with a bus stop close by. But on this day what a setting! Whilst sitting there waiting I was able to watch a pod of Dolphins sweeping through The Sound, whilst I had the binoculars out doing that I was also able to watch the Gannets diving from a considerable height to catch fish from the same shoal the Dolphins were chasing, to be blunt it is absolutely jaw dropping to watch this live. Maybe from the next couple of photos you can just imagine.

And then all of a sudden there was the ferry that would take me across. I took advantage of the opportunity to take a number of photos on the way but wow! This was the best part of the whole 10 trip in my view. The Loch Tarbert is a 16 car Ferry that runs during the summer months between the mainland and Arran. The photo was taken just as it started to drop it’s bow ramp. It just doesn’t get much better than this, however just wait until you see the pictures from the crossing the following morning. Within minutes of leaving the ferry, I was at the campsite I had thought about using a guest house but after landing at Lochranza the Camping and Caravan Club authorised site at the nine hole golf course was literally minutes away, so I thought given the weather, what the hell!.

It turned out to be a great little campsite although the Polish Caretaker was a bit surly at being disturbed, having booked in I met another Africa Twin owner, Yves, he was over on tour from Germany and had just arrived the day before from the mianland. He was also planning to go off to Islay, Jura before Mull a couple of days later.

He became an instant hero after witnessing the modifications on his bike and even more so when he pulled a can of lager out of his tent. I do intend to carry out a couple of the mods, Yves had built into his bike.

After sorting out my tent and getting my stove going for my evening meal, it was time to educate Yves about the fearsome Highland Midge. Luckily I had some insect repellant, on top of which I have never suffer too badly with them, it is only when they go after my eyes and nostrils, the two parts that the spray won’t work.

Beyond the fence you can see in the photo above is the barrier to a stream where all the Midges were coming from at the same time it was an ideal cooler for my Milk bottle which I was able to tie to the fence before I threw it in.

Before turning in after another long day, I took a quick walk despite the bloody midges and too the following two photos of the two mountains, yes both were by 50-80 odd feet Torr Meadhonach and Torr Nead an Eoin.

To be blunt, it was a fabulous campsite and the weather this evening was wonderful, just a shame about the midges.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop when you meet another Africa Twin Owner!!!

Scotland Day 2 - Back on the road with a warning of bad weather to come!!!!.

I woke early, decided that 6.45 was too early and decided to snooze a bit longer which then turned into and hour and half later. No problem as I had been told breakfast was from 9.00am onwards so I packed my stuff brought it downstairs only to find that breakfast was well under way and it was on just after 8.30am.

Dumping my stuff in the bar I then got on with having an excellent traditional cooked breakfast but I could have had a range of products from the local smokehouse. On leaving the owner was very gracious when he found out what I was doing by taking out a contribution from his own wallet.

He gave me directions to get back to Monckton which was as far as I had reached the night before on my search for a bed for the night. Once more my luck had really held with probably the best overnight stay so far and I’ve had a few to describe so far.

I headed back to Monckton through the back lanes to get on the road to Troon it took me past what you may think is Prestwick Airport but it is so much more, it is certainly airfield (42).In the past it has been RAF Heathfield, and RAF Ayr and in fact part of it still is, it was RNAS Wagtail and is now RNAS Gannet, with a detachment of Royal Navy HAR Sea Kings. Interesting point, the RAF call them SAR (Search and Rescue) the Royal Navy call them HAR (Helicopter Air Rescue) being an ex-crabfat (RAF) I know what’s right.

Even researching this airfield I found so many different stories and recollections, it would mean a huge blog just for this former and in fact current airbase.

The area was no stranger to such activity, as the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) had established a school of aerial gunnery to the south, on the site of Ayr Racecourse, The racecourse continues to occupy the site, and had utilised at least two of the original RFC hangars for its own building. Both heavily modified, one served as the course tearoom until 1991, when it was demolished to make way for a supermarket. The second survived until 2004, when it was demolished for reasons of safety, leaving a clear area now used to host events and for parking.

The airfield at Heathfield lay to the north of the original RFC site and the racecourse, and was commissioned as RAF Ayr early in World War II, later to be shared with the USAF during the war. Towards the end of the conflict, ownership passed to the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm (FAA), when it was commissioned as HMS Wagtail. Paid off at the end of the war, the site was acquired by the USAF during most of the 1950s, after which the airfield was closed, and the land subsequently developed for housing and retail use.

RAF Ayr should not be confused with RAF Prestwick which was a completely separate facility, and would develop into Prestwick Airport. Located adjacent to Prestwick, Ayr became home to transatlantic operations arising from the Lend Lease agreement between Britain and America, which explains the significant American operation on the site.

The United States Air Force (USAF) operated the latter named base in 1952 on the site of the original airport using former Royal Air Force (RAF) facilities (the USAF Military Air Transport Service (MATS) 1631st Air Base Squadron), and in 1953 on the Monkton side of the airport, both used by the USAF MATS. The USAF base closed in 1966, though part of the site is still occupied by the Royal Navy.

Prestwick Airport is also considered to be the only piece of United Kingdom territory on which Elvis Presley ever set foot, when the United States Army transport plane carrying him home stopped to refuel in 1960, whilst en route from Germany. A lounge, bearing his name, and a marker reflecting this event were inaugurated in 2006. However, on the 21st of April 2008, during a BBC2 radio interview with Ken Bruce, theatre impresario and chairman of Everton F.C., Bill Kenwright, claimed that Elvis visited London two years prior to this, with his friend, Tommy Steele. Immediately after, Airport authorities issued a statement requesting that photographic, or other evidence of the said visit be provided, lest they shall continue with their current claim. ‘Our Bill’ has worked wonders at Goodison since rescuing my team from an admitted Red***** Peter Johnson but I would also want some further evidence if you were going to overturn such a classic event.

Today, as well as the thriving no-frills segment, Prestwick has continued its traditional strategic role as a refuelling point for military aircraft – the USAF, RAF and the Canadian Forces Air Command are frequent visitors for example. Cargo traffic has also become another stronghold of Prestwick with the vast majority of Scotland's Boeing 747 Freighter traffic entering via the airport. There is also an RAF involvement to this date RAF Prestwick (formerly RAF Ayr) is the home of the "Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre (Military)", which is located within the civilian Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre.

The Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre (Military), or "ScATCC (Mil)" as it is also known, is staffed by RAF Air Traffic Control Officers and Air Traffic Control Assistants. Both military and civilian aircraft are controlled by RAF controllers who provide a variety of air traffic services predominantly outside controlled airspace or within airspace designated as Military Training Areas. An "Alerting & Fixing Cell" is also located at "ScATCC (Mil)", specifically tasked to assist aircraft in distress and/or encountering emergency situations.

In 2003, NATS announced plans to invest £300m in a new ATC Centre at Prestwick, which is planned to become operational in November 2009. It is intended that "ScATCC (Mil)" will continue to share the ATC facilities with NATS in this new building. To this date there is also an RAF Station Commander.

By the way when I did some research on this airfield I looked on Google Maps, once I hit the satellite button I was met with the image of 3 yes 3 giant USAF transport aircraft. Whether it was because they were so large or for security reasons they were parked up on the secondary runways, rather then any of the dispersal or cargo areas.

Very shortly afterwards I arrived in Troon passing Royal Troon golf club on the way and I made my way down to the harbour just in time to see the High Speed Ferry to Northern Ireland heading out, This is a summer only sailing and seems quite popular.

To the left is a small cargo vessel being loaded with timber that has been harvested from the area South of Ayr.

Heading back up to the A78 to head to Irvine and beyond, I was able to getting a further photo and one of the large ferry that runs between Ardrossan and Broddick on Arran. Thankfully all my gear was dry and at this time of the morning, just after 9.30 in the morning the sun was out and even at this time of the morning I could feel the warmth coming through.

The black spot on the first image is a bird flying by and what looks like smoke is the exhaust fumes from the vessel, not a very clean vessel.

The next hour or so turned out to be a really rewarding section of the ride, up through Irvine which provided something of a weird site, next to the large Leisure Centre there are signs for the regeneration of the area, however they seem to have stalled a few years ago, or part of it has stalled for the time being. The bridge over to what appears to be some sort tourist centre has a huge section missing.And it looked as if this has been the case for some time, with the amount of rust and corrosion apparent.

What was more heartening was just along the way in the harbour itself. When I saw one of the classic Clyde Puffers, something that featured in one of my father’s favourite BBC TV series Para Handy.

The Clyde puffer is essentially a type of small steamboat which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland, stumpy little cargo ships that have achieved almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy.

Characteristically these boats had bluff bows, crew's quarters with table and cooking stove in the focsle, and a single mast with derrick in front of the large hold, aft of which the funnel and ship's wheel stood above the engine room while the captain had a small cabin in the stern. When publication of the Vital Spark stories began in 1905 the ship's wheel was still in the open, but later a wheelhouse was added aft of the funnel giving the puffers their distinctive image. Their flat bottom allowed them to beach and unload at low tide, essential to supply remote settlements without suitable piers. Typical cargoes could include coal and furniture, with farm produce and gravel sometimes being brought back.

A small number of puffers survive as conservation projects, though most have diesel engines The Spartan, a diesel engined "puffer", is on display at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. "Spartan" has recently undergone restoration work on her hull, and is still being refitted but now back in the water.

The next stop was Ardrossan, I had taken a picture of the Ferry closing on Arran earlier so it was no surprise to see the dockside empty. Apart from the harbour there didn’t appear to be much more to the town, although when I came out on the A78 to West Kilbride and Largs, I was able to get a beautiful view of Arran, under the clouds.

The road between the two towns brings two sights that makes you really think the first one is and also poses a question. It is the giant elevator and conveyor lift for taking coal to the major Coal terminal at Hunterston and the very name should give you a clue of what is next door. Hunterston Nuclear Power Station. I had mentioned that when I visited Heysham that I was aware that the huge proportion of Nuclear Power Stations had been place well away from the local population; why? is beyond me. To be frank; 3 Mile Island!, Chernobyl!, it was irrelevant how far away from civilisation they were because in this country you couldn’t get them far enough away, if they are badly managed.

I have visited the former or at least the entrance to it and it is one of the most benign sights you will ever see. Three Mile Island is so named because it is located 3 miles downriver from Middletown, Pennsylvania and I passed this way on one of my trips from Washington Airport to Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, where my company’s HQ was. The power station had a very mixed history including a box office smash hit with the film China Syndrome and even now has still not been fully de- commissioned.

Hunterston B started generating electricity on 6 February 1976. Its net electrical output is 1,215 MW. Operating at its current (May 2008) reduced level of around 70% of full output, Hunterston B is capable of supplying the electricity needs of over 1 million homes.

In 1977 there was a minor incident but such were the safety procedures that it was contained
When maintenance work was carried out on the reactor and the pressure in the gas cooling system was reduced, sea water was able to flow back up this bypass pipe and into the reactor. The residual heat of the reactor was such that the seawater evaporated rapidly, leaving deposits of salt in the reactor around the gas circuit. It was estimated at the time that the reactor could be out of operation for a year, that the repairs could cost £14 million, and that electricity tariffs would have to rise by between 1 and 2 per cent. Extensive modelling work was performed in the Nuclear Power Company's (NPC) Whetstone, Leicestershire, fluid flow laboratories to determine where the salt would have been deposited, and the salt was successfully removed by technicians using vacuum cleaners and the plant returned to operation without too much delay. It is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2016.

The nearby Hunsterton A was opened in 1959 and operated from 1964 to 1989 and is currently in the middle of decommissioning.

Without stopping it was up to Largs which is deemed to be one of the jewels of the North Ayrshire coast and I cannot argue, it was not only attractive, it was very busy the landing stage area for the ferry to Great Cumbrae Island was crammed full of cars and cyclists, despite the road running round the Island I had decided to give it a miss, as it was a long time on a ferry for 15-20 mins of riding it would take to get around the Island.

It was then up to Skelmorlie and Then Wemyss Bay before turning off on to the A770 where I pulled over to take the following photo of the ferries that run between Gourock and Dunoon it made me think of one of the rather surreal animations in children’s TV programme Teletubbies when they show a number of ships sailing in formation.

It was now turning out to be a beautiful day and I was keen to cover as much ground as I could, as the forecast for this evening was not good and I had already decided that I was going to find a small hotel or B&B probably around Dunoon area. Shortly after this I pulled up at McInroy’s Point on the outskirts f Gourock to have a quick look at the competing ferry for the run over towards Dunoon, Western Ferries run two boats between this point and Hunters Quay near Dunoon, it appears that it is a quicker run, however according to the timetables it is exactly the same time as the Caledonian MacBrayne ferries from Gourock.

As I said I was enjoying this section of the ride so it was quickly underway once againand I was through Greenock before stopping at Port Glasgow for fuel close to Newark Castle (47) The castle was built in 1478 by George Maxwell when he inherited the Barony of Finlanstone (Finlaystone). The original castle had a tower house within a walled enclosure or barmkin entered through a large gatehouse. All that remains of the outer defensive wall is from one of the original corner towers. It is thought that there would have been a hall and ancillary buildings such as a bakehouse and brew house inside the walled enclosure.

In the late 16th century the castle was inherited by Sir Patrick Maxwell, a powerful friend of king James VI of Scotland who was notorious for murdering two members of a rival family and beating his wife who left him after having 16 children. In 1597 Sir Patrick expanded the building, constructing a new north range replacing the earlier hall in the form of a three storey Renaissance mansion. At this time the barmkin (defensive) wall was demolished except for the north east tower, which was converted into a doocot. (Scottish for Dovecote).

In 1668 the Glasgow authorities purchased 18 acres (7 hectares) of land around Newark Castle from Sir George Maxwell who was then the laird, and developed the harbour into what they called "Port Glasgow". The last Maxwell died in 1694 and the castle had a series of non-resident owners. An early tenant was a ropemaker called John Orr who also dealt in wild animals such as big cats and bears which he obtained from ships visiting the Clyde and often housed in the castle cellars. The cellars and gardens were later rented by Charles Williamson who blocked access from the hall to stop the joiner John Gardner who rented the hall from stealing fruit stored in the cellars.

Newark Castle came into state care in 1909 and is now a property of Historic Scotland with excellent visitor facilities.

From here I carried on down the A8 and took the slip road for non-motorway traffic up through Bishopton before taking the turning for Erskine Bridge to cross the River Clyde, yes according to the ordnance survey map, at this point it stopped being the Firth of Clyde and became the River Clyde, hence I felt justified crossing at this point and getting on the A82 for a short section before it split and I took to the A812, which took me through Old Kilpatrick and into Dumbarton and the unmistakable image of Dumbarton Rock and Dumbarton Castle (48) which has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Great Britain.

At least as far back as the Iron Age (and probably much earlier) this has been the site of a strategically important settlement, whose residents were known to have traded with the Romans. The presence of a settlement here is first recorded in a letter Saint Patrick wrote to King Ceretic of Alt Clut, (or Clyde Rock) in the late 5th century.

From the fifth century until the ninth it was the centre of the independent British Kingdom of Strathclyde. The King of the Britons of Dumbarton in about AD 570 was Riderch Hael, who features in Norse legends. It is said that during his reign Merlin stayed at Alt Clut. In 756 the first (and second) losses of Dumbarton Rock were recorded. A joint force of Picts and Northumbrians captured Alcluith after a siege, only to lose it again a few days later.

By 870 Dumbarton Rock was home to a tightly packed British settlement that served as a fortress and as the capital of Alt Clut. The Vikings had laid siege to Dumbarton for four months, eventually defeating the inhabitants when they cut off their water supply. The Norse king Olaf returned to the Viking city of Dublin in 871, with two hundred ships full of slaves and looted treasures. Olaf came to an agreement with Constantine I, King of Scots, and Artgal of Alt Clut. Strathclyde's independence may have come to an end with the death of Owen the Bald, when the dynasty of Kenneth mac Alpin began to rule the region.

In medieval Scotland, Dumbarton (Dùn Breatainn, which means 'the fortress of the Britons') was an important royal castle. It sheltered David II (Robert the Bruce's son) and his young wife, Queen Joan, after the Scottish defeat at Halidon Hill near Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1333. Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell, was Captain of Dumbarton castle on April 1, 1495. In 1548, after the equally disastrous Battle of Pinkie, east of Edinburgh, the castle protected the infant Mary, Queen of Scots for several months before her removal to France for safety.

The castle's importance declined after Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658. But threats posed by Jacobites and the French in the eighteenth century caused new structures and defences to be built and the castle continued to be garrisoned until World War II.

Today all visible trace of the Dark-Age Alcluith, literally Clyde Rock its buildings and defences, have gone and precious little survives from the medieval castle. The most interesting structures today are the fortifications of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which illustrate a painful struggle by military engineers to adapt an intractable site to contemporary defensive needs. The splendid views from the twin summits of White Tower Crag and The Beak remind us why this rocky outcrop was chosen as 'the fortress of the Britons' all those centuries ago.

The castle is open to members of the public who wish to climb the 557 steps to the White Tower Crag and view all the other features on a daily basis during the summer season and Saturday-Wednesday in the winter.

Dumbarton Rock itself is in state ownership and is legally protected by the Scottish Government as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, to conserve it for future generations. Activities such as rock climbing are forbidden as any change or damage caused is considered a criminal offence.

Leaving Dumbarton once again I had a section of really enjoyable riding, through Cardross, Helensburgh and Rhu. And as I approached Shandon, I was strcuk by a large but very, very messy Peace Camp on the side of the road, irrespective of their views, they do themselves no favours in the way they look, it really was a mess.

The reason it was there is quite simple the massive Faslane Base HMNB Clyde, which is the home of the UK’s Nuclear Submarine base, I was staggered by how big it actually was, it seemed to go on for miles, eventually I pulled into Garelochhead and found a lovely little coffee shop at the top of the Village. it was now just after 2.30pm in the afternoon and I was desperate for a cup of tea, I was also a bit peckish so I had a lovely Ploughmans Lunch, I had expected something half the size of what finally arrived but it was delicious.

Back under way I headed off round the peninsular on the opposite side of the loch and separates Gare Loch from Long Loch, just touring around I had my eyes opened to the huge significance this area has to both the Royal and also US Navy. Immediately around the coast I stopped to look across to Faslane and then down the Loch itself.

When I got down to Kilcreggan I stopped again for a quick photo looking over towards Gourock.

After this I head back up the other side past the armaments depot at RNAD Coulport where all the weapons used by the Royal Navy in this part of the world are stored. For obvious reasons I didn’t even attempt to take any photos for the next hour or so, even when I was taking the back roads up to join the A814 to Arrochar, I had thought of stopping at one point for a photo, looking down over the base at Faslane only to have second thoughts when I spotted an MOD Police landrover patrolling just inside the security fence to my left.

Soon after getting back on to the A814 itself I was soon struck by the sight of Fort Rosalie a vessel I had discussed in an earlier post when I came back from Northern Ireland and mentioned Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. I had mentioned that she was in dry dock there, well I was wrong she had actually come out a few months prior to that date, it is now here sister ship the Fort Austin that is currently going through a major refit.

I was able to stop and have a chat with the MOD Policeman armed with his Heckler and Koch machine pistol a little further on but didn’t dare pull out my camera again. The road was wet and I would suffer this more and more during the rest of the day as the furtehr North and West I went the showers seemed to be coming in. A sight that could be seen more clearly when I pulled over at ‘Rest and be Thankful’ on the A83.

Before taking the B828 and B839 over the hills to Ardno near the top of Loch Fyne. A point I would go through again approx, 24 hrs later, this time I was to head south on the A815 towards Dunoon alongside Loch Eck.

Shortly afterwards turning off to take the track through Glen Finart to Ardentinny then down to Blairmore before getting on the A880 which was firstly called Shore Road and then more aptly for this part of the world MIDGE Road. For the run around Holy Loch.

Another piece of history was immediately sparked in my brain, purely by the name. In July 1960 the Holy Loch was designated as ‘Site 1’, to provide forward servicing facilities for the USA’s first SSBN Squadron in the UK. It was the only such base outside US waters and was strategically vital because of the limited range of the Polaris missile.Submarine Squadron 14 arrived there on 3 March 1961 followed by the USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599) on 8 March 1961 for a major refit. The number of submarines being supported by Squadron 14 varied over the years. On 2 April 1987 the 2500th Ballistic Missile Deterrent Patrol was completed by USS Mariano G Vallejo. However with the reduction in European tension after the end of the Cold War, it was announced on 6 February 1991 that the Holy Loch base would close.

On 6 March 1992 the last US Navy ship – the familiar submarine tender USS Simon Lake - sailed out of the Holy Loch, ending thirty one years of America presence in the Dunoon area. The tradition of friendship and cooperation between the US Navy and the people of Dunoon which endured for 31 years is a cherished part of Site One’s history.In the wake of the base were necessarily large-scale plans for environmental cleanup, beginning with Robertson’s Yard, which serviced some small American boats but latterly became a scrap heap. It was purchased by Argyll and the Islands Enterprise as part of a plan to spearhead the regeneration of the loch and the immediate area. A number of substantial tourism projects were also under construction within a year of the closure of the base, aiming to replace some of the revenue generation of the base in the area.

This latter work has proved to be extremely successful, riding around the loch towards Hunters Quay and ultimately on to Dunoon there is now no outward signs of the former use of the loch.

From Sandbank and Hunters Quay, the road runs around the front to Dunoon and rding along this section I had to make a double take, a business contact from Cisco I had been speaking to only a few days previously was walking along the front with his family and their dog. I then turned around road back along checked again and it was Darrell so once more I turned around and went up to great him, he looked at me totally bemused, surprise, surprise. Helmet on black visor down, who the hell was going to recognise me?. So after lifting the visor and introducing myself, he was as surprised as I was that we came upon each other in this part of the world.

After exchanging good wishes for our respective holidays I made my way into Dunoon, it was now just after 5.00pm and I though I would have an early finish, the forecast wasn’t brilliant and whilst I could have made it to Rothesay on Bute I didn’t know when I would get there and there was no guarantee whether I would find anything when I did get there, at least here I had found a Tourist Info office that was still open.

Young Christine behind the counter worked hard and found me a room for the night in the Esplanade Hotel, yep just how it sounded, part of a small group of tourist hotels on the West Coast. With the confirmation in place I decided that I was going to explore a little further around the coast and tick that off before morning. With that in mind I continued on down the A815 to toward and took one of the last photos of the day, overlooking my destination for tomorrow, The Isle of Bute.

Further around the coast the road diminished to a single track road, firstly to Port Lamont and the ultimately the end of the lane at Glenstriven. The end of this lane brought about yet another surprising sight. RFA Orangeleaf, at her moorings. RFA Orangeleaf (A110) is a Leaf-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

RFA Orangeleaf saw action in the Gulf War in 1991 and was one of the first units to hear the code "Walkman" which was to signify the start of the offensive against Saddam Hussein's forces in Kuwait.

During early to mid-2004, the ship took part in a deployment with a French carrier battle group, centred around the Charles de Gaulle to the Indian Ocean. She also appeared in the International Fleet Review of 2005.

As MV BALDER LONDON, before joining the RFA, she saw action in 1982, carrying aviation fuel to the Falkland Islands from Ascension. At the end of the conflict, she entered San Carlos water.

RFA Orangeleaf was built by Cammell Laird shipyard at Birkenhead, being launched in 1973. She was accepted into service in 1979. Over 30 years later she is still in Active service, Just goes to show the quality produced at Cammell Laird.

As it is the end of the track I created a bit of a stir and an MOD policeman soon popped his head out of the window of the security hut, with that in mind I waved to him and pointed to the 4 container ships tied up, further up the loch before taking my photo.

It wasn’t until the following day when I took a photo from the other side of the loch and then look at Google Earth did I see the huge Fuel Tank Farm, cut and hidden in the hillside behind the tanker.

I then made my way back to the Hotel, across some streets that were being re-surfaced, with raised man hole covers, Christ! Were they raised, when I hit one I thought I had damaged the wheel. Shortly afterwards I arrived at the hotel, which turned out to be a little better than I expected, the views from the upper lounge were stunning, despite the increasingly grey sky. It was owned by an Indian family and staffed by a mixture of Poles and Russians, okay I had come to expect this in London but I though hotels in this part of the world would have more locals involved.

I arrived just in time, as I was unloading the bike and getting it parked up underneath an overhang that would keep it dry and secure overnight a large coach party arrived and started disgorging it’s contents which made me lock and unload the bike faster than I’d ever done before.

In my snug but very comfortable room, I noted a heated towel rail, so I took the opportunity to was some socks and underwear for the next day. After which it was download the camera and then go downstairs, with the view of having a quick drink before walking into Dunoon to get something to eat, a task that got as far as walking out of the back entrance of the hotel to find the forecast rain had arrived and it was getting heavier. I then performed a quick paced walk around the block before coming in the main entrance again. Straight to the bar another pint and then it was up to my room and opened up my supplies box and made myself a couple of sandwiches. I didn’t fancy eating in the restaurant, in fact I never do even when I am away with work, it is either somewhere away from the hotel or I buy a Salad bowl and some additional items in a local supermarket. I must save my company a fortune.

Half an hour of writing up my notes and I can feel my eyes closing, so it was off to bed again, well before 10.00pm and I’m starting to think I am a wuss, but in my defence I’ve been on the road for nearly 9 hours today and weather permitting I plan to get going as early as possible tomorrow morning.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop when you use Tourist Information!.

Scotland Day 1 - Like fine wine, the start refreshing, the middle was okay, I then had some doubts And THEN the finish was spectacular!!

The morning dawned bright yet a little breezy with the forecast for the day ahead to be a little mixed as I reached the end of the days riding on the Ayrshire coast. After a hearty breakfast I got on the road relatively early and soon picked up my route where I had left off last time on the outskirts of Carlisle. It was quickly out through Kingstown and Cargo before being brought to a halt by a level crossing just after Rockliffe. Unfortunately I didn’t get my camera out in time to catch the high speed express flashing through. Well it was really travelling.After this the map gave me the impression that I was going to either get on to the A74 or at least cross it, however with the upgrade to Motorway status there is a small road that runs along side it, separated by a barrier and a screen, a little way along this I was able to pull over close to a farm entrance to get a shot of my first look at the Solway Firth beyond the power lines. I then got a move on, I wanted to really cover the miles today, so it was into Gretna and then immediately out on the B721 through Eastriggs before changing to the B724 in Annan to continue the run along the coast before turning on to the B725 which took me down to Caerlaverock Castle (41) it is a 13th-century triangular moated castle in the Caerlaverock Nature reserve.

Being very close to the border with England, it had to be defended several times against English forces. One such occasion was the Siege of Caerlaverock of 1300 by Edward I of England who had eighty seven of the most illustrious Barons of England in his host, including knights of Bretagne and Lorraine. The Maxwells, under their gallant chief, made a vigorous defence, showering upon their assailants such heavy missiles that they retired time and again; but in the end the garrison were compelled to surrender, when it was found that there were only sixty men all told, and that they had defied the whole English army for a considerable period. In recent years, Historic Scotland has organised re-enactments of the Siege.

Possession of the castle was subsequently restored to Sir Eustace Maxwell, Sir Herbert's son, who at first embraced the cause of John Baliol, and in 1312 received from Edward I an allowance of £20 for the more secure keeping of the castle. He afterwards gave in his adherence to Robert Bruce, and his castle, in consequence, underwent a second siege by the English, in which they were unsuccessful.

But fearing that this important stronghold might ultimately fall into the hands of the enemy, and enable them to make good their hold on the district, Sir Eustace dismantled the fortress, a service and sacrifice for which he was liberally rewarded by Robert Bruce.

I pulled up in a small picnic area close by with what appeared to be a very strange sign.

Behind the high gorse bushes and high hedges was part of the Nith Estuary, just to the right of the picture was a very overgrown stile giving access to the marshes and sand flats beyond.
I decided to go and stand on a Picnic bench close by and was able to get a much clearer view of the estuary that runs up to Dumfries. A little further on I stopped on the banks of the Estuary to get a better picture and came across a local tradition for the first time. Although the picture and caption talks about catching fish in the nets close to this spot it also talked about Flounder Tramping. This method of fishing was used in the coastal waters and river estuaries of South West Scotland for centuries. Once trapped the fish were often secured by impaling them on a leister before being bagged. A leister is the local name for a trident or three pronged long handled spear.

It was then quickly into Dumfries for a quick refueling stop before heading down to the village of New Abbey, I hadn’t originally planned on stopping to take a picture of the Sweetheart Abbey but entering the village it provided such a striking image I just had to turn around and come back to this spot.It was a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1275 by Dervorguilla of Galloway, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, in memory of her husband John de Balliol. His embalmed heart, in a casket of ivory and silver, was buried alongside her when she died - The monks at the Abbey then renamed the Abbey in tribute to her. Their son, also John, became king of Scotland but his reign was tragic and short. The depredations suffered by the Abbey in subsequent periods, have caused both the graves to be lost. The abbey, built in deep-red, local sandstone, was founded as a daughter house to Dundrennan Abbey; this Novum Monasterium (New Monastery), became known as the New Abbey.

I didn’t go much further before stopping again to get a photo across the Solway Firth.Although it doesn’t show on the photo but I could just make out the aerials at the former RAF Cardunnock; I then spotted an information point that gave some details on what could be seen, back down the coast towards Caerlaverock castle and further along to Carsethorn.The small port of Carsethorn, even something as small and out of the way as this it still has made it’s mark on history. When Edward Longshanks was attacking the nearby Carsethorn Castle he moored 97 ships here full of troops and supplies. It is also the port from where the founder of the US Navy; John Paul Jones, who we have mentioned previously for his attacks on the Royal Navy off the coast of the UK and his abortive and somewhat comical assault on Whitehaven, sailed when he emigrated from Scotland in 1760 aged 13.

Back on the A710 it was a great road and I was quickly into Dalbeatie and back out on the A711 and I shortly came to the most amazing banner outside a Campsite at Palnackie. The World Flounder Tramping Championships, yep! you read it right.

On the first Saturday each August, this small village on the Urr Water, hosts the World Flounder Tramping Championships. Several hundred competitors walk out onto the mud flats of the Urr Water estuary, south of the village, at low tide. They feel for flounder hiding beneath the mud with their toes, and trap the fish beneath their feet. The competition is held to raise funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Along certain parts of this morning’s ride I had been getting views of a huge offshore wind farm if anything the largest one I had seen so far on my trip EON one of the UK's leading green generators, announced in 2007 they were starting offshore construction of its £325m Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the Solway Firth. It is now well under way.

The company used the jack-up vessel MV Resolution in the mammoth task of installing the 60 turbine foundations, each weighing up to 280 tonnes - the equivalent of around 70 fully grown African elephants - and two substation foundations.

The Resolution will used six massive legs, each almost half the length of a football pitch, to lift itself out of the water and create a stable platform for the work. Using an 80 metre crane to lift the foundations off the deck of the vessel and then drive them into the sea bed with a 140-tonne anvil a form of incredibly powerful hydraulic ram.

Each foundation consists of a monopile, which is a steel cylinder 50 metres long and 4.3 metres in diameter, and a large yellow transition piece, which is fixed over the top of the monopile and forms the base to which the turbine towers and substation platforms are fitted. The turbines supplied by Danish firm Vestas and are 80m to hub height with a blade diameter of 90m, meaning they are a maximum of 125m above sea level.

The MV Resolution is the world's first purpose-built vessel for carrying out the installation of offshore wind farms and is one of only a handful of vessels capable of carrying out the construction of what will be one of world's largest offshore wind farms.

Now my point on all of this, having seen so many wind turbines as I have been going around the coast and a large number stood apparently idle I am now starting to question what we are doing here. There is a huge green lobby calling for more and more of these, a current government that seems to encourage their use, yet I don’t see any form of lobby about the environmental and wildlife impact of these things, The Solway Firth is the home of a large number of migratory birds, that come to winter and feed on the muds flats. Has anybody done any research on what impact this huge artificial reef will have on the currents and the mud flats in years to come. There were a number of well documented reports of these Wind Turbines causing the deaths of migratory birds in the past.

Secondly if any body tries to convince me that these things are Carbon Neutral, watch out, I believe they have a huge Carbon Legacy, that will take years to recoup, in fact I would suggest, each one has legacy that will last beyond it’s useful life. Don’t get me wrong I am as worried about the future of our planet as anyone else but I would hate to see propaganda drive us head long down another route to disaster.

Carrying on along the A711 I then turned off through Townhead and Balmae on the way back onto the A711 I stopped to take the following photo of Kirkcudbright Bay.

As you can see the clouds are starting to build up and it is still before lunch time. When I arrived in the town I was quite surprised by how quaint and touristy it was. It was nothing like what I had expected, possibly I had got the wrong impression about this part of Scotland, something that was reinforced during over 70% of the places I visited on this trip.

After a quick run down he back lanes through Borgue and Knockbrex it was back up on to the A75at Gatehouse on Fleet, passing Cardoness Castle (42) It is a well-preserved 15th Century tower house just south west of Gatehouse of Fleet, It was originally owned by the MacCulloch family of Galloway also known as the MacCullochs of Myreton. They abandoned the castle in the late 17th Century, following the execution of Sir Godfrey McCulloch for the murder of a Clan Gordon neighbour. Fleet Bay can be seen from its battlements. It is now in the care of Historic Scotland.

A little further on I came to Carsluith Castle in the village of the same name. (43) The lands of Carsluith were held by the Cairns family until 1460, when they passed to James Lindsay of Fairgirth, Chamberlain of Galloway. He was probably the builder of the main tower at Carsluith in the late 15th or early 16th century. His son, Sir Herbert Lindsay, was killed at Flodden in 1513. The castle then passed, though a daughter of James Lindsay, to Richard Brown. The Browns (or Brouns) of Carsluith added to the castle, building the stair tower on the north side in the 1560s. A Roman Catholic family, the Browns feuded with the Protestant McCullochs of Barholm, and in 1579 Richard's son John was fined £40, when his son, also John, failed to appear on a charge of murdering the Mculloch laird of Barholm.

Another descendant of Richard Brown was Gilbert Brown of Carsluith, who served as the last abbot of Sweetheart Abbey, previously mentioned, before the Protestant Reformation. Later it was alleged several times that Gilbert was sheltering Jesuit priests at Carsluith, and in 1605 he was arrested for his Catholic sympathies. He was banished to France, where he became rector of the Scots College, Paris. He died in Paris in 1612.

The Browns of Carsluith emigrated to India in 1748, and the castle has not been occupied since. In the early 19th century, new farm buildings were built on to the castle, forming a U-plan steading which remains. Today the castle ruin is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, in the care of Historic Scotland.

Looking at the time I decided to push on it was now well past lunchtime and I had a personal target of getting beyond Ayr before pitching my tent, the forecast had been hopeful, although it did warn of showers at some point along the route. After a quick run into Newton Stewart it was back out on the A714 to Wigtown.

It is well known today as Scotland's National Book Town and is home to a wealth of second-hand book shops. And despite the time I took the opportunity of stopping over to have a look in some of them and see what I could find, as I hadn’t brought a book with me this time around. I was also looking to see if I could find a decent Map I had bee working off the Collins A-Z map of Scotland and although it wasn’t bad, it missed out on some the things I had become used to with the Ordnance Survey Road Series Maps, I have been using to date, such as contour lines and better definition on points of interest, such as castles etc, but the two worst points were the size of the text, I struggled to read it, as well as missing out complete villages that I came across on my ride which at times made me think I was going wrong. To cut a long story short after searching in four or five of them, I didn’t find anything I really wanted to read, although a couple of Ellery Queen classics had me interested but they were special edition hard backs and I didn’t want to buy them and end up ruining them by getting them soaked during my travels, nor did I find the type of map I was searching for.

Leaving Wigtown and heading the Isle of Whithorn which is at the tip of The Machars peninsular I passed airfield (40) the former RAF Wigtown, an airfield that has pretty much returned to agricultural use. The area was originally covered with anti-invasion defences at the start of World War II, to deny its use to enemy aircraft, but these were cleared once the site had been allocated for wartime use.

The airfield opened in 1941 as a training school, and hosted No 1 Air Observers School from September 13, 1941, to February 1, 1942, and operated in conjunction with a tracked target range near the coast to the southeast. Initially constructed with grass runways, flooding of the land soon caused these to become unusable, and two concrete runways were installed during 1942.

Operations at the airfield came to an end in 1945 with the end of the war, and the field passed to Maintenance Command and was placed in care and maintenance, transferring to No 14 Maintenance Unit from July 1, 1946, to March 1, 1948, when the airfield was finally closed.
A quick stop at Garlieston for a quick picture of the harbour and I was quickly underway again.
On to Isle of Whithorn and the following photo.

Back up to Gasserton and then onto Monreith, I stopped to take a photo of this very hardy group in the sea and the grey skies out to sea, it looked increasingly likely that I was going to get wet at some point. I then had the great fun of riding up o Glenluce on the A747 before turning off to take the back lanes through Stairhaven and then Milton before joining the A75, which was an experience all by itself, Since leaving Gretna the traffic had been fairly light and certainly none of the huge 40 tonne atics. As I waited at the junction 6 of these leviathans blasted past on their way to either Stranrear or Cairnryan for the ferry to Northern Ireland. There was a huge line of traffic held up behind them but I was soon able to get out and finally past the cars and eventually the artics as they slowed to climb a small rise.

No sooner had I done this when my turning onto the B7077 and B7084 came up, this brought airfield at West Freugh (41). Dating back to 1936, RAF West Freugh first opened as an Armament Training Camp in 1937. With the arrival of World War II, its facilities were expanded to provide training for observers, navigators, and bomb aimers, with the addition of a bombing range and creation of a Bombing Trial Unit. The airfield remained operational after the war ended, and a large area of surrounding land, and sea within the bay, now serve as an MoD bombing range, MoD West Freugh, located three miles (5 km) northeast of Sandhead and five miles (8 km) southeast of Stranraer, extending over the foreshore and much of Luce Bay. The site has also been developed as a satellite ground station, primarily used for the reception of satellite based imagery. Although full time operation of the airfield ended in 2001, it still maintains a main runway of 1,841 metres (6,040 ft), and a secondary runway of 914 metres (3,000 feet) on care and maintenance by defence contractor QinetiQ, who took the facility over at that time. This allows the range to be reopened on a campaign basis to provide a controlled air space in which bombing trials can be conducted and monitored, and short range surface to air missiles (SAM) and rockets can be fired. Fixed and rotary wing machines guns may also be fired into the land or sea ranges.

There was no stopping at this stage it was on to the A716 and down to Drummore at the tip of The Rhins Peninsular before coming back up using the back lanes towards Port Logan and then into Ardwell for the second time where I overshot the turning and had to retrace my steps, as I have said the map I was suing is not the best and I had gone over my route using a highlighter pen which if anything had made things worse. All of this was compounded by the lack of a road sign. I finally worked out that the single track lane I turned on to was the only option and thankfully it became clear I had made the right choice when I went through Ardwell Mains, although it wasn’t on my map it made sense I was going in the right direction. Although it was signed as a Single Track road with passing places, it was actually much wider than that and I could pass a car coming in the other direction if they used their brains and pulled out of the centre of the road. The only downside was the fact that it appears that the local council had decided to re-surface these lanes with that horrible tar & chip application, that leaves a big pile of stone chips, right on the riding line, so when I braked or applied any power the bike would try and get away from me, so I slowed right down to make sure I made it in one piece.

At the end of these lanes is Portpatrick and Dunskey Castle (44) It is a ruined, early 16th century tower house. The three-storey L-plan structure is sited on a promontory, with a rock-cut ditch, although the building is now a roofless shell. The north-east wing is of a later date, and the foundations of a south range are visible. Near the castle are the remains of a watchtower, built on the cliff edge.

A medieval fortification on the site was destroyed in 1489 by Sir Alexander M'Culloch of Myrtoun. The present Dunskey Castle was built by the Adairs of Kinhilt, who also possessed the Castle of St. John in nearby Stranraer, around 1510. In 1620, it was acquired by Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery, who extended the building. In 1648 it passed to the Blair family, but was ruined by 1684. The current owners have restricted public access to the castle, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Category A listed building.

Leaving Portpatrick on the B738 I set out on my loop around the northern part of the peninsular I made really good progress, all the way around and into Kirkcolm before getting on the A718, during which I felt my first rain but thankfully , I seem to keep ahead of the shower all the way until I reached St Mary’s Croft, unfortunately I wasn’t wearing any waterproofs at this stage but thankfully it was very quick and I was soon in Stranrear, where I immediately pulled over into a filling station, so I could not only refuel but also shelter whilst I put my Waterproofs on. I just wish I had paid more attention when doing so.

Close by the Filling Station was the aforementioned Castle of St John (45) The Castle of St John is a medieval tower house in the centre of Stranraer. It was built around 1500 by the Adairs of Kilhilt, one of the most powerful families in Wigtownshire. Over the centuries the Castle has been used as a home, a local court, a military garrison and a prison. Videos and reconstructions are used to tell the story of: the medieval landowners who built and lived in the Castle; the Government troops who used the Castle as their headquarters during the "Killing Times" in the 1680's; and the criminals and debtors imprisoned in the Castle during the 19th century. It is currently run as a Museum by the local council.

Back on the A77 Northbound towards Ayr I was brought to a sharp halt by the following scene over Cairnryan a few miles further on.

It was seriously throwing it down and I wondered whether I should stop for a while find a diversion, find a hotel/campsite around Stranraer, unfortunately the nearest campsite is right in the middle of that rain storm, it did not look nice. I thought what the hell, I’ve got my waterproofs on so I went for it.

I didn’t take long before I was regretting not paying more attention when putting my waterproofs on. The water started coming down my neck, it was running up off my hands and up my sleeve, and I was even feeling wet around my waist, which I couldn’t understand until I stopped much later to see the bottom of my jacket was sticking out beneath my waterproofs and it was acting like a huge sponge and just the water sucking up. I didn’t have much time to even think about how wet I was getting as the roads where more like a river, and given all the lorries coming and going form the Ferry Port at Cairnryan my eyes were on stalks looking for the telltale signs of diesel on the road.

Thankfully is was very intense but relatively short lived and by the time I got to Ballantrae it was starting to ease and by Lendalfoot it had stopped. Along this section I passed the signs for Glenapp Castle, however I have not listed a couple of castles of this type previously and I have decided not to count this one either, Glenapp Castle was built in 1870 - a strikingly beautiful example of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture.

Designed by the celebrated architect David Bryce in 1870 for Mr James Hunter, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, the castle’s mellow sandstone battlements are topped by soaring turrets and towers, earning Glenapp a rightful place as one of the most romantic castles in Scotland.

The castle was purchased in 1917 by James Lyle Mackay, who later became the 1st Earl of Inchcape. The Inchcape family owned the castle until 1982, during which time they expanded the estate considerably and enlarged and altered the castle to its present form. Local hoteliers, the McMillan Family purchased the castle in June 1994, by which time it had, sadly, fallen into a very poor state of repair. Their daughter and son-in-law, Fay and Graham Cowan, made the castle their home and embarked upon a lengthy restoration following which it opened as a 5 Star Hotel.

Then I got to Girvan the sun was actually out and I was able to get my first real sight of the famous Ailsa Craig.

Shortly after leaving Girvan I came to Turnberry the home of the 2009 Open Championships a few weeks before I visited in fact a full two weeks after the final Saturday some of the temporary stands and scoreboards are still in place.

As you can see from the sky the time is getting on and given how wet and cold I was feeling, I decided I was going to get myself a room for tonight, try and dry my gear and get another early start tomorrow. However before that I had a few more sights to see.

In fact I was sat on one of them RAF Turnberry (42) was a World War I aerodrome and World War II airfield which occupied a small headland, now better known as Turnberry Golf Course. The A719 Maidens to Turnberry road passes through the site of the former airfield. Turnberry aerodrome served as one of a pair of air gunnery schools located in Ayrshire during World War I, and operated by the Royal Flying Corps. Air Gunnery School No 2 was located at Turnberry, The aerodrome opened in 1917, and closed in 1918 with the end of World War I.

During the 1930s the site was reactivated, when it was then described as an anti-aircraft landing ground. The airfield had been used as a base by the Auxiliary Airforce until 1942, when a tarmac runway was laid. The airfield was then used for training units of the RAF in torpedo bombing at the nearby River Clyde torpedo ranges, and for air sea rescue missions. It seems some 1,200 men were stationed at Turnberry.

Reconstruction of the airfield by Wimpey had started in 1941, when it was structured as a formal training facility. The airfield reopened in 1942, but the layout of the surrounding land meant there was no possibility for expansion, and it closed in 1945 with the end of World War II.

In use, the layout proved less than ideal with approaches being made over the sea, or from the hills to the east. Both routes were compromised by the prevailing winds which generally blew inland from the sea.

Following the closure of the airfield, the accommodation was used to house Prisoners of War (PoW) until 1946.

Abandoned after the war, the airfield reverted to its use as a golf course - which has reclaimed a section of one runway, but much of the runway network has survived to some degree, and is clearly visible in aerial images of the area. The main runway 04/22 ran northeast to southwest and was 6,250 feet long, with two subsidiaries: 00/18 ran north to south and was 4,500 feet long, while 09/27 ran east to west with a length of 3,900 feet. The hills to the west housed the bomb store and technical site.

The former control tower is now a private house, and there may be a few other remains scattered around the site. The remaining serviceable section of runway, running southwest to northeast, were reopened during the 1960s and serve as a private landing strip for light aircraft which sees regular use during the annual Open Golf Tournament held on the golf course.

At Turnberry I turned off the A77 and went along to A719 along the coast and past the first of two castles in fairly quick succession, Culzean Castle (46). It was the constructed as an L-plan castle by order of David Kennedy, 10th Earl of Cassilis. He instructed the architect Robert Adam to rebuild a previous, but more basic, stately house into a fine castle to be the seat of his earldom. The castle was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. It incorporates a large drum tower with a circular saloon inside (which overlooks the sea), a grand oval staircase and a suite of well-appointed apartments.

In 1945, the Kennedy family gave the castle and its grounds to the National Trust for Scotland (thus avoiding inheritance tax). In doing so, they stipulated that the apartment at the top of the castle be given to General Dwight Eisenhower in recognition of his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War. The General first visited Culzean Castle in 1946 and stayed there four times, including once while President of the United States. An Eisenhower exhibition occupies one of the rooms, with mementoes of his lifetime.

Since 1987, an illustration of the castle has featured on the reverse side of five pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In between the two castles is a phenomenon famous throughout the area and even beyond. This oddity at Croy Brae famous, though under its more usually applied name of Electric Brae, a name first given by someone who presumably thought that gravitational forces were being overcome by some sort of electric force.

There is a warning sign about slow vehicles as people experience the feeling of rolling uphill a Layby had been constructed in recent years to make things a bit safer.

The truth is less mysterious. As the stone placed by the layby explains, the effect is the result of an optical illusion. The inland end of this stretch of road is actually 17 feet higher than the coastal end, giving an overall gradient of 1 in 86. Yet because of the way the surrounding landscape slopes, the road appears to incline the opposite way, from its coastal end down to its inland end. The illusion is a powerful one, and the resulting effect is very weird, even when you know its cause. The layby was full so I had no space or time to take a photo so I pushed on to a viewing point a little further on.

Dunure Castle (47) stands in ruins on a rocky promontory on the Carrick coast, protecting the small Dunure harbour. The site dates from the late 13th century; the earliest charter for the lands dating from 1256, however the remains of the building are of 15th and 16th century origin. One tradition is that the castle was built by the Danes and another states that the Mackinnons held the castle from Alexander III, as a reward for their valour at the Battle of Largs.

The castle is the point of origin of the Kennedys of Carrick, who once ruled over much of south western Scotland and were granted the lands in 1357. This family though should not be confused with the famous American Kennedy family which came from Co. Wexford in Ireland.
In August 1563, Mary, Queen of Scots visited the castle for three days during her third progress round the west of the country It has another more gruesome part in the history of this part of Scotland. In 1570, a dispute arose between Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassilis, and Allan Stewart, the succeeding lay Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey over the ownership of some of the abbey lands and their rental income. The Earl's uncle was Quintin Kennedy, the last true abbot of Crossraguel. Gilbert had expected to secure the Commendatorship, however Allan obtained it through the influence of his relative, Captain James Stewart of Cardonald. Gilbert, with sixteen men, caught Allan Stewart unawares in Crossraguel Woods whilst a guest of the Laird of Bargany, and tricked him into journeying to Dunure. At the castle he was deprived of his horse and weapons and guarded by six of the Earl's men.

For two days Gilbert left the commendator to consider his fate and because he was obstinate and refused to sign over the lands and rentals he tortured him twice, roasting and basting his feet and body over a brazier in the Black Vault of the castle, aided bizarely by his cook, baker and pantrymen. As a result of the torture sessions of the first and seventh days of September 1570, the lands were signed over to Gilbert.

The Commendator was rescued from his confinement by the Laird of Bargany, Allan's brother in law, who arrived with a body of men; first hiding in the chapel and then storming the castle. The rights to the abbey lands were settled, partly by the Earl providing Allen Stewart with sufficient funds to allow him to live 'comfortably' for the rest of his life. In the meantime he had been taken to the Cross of Ayr where he had denounced the Earl of Cassillis. The Earl however was never fully brought to book for his actions by the Privy Council and Allen Stewart never walked again.

It was now the relatively short run into Ayr and to start the search for a bed for the night and to try and get my gear dry and a game of cat and mouse with 3 Italian guys in a hire car.

I tried a private but relatively large private hotel at the northern end of town just before it becomes Prestwick first, and as I was asking the manager if he had any space one of the Italians was behind me, when I had finished, he waited to get exactly the same information and directions.

I then tried the Holiday Inn Express as recommended as I thought I could use my priority points, but again they were full. The duty manager was more than helpful and pointed me in the direction of a couple of hotels, as I now had the Italian behind me again, I thought I would throw him off the scent by making him think I was going elsewhere, more fool me, he had signal on his phone and was able to phone ahead and get a booking, thankfully I was still able to get a room in the Stair Inn, wow! What a find! If you are ever in the area, either on business or pleasure, this should be your base, very inexpensive and better quality than most things you find. I had been informed about a Country House Hotel a little closer but that would have come in at £120 a night, The Stair Inn were apologetic, that they only had a Twin Room left at £50 for Bed and Breakfast and to be frank the Bedroom was top rate, I would be more than happy to take someone there for a romantic weekend, the bathroom was Snug shall we say, but adequate, deficiencies were more than made up for by the staff, everyone had a smile on their face. The food is better than good.

One other guest asked me what I was doing and when he heard his comment was ‘you’ve lucked out here’ and I totally agree with him If it was only to meet Caroline at the Stairs Inn. It takes a bit of finding but you’ve just got to make the effort.

After getting a quick shower it was now rapidly approaching 8.00pm so I wanted to get down to the bar and get something to eat. I had not ate anything since 8.30am this morning so you could say I was a little hungry.

A lovely meal, washed down by a couple of pints was just what the doctor ordered and took some time to write up some of these notes as I sat there, tiredness soon started to lay its heavy hand on me, so it was off to bed, for a great night’s sleep despite a busy pub being underneath me. Before I did I made sure that I had laid my gear out in the best way possible so it could dry.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop when you find a little jewel!.

August 7th On the road again and many, many hours later I was still on it !.

As the old song goes, “on the road again” and wow I do have a new bike. I took things very, very easy at the beginning, okay I had taken her out for a quick run the weekend before but that was without any luggage and it was not enough to take the molding injection remnants off the tyre, so I had at least a few hundred miles before this new rear tyre had bedded in, one problem being a lot of motorway miles don’t help, you need a few hundred miles of ‘proper’ riding before it is okay.

Because I had a few jobs to do, combined with finishing the working week meant I only got going at just before midday, even so I thought I would still get to Carlisle before 5pm, therefore I was thinking of going a bit further before finding a campsite, some hope!.

After a couple of quick stops, first one to pick up a repeat prescription then on to Nick Robinson Motorcyles to pick up a spare Clutch Cable, I didn’t need it but given the cost it was a good safety measure. The clutch was the only part of the bike I haven’t touched yet and sod’s law says, if I didn’t do something about it, it was the one part to fail.

Even with all this I was on the M4 west bound by 12.30pm and then on to the A34 15 mins later. When I was still on it an hour and half later I was starting to get a little pi**ed off. Especially as I was the one now leading a line of bikes trying to filter through the lines of stationery traffic, and getting more and more hett up by some idiots who, rather than help out by easing out of your way made it their mission in life to block you off.

Can I at this point highlight the fact that The Highway Code recommends motorcycles should ‘filter with care’ wherever possible, eventually I got within 3 miles of the M40 junction and the traffic was completely blocked so I then wove my way for a further mile or so before taking the turning towards Middleton Stoney and then Ardley before getting back on the M40.
I got onto the M40 at junction 7 at about 2.30pm, when I would have normally expected to get on it at about 1.30pm, so that had added an hour to my trip. The M40 wasn’t bad but the traffic was very heavy and a lot of bikes on the road to the Bulldog Bash at Stratford Upon Avon, I was passed by a number of large groups, who all waved their greetings. I decided I wanted to make up some time and took the decision to take the M6 Toll road as it would help me bypass the roadworks on the M6 but before I even got to the M42 there was another hold up on the M42, when we got going again there appeared to be no reason for the queue signs and the speed limits, I can only think it was due to a broken down vehicle, the ‘traffic wombles’ were clearing. These Traffic Officers do a lot of valuable work, but I do think that they are sometimes a bit over the top, closing the road completely to recover a crashed or broken down vehicle from the hard shoulder, something I witnessed a bit later on in the afternoon.

I finally got going again and stopped at the services on the M6 Toll to refuel and get my change sorted for the paybooth, back on the pay booth and on my way, one question I have is why have the people behind the Toll road come up with such a stupid figure for Motorbikes, probably why hardly anyone uses it, £2.70, £2.00, £2.50 would be easier even £3. but £2.70 is an awkward amount to try and hold onto to hand over.

Immediately the M6 and M6 Toll merged the traffic slowed once again and I had to start filtering, at this point it appeared to be purely the weight of traffic and I had to be very careful as the traffic coming on from the M6 all wanted to try and get across to the outside lane , why some people seem to be fixated with getting to the outside lane as fast as possible, pushing their way in is beyond me. After a couple of junctions it eased a bit and we started moving at a reasonable speed.

Not for long however and once I got up to around junction 15/16 the traffic slowed dramatically again, for yet another hold up, this time the road was closed for 4 vehicles on the hard shoulder. Unfortunately I had an incident filtering, when one car didn’t see me and closed the gap which forced me across and I just clipped the wing mirror of a car on my inside. We both pulled over and swapped details, although given the minor scratching and the fact that he had already had another impact with and other car who had broken his glass, meant you could hardly see what damage I had caused and what was there previously. One thing to consider and I do, when I am fully loaded, I am almost the width of a small car, something that others would come to reali8se later in the trip.

Back under way I filtered the short way to the front of the stationery traffic to be met with the sight of the Bling, Bling BMW R1200GS I had come across in New Quay in mid-Wales. I pulled up on the inside of the line of traffic as it appeared the whole carriageway had been closed and there was a Polish car, a private ambulance and a 40 tonne artic on the hard shoulder and inside lane, there appeared to have been no accident and no damage to any of the vehicles and when the ‘traffic wombles’ let us through, there was no debris or any evidence of any accident, so your guess is as good of mine why the whole carriageway was closed and the whole line of traffic got under way and were able to pass the vehicles in question without a problem.

By now I was in South Cheshire and it was well gone 4.00pm so any hope I had harboured of getting to a campsite North of Carlisle had gone out of the window an hour ago. I kept pushing on only to be met with the rush hour traffic around the M56 and M62 junctions then the perennial summer bottle neck around the M55 turn off for Blackpool.

After a refueling stop in the Lake District I pushed on to Carlisle, to arrive there close to 7.00pm in the evening with the idea of finding a cheap bed for the night and getting on the road early and catching up for all that I missed out on due to the delays.

As I pulled into Carlisle I spotted a Premier Inn and thought, ‘that’s for me’ unfortunately after enquiring at the reception desk, they had sold their last room just 20mins before I had arrived, damn traffic. Thankfully the receptionist had been talking with another hotel 10 mins closer to the centre of Carlisle who did have some vacancies so I got over there as fast as I could.

It was the Swallow Hilltop Hotel and was typical of the Swallow chain, or at least typical of the Swallow chain I have become accustomed to, basically very clean and well run but stuck in a 70’s time warp, all the rooms would have been state of the art in the late 70’s early 80’s but have not had a major overhaul since then, so it is dark varnished wood and white or magnolia walls everywhere. The Barman still has a uniform that is also a throw back with Waistcoat and Bow Tie, the beer and the menu also smacks back to those days as well. This time they were catering for a number of couples stopping off on there way to Scotland like myself as well as a Coach Party, that were on there way to The Lakes after a couple of days in Scotland.

By the time I was sorted it was gone 8.00pm so it was a couple of beers in the bar and back to my room, where I ate a cold Pasta salad I had packed ready for the night anyway then into bed.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop when you get fed up with idiot car drivers!.

Chapter 45A August 22nd – A Holding Post

I arrived back at the beginning of the week after a 10 day journey around the Scottish Mainland and a number of the islands. It was a very eventful time and will probably take me a number of weeks to complete all the relevant posts, So many great roads, major issues with traffic, a few idiots, a lot of great people, wonderful scenery when I could see it through the rain and some awful weather broken all too briefly with a couple of days of wonderful weather. (I'm going back to do some of these roads in good weather)

To give you a clue, although I had my tent with me I only actually used it for two nights, the rest of the time was guest houses, hotels and one night in a Youth Hostel Bunkhouse, sharing a room with 7 others.

I’ve also got to get my camera repaired and have some photos developed from the disposable cameras I had to buy for the last couple of days of my journey.

Before I get into completing all of the posts and put them up, I would like to mention a number of generous people.

The 3 ladies from my Dad’s golf club, Prenton Golf Club: Yep! he is still playing and is 89 in January. In his prime my father used to play off 2 and could hit the ball a prodigious length despite being relatively small in stature. It must be in the genes, as I used to have mid-single figure handicap when I was playing a lot and now my Son Adam, is on the verge of a single figure handicap, in fact his coach already views him as such and believes he will be a low- single figure handicap by this time next year.

Anne and Margeret Meikle

Mrs I Horan

My Dad’s golfing partner, Kenny Booth

On top of this I was very fortunate when I was going around Scotland a number of generous people made donations to add to the pot.

The landlord of the Stair Inn, in the village of Stair just outside Ayr. (Great place by the way)

The Post Mistress & Master of Post Office and Coffee shop at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute (One of my all time favourite locations)

The owner and Post Mistress at the Clachan Filling Station on Kintyre

Charlie, one of the regulars at the Ferry Boat Inn in Ullapool

Chris, again from the above

Finally, I’m sorry I didn’t get his name but the father of 3 young children I met in the bar of the hotel I was staying in for work on Wednesday night, who also showed his generosity.

It all counts, thank you very much indeed all your generosity has been passed on.
With that I better get on with writing up my notes.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, when you have to sit down and write up your notes!

July 25th – Another rebuild Complete! but my car stops play, Thankfully!.

Since arriving back from the last ride I had planned to go out again this weekend for a relatively short leg but long commute to ride around the coast of Dunfries & Galloway and Ayrshire.

However my car had been in the bodyshop this week to repair a fairly minor but very expensive dent in the rear passenger door of my car. Last weekend when I was finishing off the work on the bike I had started to plan to go into the company office in Birmingham and work from there on Friday leaving mid afternoon to head up to a Campsite North of Carlisle, before heading out to complete the next section on Saturday morning, with the idea of riding until Sunday Lunchtime before heading back home again. Yes a lot of riding for a weekend and as it got closer and the forecast worse, I was starting to think about the option of staying in Hotels etc.

But VW and their failure to deliver the parts on time saved me and I didn’t collect my car until late on Friday afternoon which didn’t leave me enough time, as meetings in London on Monday had been fixed in my diary for a few weeks.

It is now a case of booking 5-6 days off in a run around a couple of weekends to give me 10 days which should be enough time to complete the bulk of the Scottish Coast in one hit, including a stopover at my sister Helen’s place to use her washing machine.

Looking at the map of the UK it appears I have completed a significant amount, however I haven’t touched Scotland yet which is meant to account for 60% of the UK Coastline, okay a lot of that will be the parts of The Western Isles, The Orkneys and The Shetlands that I don’t intend to visit. The reason for that is quite straightforward, they don’t have coastal roads tending to have roads that run down the spine with spurs off down to villages and hamlets. The only two on the Agenda at the moment are Arran and Skye and a begging letter has gone off to Caledonian McBrayne to see if they can help.

The Green line is what has been covered so far. The house is approximately where I live and start out from each leg, the Green Box with the Map Pin is where it all started from in February and the motorbike is where I have got to so far. For obvious reasons I still feel as if I am riding uphill.

Since the last section was completed the following has been replaced and work done on ‘My Baby’ this includes a couple of jobs that have been ‘fitted in’ whilst she was in bits. Within days I was on the phone to Nick Robinson to order some further parts from him. They Included: a new chain, it couldn’t be adjusted any further. A new rear sprocket, it didn’t looked too bad on the bike but when the wheel was off you could really see the wear. When you replace a chain the front sprocket must be changed, now that was really worn. A chain guide, on my bike there is a plastic guide that fits around the rear swinging arm, it is advisable to change it but most people don’t, mine was so worn it had to go; I imagine it had been the originally one fitted to the bike so would have been in place for 45,000+ and two chains.

Whilst this was going on and I had the bike on the lift I decided to change the oil and fix a couple of other issues, one being the flip screen on the top of the windscreen that forces the airflow over my head when riding, it had been flapping around for a while, as fatigue had led to a couple cracks in the mounting. I’ve now adapted it and permanently fixed it to the windscreen.

Given the mileage covered I also decided ‘she’ deserved an oil and filter change, which I duly carried out, unfortunately to get at the filter properly it meant removing the engine bashplate, which is a huge piece of aluminium, unfortunately the mounting bolts on the front are not what they should be, in fact they should be retained nuts welded on the inside, however given an ‘off’ a few years ago when greenlaning the plates that fit across the from had broken and I fabricated a replacement and welded it in place, what I didn’t do was weld the nuts back in place, which was an absolute pain when trying to fit it back in place, more of that later.

After removing all the excess parts such as the pannier carriers etc. I used my unsual but effective way of getting the bike on the level, (I don’t have a centre stand) so I rig a set of ratchet straps through the rafters of my garage, and once they are tightened up the bike then stays upright and then gives me chance to lift the rear with a Paddock Stand, then it is a case of usually pushing the hydraulic Bike lift under the bashplate but this had to come off on this occasion, so I had to rely on the paddock stand.

So when taking things apart, the bashplate had to come off to replace the oil filter, okay some will say that this is not necessary however although you can drain the sump without taking it off, the oil filter is tucked inside the bashplate, so I would only fill it with the residue so it was best to take it off and clean the inside anyway. On top of this to take the cover off the front sprocket I needed to loosen the left hand Crash Bars, to a point of almost taking them off completely before I could get the plastic cover off, to achieve this I also had to remove the left footpeg. Believe me it was far from a straightforward task.

So the with everything off it was time to get the rear wheel off to both take the rear sprocket off and take it in to Micheldever Tyres for my second rear tyre of the challenge. I also decided to carry out some remedial work to the wheel, by cleaning up and painting the spokes, before applying a coat of lacquer to the whole wheel which should make it easier to clean next time around.

Getting the chain off is a bit of a crude engineering, it had a cold rivet link, which means the first task is to use and angle grinder to take the head of the rivet off, then it was a case of using a hammer and drift to knock it through.

Finally when putting it all back together the chain guide that was on back order arrived and I was able to fit that. Before putting the new chain on I invested in a special chain tool for re-assembling and flaring the head of the rivet correctly, which proved to be a lot easier than taking the old one off.

One of the final pieces to go back on was the engine bashplate and this is when the swearing started trying to get the nuts on the bolts at the back of the mounting, all I will say is the gap I had to get the nuts in place was half the size of my hand, so trying to squeeze it into place was very painful and never really successful, so I devised a way of taping the nut to the jaws of a long spanner, and it worked very well for the first one but the second one dropped off, so I had to undo the other one again and loosen the rear two to partially drop it down to get my hand in to retrieve the one that had got away. I eventually got it back together. After an hour of sweating and swearing I got it back into place.

With the bike now back in one piece another bit of good news, the replacement baseplate for my tank bag finally arrived, so once again I have a complete bike, which has also had a number of the sponsors stickers renewed and ones for Norfolkline added.

And although I won’t be going out to complete another section this weekend I will certainly be taking it for a test ride.

In my time of owning this bike, I reckon she is now one of the most customised and enhanced Africa Twins, anywhere, the list is too long to list here but everyone that has seen her comments on some of the modifications, now it is time to stop writing and get riding.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop to build a new bike, Again!

June 29th A long run along the historic coast of Cumbria to Carlisle.

I woke early after a great night’s sleep most of which can be put down to the hours of riding on the previous day, as I did on the previous weekend of riding I decided that I would forget breakfast and get going early, then look to find somewhere along the road for tea and a bacon roll, I know it is not the most healthy of foods but, it does keep me going for a long while after coming out towards Ulverston on the A590 towards Rampside, I pulled over near Greenodd for a quick photo to be followed shortly after by breakfast at a layby burger van and a good one at that. After being personally refueled I was off again into Ulverston before taking the A5087 towards Rampside, Having ridden this road a few times on my way home from competing in the Coast-to-Coast Challenge. It is a really excellent riding road, with nice sweeping bends, you can get into a really good rhythm, down at Roosebeck I was able to pull over and get my first sight of Roa Island and Piel Castle. It was turning out to be a beautiful morning and I was glad I had got my skates on. The new tent had a lot to do with that, it was very easy to take down and pack up. Then it was into Rampside and then down the Causeway to Roa Island to then look out over Piel Island with its Castle (39) which is right in the middle of the channel.Piel Castle also known as Fouldry (or Fouldrey) Castle, is situated on the south-eastern point of Piel Island, 1 km off the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula, protecting the deep water harbour of Barrow-in-Furness A wooden tower was built on the island in 1212, when King John allowed the monks of Furness Abbey to store provisions there. The abbey engaged in much trade through Piel Harbour and further fortified the site soon after the Scottish invasions of 1316 and 1322. In 1327 Edward III gave Furness Abbey a license to crenellate the tower and a motte and bailey castle was built. It was dismantled in 1403 but then partly rebuilt some years later. However it was in ruins by the 16th century. Some renovations took place in the mid-19th century.

The castle was a concentric fortification with a keep and three towers surrounded by a ditch. A well preserved keep and two baileys remain today. It is managed by English Heritage. Roa Island is also meant to be the home of Dave Myers of Hairy Bikers fame but I saw no evidence of him or his bike, which is a great shame as it would be ideal to get someone like him to endorse my travels around the UK. Back on the causeway I took the following looking up towards Barrow, the shipyard and the Gas Terminal in the foreground on the right.

It was then back up onto the A5087 and into Barrow, were a I took the opportunity to refuel and take in the floating restaurant/club ship Princess Selandia, former Danish ferry had a long career on the Storebaelt and the Baltic Sea. She is now a restaurant and nightclub ship, moored in Barrow-in-Furness, England.

Built for the Danish State Railroad, Dansk Statsbaner (DSB), she began service as Dronning Ingrid on the Korsør - Nyborg route in April 1951. Several changes of Danish inter-island and Danish-Germany routes ensued. She had to give up her Royal title in August 1979 and took the name Sjaelland or Selandia in 1979. Portraits of the Danish Royal Family remained in the state cabin on board. For a time she plied between Malmö, Sweden and Kopenhamn.

In 1985 she was sold to Danish Radio and TV as a studio and used as the setting for Denmark’s TV series "Berth 114". In 1988 she became a museum and restaurant ship and was sold to English interests in April 2002, being moved to Tilbury, England and renamed Selandia. Following purchase by Rick Lucas in June 2004, she was sailed from Tilbury to Barrow-in-Furness for a £2 million, nine-month refurbishment. The whole freight deck, which once carried trains to and from Sweden, was converted to “The Blue Lagoon” - a 2500-capacity nightclub now permanently berthed on the Town Quay. I thought I had taken a photo but when I looked it wasn’t there.

After that it was then off around the huge BAE Systems Shipyard which is the home of submarine manufacture in this country I had heard about them being built in sections and then moved around town to the final assembly building, each section being moved by a giant transporter similar to the ones you used to see moving around the Apollo Rockets. It was then over to the Isle of Walney and realised it really is an island I had always thought it was a peninsular, so it was over the swing bridge before turning left and going down to Biggar and South End before coming back up to Vickerstown but not before I stopped to take a couple of images back towards Barrow and the Shipyard.

Bypassing Furness Golf Club on the way back, which although it may not be one of the top courses in the country looks to be a real challenge even on a good weather day like today. Going through to the furthest point on the Island I was met with the view if the Wind Turbines out to sea and the marker for the off-shore pipeline that runs across the island and on to the mainland, then the Channel Marker a little further on, having learnt the lesson a little earlier in Northern Ireland, I took the opportunity to look inland which showed me the route through the channel out to sea.

Back to Vickerstown it was back to the top of Walney Island and RAF Walney an Airfield I struggled to get a great amount detail about despite all my searching, what little I did was very interesting.It was still Airfield (38) The airfield is owned by BAE Systems, who operate private communication flights to various locations across the United Kingdom. The Lakes Gliding Club also operates out of the airfield when flying conditions are favourable.

Barrow/Walney airfield was opened during World War II, though the site had been used as an airship station since World War I. Three runways were constructed, laid out in a triangular arrangement, The airfield was designated as an Air Gunnery School, the coastal site being ideal.

In October 1941 number 10 Air Gunnery School was opened with 10 Westland Lysander aircraft for towing target drogues and 2 Boulton and Paul Defiants for instructor and pupils to have airborne practice. By December there were 17 Defiants and there was now sufficient barrack space for 100 officers, 140 sergeants and 1,200 airmen. For reasons unknown the school was moved to Castle Kennedy near Stranraer and the existing school at Castle Kennedy was moved to Walney on 1 December.

In May 1946 the gunnery school was moved to RAF Valley on Anglesey and by the end of 1946 there were no aircraft at Walney. The airfield was left disused until it was sold 1959 to Vickers, the company that owned Barrow shipyard at the time.

Back over the swing bridge and into Barrow once more before turning left back on the A590. around to the junction with The A595 up towards Askam-in-furness then on to Ireleth before pulling over in a gateway to a field over looking Duddon Sands and across to Millom and Haverigg. To be blunt I could have stayed there all day looking at this view, it was stunning. Watching some golfers on the course close to the estuary in the distance through binoculars and just about making out the traffic on the far side.

I finally dragged myself away and back on the road Northwards through Kirby-in-Furness, Broughton-in-Furness Before turning down the A5093 into Millom, which is a very pleasant picturesque small town based on Iron Ore Mining which is commemorated by a monument of a miner pushing an underground mine cart. Coming in to town I spotted signs for RAF Millom Aircraft Museum and decided to have a look, however before I did that I spotted another sign and went and had a look there first, it turned out to be the workshop for renovating the aircraft that would be moved to the Museum later on.

There were two or three things I could recognise straight away but there was something down the side, that looked like the framework without any skin of something resembling a Handley Page Hampden if it was it was going to take a huge amount of renovation.

So here is a Short 360, a very early one at that, behind it is a Westland Whirlwind in Royal Navy Search and Rescue colours. Tucked in behind is the fuselage of a civilian BAe Jetstream. I have flown in examples of all three in my life, only the Whirlwind whilst in the RAF and I have to say it was the most enjoyable, the most bizarre being the Short, it felt as if I was flying inside a van. And the scariest and shortest trip was in a Jetstream feeder jet from Washington to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, having arrived from Heathrow I then waited around for 2 hrs to take a 20 min hopper flight. Up, level out, served with a coffee by the time the 6 passengers had been served it was time to collect them up ready for the descent. Which then turned into the bumpiest descent and landing I have ever encountered, it was like jumping off the top of your house onto a trampoline then rebounding twice as high, if we hadn’t been strapped in, I would have been bouncing off the ceiling.

The pilot aborted the first landing and went round again, this time we got down okay and I went through and collected my things before finally getting a rental car to drive into the City. I ended up a with a very nondescript Dodge Cavalier, what a pile of junk. After this experience I never again took a hopper flight on my way to the Company HQ, I would always fly into Washington, Newark or Philadelphia; collect a car there, usually a much better range available, then drive to Harrisburg and on each occasion I would usually arrive before the hopper flight did.

Back to the ride I quickly head down towards Haverigg where the actual Museum is outside the gates of a massive prison which has been built on the old RAF Millom, (39) I have to say this part of the Museum was a bit of a let down given the history of the site.

Opened in January 1941 as No.2 bombing and gunnery school and in summer became No. 2 air observer School. In 1942 it became No. 2 Observer Advanced Flying Unit until 1945 and in 1946 it was put under care and maintenance until 1953 when it was reopened for a 12 month period as No.1 Officer Cadet Training Unit. It was then again put under care and maintenance until the 1960’s when various army regiments passed through. HM Prison Service took it over in 1967. The museum project originated in a very small way in 1992, however due to a great deal of hard work by volunteers and ex-servicemen and women of the old RAF Millom the collection has all but outgrown the present buildings and the yard hence the move to the other part of Town.

In July 2005, Time Team from UK's Channel 4 TV, along with members of RAF Millom Museum, took part in a major project to excavate the crash sites of two A-26 Invader aircraft which had collided shortly after take-off over marshes close to the then USAAF BAD 2 airbase at Warton in Lancashire on the 29th November 1944. The planes, A-26B-10-DT 43-22298 (pilot: 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Hubbard accompanied by Pvt. John F. Guy) and A-26B-15-DT 43-22336 (2nd Lt. Norman Zuber unaccompanied), had been en route to Brétigny, Oise in northern France to take up service with the 641st Squadron of the 409th Bombardment Group.

Coming back into Millom I was then turning North again on to the A595 up towards Bootle before turning off through towards Stubb Place and then onto Eskmaels. This route was disrupted due to roadworks but it brought me past another former military base, apart from reading about it on the RAF Millom Museum Website I can’t find a great deal of information. But it was a Fleet Air Arm shore station called HMS Macaw and was used it seems as a transit station for pilots returning from flight training in Canada during the second world war. It was also used to accommodate other workers at the Munitions factory close by and the range and proving ground at Eskmeals.

The pole next to the boat with the sign, advises visitors to proceed with caution and if the flag was flying you cannot proceed beyond this point due to live firing.

It was then back up to Waberthwaite to get back on the A595 before going through Muncaster and the Castle before stopping in Ravenglass for lunch. Muncaster Castle (40) is a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, about a mile south of Ravenglass.

Built on foundations dating to the Roman era, the site was originally selected by the Romans as the place from which to guard the Esk River ("Muncaster" contains the Latin word castra, meaning "encampment", or "fort"). It is currently owned by the Pennington family, who have lived at Muncaster for at least 800 years, the land being granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208. The oldest parts of the castle include the Great Hall and the 14th century pele tower, a type of watch-tower fortification unique to the English-Scottish border region.

The castle was extended and enlarged on a number of occasions over the course of the centuries. Recent historical research (in the early 2000s) has uncovered records which indicate that in 1678 the castle had 14 chimneys; while a document relating to payment of Window Tax in 1746 recorded at that date it had 103 windows and 55 rooms and corridors.

However, by the time of the ownership of Sir Joseph Pennington in the 1770s, the castle had fallen into serious decay. His son, Sir John Pennington, arriving to live at the castle after his wedding in 1778, wrote with despair of how a part of building collapsed even as he was inspecting it. The preservation of the castle to this day is due to the efforts of Sir John Pennington to rebuild and restore it; surviving records indicate that this cost him some six thousand pounds, an enormous sum of money for the late 18th century.

The recent historical research project mentioned on the Castle's official website has also revealed that the castle's north tower (which complements the pele tower to provide a symmetry to the castle's appearance) was constructed in the 1830s. Some previous literature on the north tower mistakenly attributes its construction to the architect Anthony Salvin, who was engaged to refurbish the castle by the fourth Lord Muncaster in 1862.

The castle contains a wealth of architectural features and artefacts from a wide span of English history, including a rare portrait of king Henry VI, an Elizabethan banqueting table, and also an impressive library containing approximately 6,000 books. In August 2005, some archaeological investigation was conducted in the castle grounds and an Architectural Heritage Report was produced. It is planned to conduct a full architectural survey in the future, to examine the different phases of the building's construction.

I pulled over in front of a lovely Rosegarth Guesthouse and went in for a cup of tea and a baguette, I say baguette it was more like a french stick. Denise and Neil are ideal hosts and they are Bikers Friendly, even advertising the fact on their website. Neil owns a Harley, well no one can be perfect. But the view wasn’t far off.

After a sumptuous lunch and a great pot of Earl Grey tea I was underway again. Back up on to the A595 before the loop through Drigg and Seascale on the B5344, coming out of the latter I passed the rear entrance to the Sellafield Complex, it was then back up to Gosforth before coming off at Calder Bridge before turning off back down towards the Sellafield site.

The Calder name struck a cord with me and I did some research on the name that was in the back of my mind. Calder Hall. It was the world's first nuclear power station to deliver electricity in commercial quantities (although the 5 MW "semi-experimental" reactor at Obninsk in the Soviet Union was connected to the public supply in 1954). The design was codenamed PIPPA (Pressurised Pile Producing Power and Plutonium) by the UKAEA to denote the plant's dual commercial and military role. Construction started in 1953. Calder Hall had four Magnox reactors capable of generating 50 MWe of power each. The reactors were supplied by the UKAEA and the turbines by C.A. Parsons & Company. First connection to the grid was on 27 August 1956, and the plant was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 October 1956. When the station closed on 31 March 2003, the first reactor had been in use for nearly 47 years.

However, in its early life, it was primarily used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, with two fuel loads per year, and electricity production as a secondary purpose. From 1964 it was mainly used on commercial fuel cycles, but it was not until April 1995 that the UK Government announced that all production of plutonium for weapons purposes had ceased.

The four Calder Hall cooling towers were demolished by controlled explosions on Saturday 29 September 2007.

Also on the same site was The Windscale Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (WAGR) was a prototype for the UK's second generation of reactors, the Advanced gas-cooled reactor or AGR, which followed on from the Magnox stations. The WAGR golfball is, along with the Pile chimneys, one of the iconic buildings on the Windscale site (Windscale being an independent site within the Sellafield complex). Construction was carried out by Mitchell Construction and completed in 1962. This reactor was shut down in 1981, and is now part of a pilot project to demonstrate techniques for safely decommissioning a nuclear reactor.

There is a huge amount of information about the Sellafield site on Wikipedia and I am amazed at how much goes on there. Anyway I couldn’t hang around I wanted to get Carlisle by the end of the day, although I had the Tuesday off I still wanted to get home at a reasonable time, so I thought if I got to Carlisle at a reasonable time I could start my way home, before stopping off in the Southern Lakes somewhere around Kendal for the night.

Up the road a short way to Beckermet before turning off for the coast road down through Nethertown and Middletown before entering St Bees, only to be thwarted part way due to a road closure for some form of drainage works, unfortunately the workers had moved the signs so they could get their vehicles down without replacing them, so I got a mile down the road before being met with the sight of a JCB excavator hard at work ripping up the road. So it was a case of an 8 point turn even for me on the single track road. The diversion didn’t cost me that much in time just the inconvennience. I got back on to the back lane at Coulderton before coming down the hill Into St Bees. The Golf Course which you can just make out in the middle of the picture looked a serious challenge, sat high on the cliff tops.St Bees is a lovely little town based around a large public school, I had time to take in the station thanks to a freight train that decided to collect the mail as well as talking with the female station master, or that is how it appeared, as we were stood at the level crossing for an awfully long time for an old Diesel Engine pulling three tanker trucks.Just beyond the station is the school and some of the pupils were involved in a Cricket Match. I don’t know it’s history at producing England Test Cricketers but from what I witnessed over the tens of minutes I watched it was quite impressive, I know the batsman and the bowler would certainly get into our Village team.

On out of the town and on my way through Sandwith then in the back ‘back way’ into Whitehaven I came across an almost bizarre sight, lines of fencing and turnstiles to get through a certain points, to an area that seemed to have been recently demolished, leaving no evidence of what might have been in place. After a lot of research it turned out to be the site of a major Soap factory owned by Marchon and then a chemical factory owned eventually by Allbright and Wilson.

It was established during the Second World War in 1940, was taken over as part of Allbright and Wilson in the 60’s. and before it was closed and ultimately demolished it had a number of credits and was actually one of the largest employers in the region at it’s height; at over 2,500. It won it’s first Queens Awards for Export in 1966.

The 1990’s saw the start of the decline as environmental issues based around the chemicals and acids being produced on site started to bear heavily on the organisation. Including a private prosecution by Greenpeace due to the discharges, led Greenpeace to go one further by blocking the outfall discharge into the Irish Sea as one of their protests.

In 1994 Allbright and Wilson tried to re-launch the factory and invested heavily in a new plant in 1997 however 2 years later Allbright and Wilson was taken over by the French company Rhodia, It was then bought again by the American organisation Huntsman in 2001, before finally being run down in 2004 and finally closed in 2005. During it’s time it was the Was the largest single-site producer of Sulphuric Acid in Europe as well as the largest single-site producer of Sodium Tripolyphospate in the world. Now it is a deserted demolition site and those two statistics are probably the reason why, it will be a long time before it is fit for anything else.

Whitehaven seemed almost like a ghost town riding through, a large number of boarded up buildings the one saving grace was, the sun was shining if it hadn’t it would have looked even more depressing and then I reached the Marina and Harbour.

I must have got something wrong about how depressed things were as there were a number of decent looking and probably expensive vessels moored. I then looked at the history a little bit more. Whitehaven Harbour has seen all kinds of action, the John Paul Jones attempt of attacking the harbour being one of the most dramatic – or at least it could have been had not his fellow sailors gone to the pub and stayed there!

John Paul Jones was a Scot who had learnt his seafaring trade in Whitehaven and who would become the founding father of the American navy. After sailing to America on the "Friendship of Whitehaven", Jones grew up as an adopted American - returning to Whitehaven in the late 1770s. During this time, the wars of independence were playing out and John Paul Jones, now a commander in the Continental Navy set sail for Europe.

In 1778, The Ranger was sailing up the western coast, causing havoc on British vessels.Whitehaven was the only harbour where Jones and his crew landed - which turned out to be a minor misfortune. The American sailors sneaking up at night and coming up these stairs, overpowering the pier master to keep his silence. And then his boats had the intention of coming into this inner harbour on the tide.

The old ships and briggs and brigantines, schooners were really thick, piled in here either loading cargo or waiting cargo or whatever and the intention was to set fire to the whole fleet and cause havoc. It didn’t come off because I think from the report the American sailors came ashore and got sniff of the rum and beer locally and ended up a little bit tight and went back out to sea with the tails between their legs.

Paul Jones and the Ranger continued up the coast, without getting off the ship.

During the first Maritime Festival in 1999, American Marines travelled up to Whitehaven to take part in the festival. On the Sunday of that first festival, Mr Allen, then harbourmaster, together with the harbour commission and an officer from the American navy signed a proclamation forgiving the 1778 raid by John Paul Jones and the American navy. The Americans took this very seriously and that proclamation ended up on the desk of Bill Clinton.

It’s now on display in the American navy academy at Anapolis in Maryland, another copy is in the Beacon Centre and the third copy is in the harbour commission’s office. The signing is now celebrated each year with a visit by a contingent from the US Navy to the Festival. Other notable bits of Trivia about Whitehaven and a further link to America, George Washington’s Grand mother is buried in the town and finally during the 18th Century it was the third largest port in the UK behind London and Bristol.

Out through Lowca and it was then into Workington which seems to be less effected by the economic troubles and a number of industries can be witnessed, one thing that was evident was not only the Wind Turbines but a number of modern factories and warehouses on the road North out of town to Maryport.

Now given I know of the history of rivalry between the two town and the fact one of my best friends is a Director of Workington Town Rugby League Club, I thought I better do some research on this Cumbria icon as well. I had only done as much on Whitehaven because of what I had witnessed and the fact around John Paul Jones I saw on the BBC series Coast.

Workington is an ancient market and industrial town at the mouth of the River Derwent. Some parts of the town north of the River Derwent date back to Roman times. It was in the 18th century, with the exploitation of the local iron ore and coal pits, that Workington expanded to become a major industrial town and port.

Iron and steel manufacture have always been part of Workington's heritage, and it was here that the famous Henry Bessemer first introduced his revolutionary steel making process. In recent years, with the decline of the steel industry and coal mining, the town has diversified into other forms of industry.

Workington formerly manufactured 'Railbus' and 'Sprinter' type commuter trains and Leyland National buses. The Leyland National was based on an Italian design, which included an air conditioning unit mounted in a pod on top of the roof of the bus at the rear. Adapting the design for Britain, Leyland replaced the air conditioning unit with a heating unit. However, as hot air rises, much of the heat generated by the heaters was wasted as it escaped out of the top (most vehicle heaters are located low down in the vehicle). This design flaw in the National bus became infamous in certain circles.

The 'Railbus' trains were based on the National bus design, designed as a cheap stopgap by British Rail. This initiative led to Workington's brief history of train manufacturing, the buses already being built there. They are generally considered a poor design, and are very uncomfortable to ride especially on less-than-perfectly-smooth rail lines, as the carriages tend to jump about much more than most trains. This is due to the fact that they are not equipped with proper train bogies, but have two single axles per carriage (each train consists of two carriages), a cost-cutting design feature which when they have been worked on some lines has also caused problems with rounding tight-radius corners. Some industry experts have also raised significant doubts about their level of safety compared to other commuter train types, such as the Sprinter.

Having traveled on both of these I can fully understand why they failed, I won’t play the political card but both these forms of transport were promoted by one particular government and thank god the transport media has gone if not the government, shall we say.

Leaving Workington behind it is only 5 miles up the road before I hit Maryport. The town was first established as the Roman fort Alauna in around AD 122 as a command and supply base for the coastal defences of Hadrian's Wall at its western extremity. In the early 20th it had less attractive historical fact to it’s name when unemployment in the town exceeded 50%. And whilst the area is starting to enjoy slightly better times it is now more famous for it’s annual Blues Festival. The 11th Maryport Blues Festival takes place over the weekend of July 24th, 25th & 26th July, when the small Cumbrian harbour town will once again be alive with the best in blues music on offer.

This year, over 40 bands and 150 individual musicians from all over the globe will be performing in the main stage marquee, in the pubs and clubs and on an outdoor stage and on the street, to thousands of visitors from all over the UK. Headliners Jethro Tull, John Mayall and Eric Burdon are supported by Ruby Turner and The Blues Band amongst many others.

It was now 3.40pm and I needed to get a move on and shortly after leaving Maryport I turned off on to the B5300 to Silloth, stopping briefly for a photo and a drink at Crosscanonby and my first real look at the Solway Firth towards Scotland.

I then had a good run up the coast through Allonby and Beckfoot before entering Silloth. the town is a small holiday resort, developed in the 1860s around the terminus of a railway from Carlisle which had begun construction in 1855. For the first time, workers from the factories of Carlisle were presented with affordable access to the seaside and the town flourished as a destination for day trippers. After its heyday in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Silloth slipped into disrepair, as other resorts became more accessible however recent years have seen a great deal of development with many of the sea facing properties having received long overdue facelifts. The main central attraction is a large expansive green that is utilised throughout the year to host various events and activities. Amenities include a championship golf course ranked amongst the country's top fifty courses.

I was impressed riding through the town, or would have been if I wasn’t being very careful across the recently washed down cobblestones in the town centre, I hate cobblestones when they are wet, it is like trying to ride your bike on a ice rink at times add to that a rear tyre that was well past it’s best. Following a back road out of town brought me to the Championship standard Silloth Golf Club before heading on to Skinburness for another photo opportunity across Solway Firth this time with a far better view of the hills I would come across on my next section of riding which will end up being in August for a number of reasons that you will end up reading about in subsequent posts.

The B5302 took me back out and on my way to the next Airfield on the list and parity with castles at 40 a piece. RAF Kirkbride was extremely hard to find information about, despite its relatively long history first opened in 1939 and remained open for use by the RAF and remained that way until May 1960. Its primary function was as a care & maintenance base both 12 MU and 22 MU (Maintenance Units) having both been based there. It’s main function was to keep aircraft prior to being delivered from factories until they could be accepted to full time active squadrons, the idea that aircraft were being kept as far as practical from the action until needed. A long list of famous aircraft went through Kirkbride including, Fairy Battles, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Avro Lancasters, Halifaxes and Liberators. Last official aircraft to be flown out from the airfield was a mk14 Gloster Meteor in 1960. Today Kirkbride is still a huge site with private flying taking place off the remaining main runway and all the main hangers still intact and being used for various things, sadly none of them appear aviation related as in most cases like this they become ideal bases for transport and storage companies.

To be honest I hadn’t spotted this airfield during my preparation for the trip I was more focused on what I was about to find just a couple of miles up the roads at Cardunock.

You can actually see one of the secondary runways in the above photo.

The former Fleet Air Arm base of HMS Nuthatch. (41) Once again it took a lot of work to research this base before I could find out that it was Originally a WWI landing-strip in the vicinity of the now-demolished Solway House, the site was reinstated by the RAF at the start of WWII as an Emergency Landing Ground for RAF Silloth. (Kirkbride as previously mentioned)
The Royal Navy bagged the site in December 1942, building RNAS Anthorn, eventually being commissioned in September 1944, and given the title 'HMS Nuthatch' . RNAS Anthorn operated well past WWII as No:1 ARDU (Aircraft Receipt and Dispatch Unit), and the last 'official' aircraft left the runway in November 1957. The base was put into 'mothballs', finally closing down in March 1958. It is now used as a VLF and LF transmitting station, I won’t say what the VLF is used for but the LF is used by The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) who have installed three atomic clocks at Anthorn and on 27 February 2007 Britain’s national time signal transmissions, retaining their original call sign of MSF, were transferred there on a trial basis, moving formally on 1 April 2007 Monitoring and logging of the clocks and control of the transmissions is by internet link from the NPL offices at Teddington, using comparison with GPS signals at both locations. So in one way they help keep my wristwatch accurate, which is a Casio Waveceptor which relies on these radio signals to keep it accurate.

After passing this point it was on towards Bowness-on-Solway now this is where things got interesting, a fabulous road all the same.

To get on this section it wasn’t a cattle grid it was a cattle gate, so it was case of creakily getting off the bike, take the photo, open the gate, ride through, get off again very stiffly, close the gate, get back on and ride on.

Not only is part of this coast a bird sanctuary it is also the home of Salt Marsh Lamb, with flocks of Ewes with this season Lambs grazing on the marshes. Bowness-on- Solway is actually the western end of Hadrian’s Wall but is only a very small village, not even a town. I stopped just before I reached it in a small car park as I had been bursting for at least an hour, so I nipped behind a wall, but then looking across the Firth towards Annan I was stunned by the view.

Wow! 5.00pm on Monday evening and it was beautiful, was I going to stay around Kendal or not?

I had looked at the map and wanted to go via Port Carlisle and then Drumburgh but road closures for road works (Again!) meant I had to head inland before coming back to Glasson and Drumburgh before then going on to Burgh by Sands and Kirkandrews-on-Eden on my way into Carlisle.

The main thing I remember about this section was the map had shown the road quite close to the estuary however it was based on Salt Marshes again and along the roadside there were warning signs of the water height at the flood tide and on the spring tide it looked as if the road I was riding on would be under 2ft of water, thankfully it was low tide anyway.

This was now the end of this sections riding, I had been going for the best part of 8 hrs and I had the idea of riding through the centre of Carlisle, getting on the A6 and following that down to Penrith and start looking for a campsite which would be sometime short of 7pm and get an early night before continuing my journey home in the morning, well that was the plan.

I passed Carlisle Castle (41) which once again brought parity between Airfields and Castles. The castle is over 900 years old and has been the scene of many historical episodes in British history. Given the proximity of Carlisle to the border between England and Scotland, it has been the centre of many wars and invasions. Today the castle is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public. The castle until recently was the administrative headquarters of the former King's Own Royal Border Regiment now county headquarters to the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and a museum to the regiment is within the castle walls.

Carlisle Castle was first built during the reign of William II of England, the son of William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066. At that time, Cumberland (the original name for north and west Cumbria) was still considered a part of Scotland. William II arrived and drove the Scots out of Cumberland to claim the area for England. He ordered the construction of a Norman style motte and bailey castle in Carlisle on the site of an old Roman fort, with construction beginning in 1093. The need for a castle in Carlisle was to keep the northern border of England secured against the threat of invasion from Scotland. In 1122, Henry I of England ordered a stone castle to be constructed on the site. Thus a keep and city walls were constructed.

The act of driving out the Scots from Cumberland led to many attempts to retake the lands. The result of this was that Carlisle and its castle would change hands many times for the next 700 years. The first attempt began during the troubled reign of Stephen of England. The Scottish King, David captured the city, exploiting the domestic troubles of England. It was he who completed the walls and stone keep. However the English seized back the city and castle several years later.

For a few months in 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned within the castle. Later the castle was besieged during the English Civil War in 1644 by the Parliamentary forces which lasted 8 months.

The most important battles for the city of Carlisle and its castle were during the second Jacobite rising against George II of Great Britain in 1745. The forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart travelled south from Scotland into England reaching as far south as Derby. Carlisle and the castle were seized and fortified by the Jacobites. However they were driven north by the forces of the William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the son of George II. Carlisle was recaptured and the Jacobites were jailed and then executed. That battle marked the end of the castle's fighting life, as defending the border between England and Scotland was not necessary as both countries were again one in Great Britain.

Some parts of the castle were then demolished for use as raw materials in the 19th century to create more or less what is visible to the visitor today. The Army moved in to take hold of the castle, which was the regimental depot of the Border Regiment until 1959, with control for maintenance passing to the Department of Environment later English Heritage.

After refueling on the outskirts of Carlisle it was on to the A6 South. With the idea of getting to Penrith then finding somewhere, 20 mins late I reached the sign post for the M6 at Plumpton Head and it wasn’t 6.00pm yet so I decided to push on to Kendal, the roads were empty so I flew down within half an hour I was at the turn off to Kendal and I started to think I’m feeling good the roads are good and I’m making good time so let’s see how far I can get before it starts to be a problem. By 7.30pm I had actually passed Preston and still making good time, in fact I was just coming up on Wigan, I started to think about going all the way through.

Anyway I thought I would just go on until I couldn’t go any further and after another Fuel stop just above Birmingham, when I loaded up on Red Bull as well, I only had to stop one more time to rest my poor backside as it was killing me.

I eventually got everything off the bike and me indoors with a cup of tea at just before 11.00pm over 13 hours of riding and lot of miles covered in fact the best part of 1,300 in the weekend. Despite the weariness and the pain I also felt a huge amount of achievement.

All that is left to do now is spend the best part of two weeks writing up my notes and rebuild the bike again. It sounds as if she is knackered, far from it, it is just the case that all the miles I am doing do take a toll of the bike and things like tyres wear out, but more of that in the next post.

Take care and as Mick says ‘You don’t stop riding when you get old, you stop because your rear tyre is no longer legal!