75 turning 7 - Day two

Wow. What a day.

I thought I would feel more like 75 when I got up this morning, but actually, the legs seemed to hold up ok, and I didn't have much in the way of aches and pains at all.

It took me far less time to find route 75 from Heather's than it did to find my way to hers last night, and I was soon back on track. The first part going through Uddingston on the roads, and then country lanes with a lovely path running through what I can only call a wildflower  garden. Foxglove was prevalent, with lots of other flowers - yellow, pink, and several shades of blue and purple that I couldn't begin to identify. At one point coming down a slight slope  I accidentally startled a small flock of what could have been yellow finches? (As you can tell, I am neither botanist, or bird watcher!) They were tiny and had yellow tipped wings and tails, they rose up just in front of me before flying off and settling further from the path. July is a fabulous month to be out on the bike!

Coming off the roads back on to paths I soon found myself following the river Clyde towards Glasgow. Again the scenery was green and growing, huge hogweed forming a jungle along the path interspersed with trees and other plants that like damp ground.

Back on route 75 - quiet paths and country roads.

It had rained overnight, but thankfully stayed dry again for me, unfortunately the rain had left a little wooden bridge over a burn feeding into the Clyde very wet and slippery, coming round a corner onto the bridge caused my first (and hopefully only!)  incident of the trip, and I came off the bike. Getting up and brushing myself off (nothing worse than a scrape and a bruise thankfully) I turned round to see what shape the bike was in....to find it standing quite happily - upside down on the path as if I had turned it over to change a tyre, panniers and all still in place! Had to laugh.

Both of us being fit to continue I got back on and carried on along the path, soon finding myself coming to more populated parts. I hadn't realised, but route 75 goes right through Glasgow Green.

Just heading towards Glasgow Green

I thought about stopping here for lunch, but as I only got underway at 10.40 instead of 9.30 as planned  (pattern emerging here???) I decided to carry on for a bit before stopping for lunch...and ended up going right through Glasgow and out the other side of Pollock park before stopping about 1.30 finally, just 3 miles from Paisley. I had been feeling hunger pangs for a while, but just couldn't see somewhere I wanted to stop - there were no benches and the ground was still quite damp from the night before.

Going through Pollock Park

Quiche for lunch just after Pollock park. 

Going through Paisley

                         View from route 7

Leaving route 75

Refuelled, and very much refreshed, I carried on mostly following railway paths with some on road sections by Paisley and Kilbirnie, finally splitting from Route 75 and carrying on Route 7. The first part of this again was railway paths, heading down past Lochwinnoch you can see ruins on Kelmuir Hill and Barr caste. It was here I chatted to a lovely fellow cyclist called Robert who told me a little about them. The one on Kelmuir Hill was a hunting lodge that looked like a watch tower, used by the lord's hunting parties, not to watch for enemies, but to spot the rare white hart deer which were known to be in the area!

On Route 7 path - one of the Vistas at a bridge

Eventually the relatively flat and easy cycle paths came to an end, and I was back on country roads. It was not long after this that the slight tailwind I had had for most of the day decided to turn on me aswell, and I found myself struggling to get up gradients that I would normally manage ok - I think in part this was because I hadn't snacked as much as I should have, and part the cumulative effects of cycling so many miles 2 days on a row! Thinking this does not bode well for tomorrow but we shall see!

Back on the road!

However, while the railway paths are great they do get a little bit 'samey' after a while, and it was nice to have a change of scene despite the slopes. A lovely vista of lowland fields and glens opened up to the right and the sun came out for a little while - along with a slight (very welcome and refreshing) spatter of rain.

The route split here between paths and roads, down through Kilwinning (where I got a bit confused, lost the route and had to backtrack a little!) Finally passing through and on the road to Irvine, I had a decision to make - should I stop for dinner at Irvine, or push on to Troon? I could  really feel myself starting to flag, but wanted to at least make Troon today to have less miles on day 3. I stopped at a bench overlooking Irvine golf course, ate the remainder of my lunchtime quiche, and some snacks, and decided to push on. Troon was only 8 miles away, and I still had to find accommodation for the night as well. As I didn't know exactly where I would be each day I didn't book any accommodation in advance instead trusting that I would be able to find something!

The path runs along the coast from Irvine to Ayr and so it was at Irvine I got my first glimpse of the west coast! I had crossed the country! From within 2 miles of Portobello all the way to the west coast, it felt like a great achievement.

First glimpse of the sea! 

Panorama of the Irvine Beach park 

(behind on right, forward on left)

Coming in to Irvine

The route carries on through Irvine Beach Park, a huge green area with clearings and copses, that gradually turns into scrub grass and lovely sandy beaches. Would have loved to stop and go for a paddle, but by this point I just wanted to get to Troon.  From here the route is mostly path with some short road sections, at one point crossing a railway line before taking a quick run through the beautiful Shewalston nature reserve. From there it was only a couple of miles to Troon, and I made it for just after 6.

Crossing the railway in the middle of nowhere...

60 miles on a loaded bike in 6 and a half hours. I've never been that fast, but I know I can do the miles when I need to!

I called round a few places and managed to find a room for the night, at a lovely place called the Cherries. Turns out Troon only has 7 or so BnBs , so I was lucky to get something! Especially in the middle of golfing season. After a quick wash up, it was time to walk into town and grab a bite to eat - and then an earlyish night and hopefully an earlier start tomorrow! Just hope the legs hold up...can definitely feel it more today than yesterday!

I will be able to post more pictures when I get access to a computer, as I remembered to use my action cam today but can't connect it to my tablet.

In the meantime just a couple from my phone...now edited and added into the main text body! :)