Thursday 31 March 2016

Back Roads and Big Skies

A run today on the back roads of Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway.
South Ayrshire countryside
The forest road to Newton Stewart
The estuary of the River Cree
In Scotland granite means Aberdeen, but it is also quarried in Creetown. This hotel is made from granite….
….as is the clock tower….
….and this spherical sculpture by the Japanese sculptor Hideo Furuta who lived in this area.
Near Creetown is this impressive railway viaduct. It is called the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct. (the Big Water of Fleet is not, in fact, big, but presumable bigger than the nearby Little Water of Fleet) It carried the Castle Douglas to Portpartick railway. From 1861 until 1965 it served communities in this sparsely populated area and trade from Ireland. The bridge has been extensively strengthened over the years. The spandral walls are tied together with bars and rods and the granite piers have been widened in brick.





On the way to New Galloway
When I saw this I thought I was back in Creetown, but New Galloway also has a granite clock tower

Loch Ken
Near Moniaive
One of the hazards of riding the back roads is gravel - none worst than this junction near Penpont
Nearly home - the windfarm in the Eaglesham moor.

The CBF is about to undergo a "spring clean" - so look out for some "Tales from the Shed".

3 comments:

  1. Gorgeous pictures, Stuart. You live in a beautiful rugged looking place. Thanks so much for sharing your views on the scenery.

    Traffic seems nonexistent in your neck of the woods... or did you wait and let everybody pass before taking the pics?

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    Replies
    1. This is a very sparsely populated area with no cities or even big towns so the roads are quiet. Even in summer there aren’t many tourists. I looked at the map and chose a route using mostly minor roads.

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  2. Awesome pictures. The granite clock towers and viaduct are very cool. And damn heavy I bet.

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