Day 07 – Creebridge to Portpatrick

I crossed the bridge to start the day in Newton Stewart and set off down route 83.

I had a very good night’s sleep and a lovely breakfast. A similar start to every other day. And yet I couldn’t seem to get my legs going. Maybe it was the slight headwind. Maybe it was because the sun hadn’t broken through the early morning clouds. I couldn’t seem to muster any oomph to propel me along.

First stop Wigtown. Not even ten miles on the clock. I wondered if a little coffee would help. It didn’t much. Out of Wigtown the little climb dragged like a chore. The road was rural-A-road quiet with only the occasional works van or car wanting to pass. I stopped at Sorbie Tower, for a look round the ruin and headed on into Garlieston.
The beaches at Garlieston were used in the 1940s to test concepts for the Mulberry floating harbour used in the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. There are still blocks to be seen on the shore around here. I got chatting to a guy who was riding a pristine white and blue vintage Dolan road bike. Testing it. He’d borrowed it from a neighbour, because he’s thinking about getting a road bike. He lives locally and recommended a cafe in Port William, I’d keep in mind for later.

My legs started to loosen and I started to enjoy the ride. I stopped in Whithorn to see the Priory and headed down to the Isle of Whithorn, the little harbour village at the tip of this peninsula.Riding north again, I had the breeze with me and I started to cover some real ground. I joined the coast and could see my route stretching for miles and miles ahead of me.

After fresh fishfinger lunch at The View, a community owned cafe in Port William, that funds the village’s independent inshore rescue boat. I headed on up the road to Glenluce with its impressive railway viaduct. I met Passepartout there and he and took my gear onto Portpatrick where we’re spending the weekend.

The next part of the route tracked the busy A75 towards Stranraer and its ferry terminals. The cycle way a strip of tarmac separated from the road by the considerable safety measures one would expect: a metre-wide strip of gravel. Disconcertingly, tyre tracks were clearly visable running across the gravel, onto the cycle track and back again.

I was pleased to get off that stretch and start heading towards Portpatrick. The country lanes, early evening sunshine and a much lighter bike all added to enjoyment that eluded me at the start of the day. Along one lane there was a kerfuffle in the hedge and a young roe deer scurried out on the road in front of me. It stood stock still for a moment, both of us working out who was the more startled, before it bounded over the hedge into the field on the other side.

The joy of that encounter fuelled me over the hill to Portpatrick and my seaside rest day.

Day total: 71 miles,  2,570ft gained 

Tour total: 459miles,  16,994ft gained