SW300 – Day 3.

SW300 – Day 3.

Total mileage: 126

Mileage today: 22

Disasters: whole day really…. well apart from the evening meal that was very pleasant…

Lazy start today. Like the Tour de France we’re having a rest day. The forecast is miserable so we thought a day off was called for.

Though in true Sarah style a rest day actually means a 20ish mile cycle to electric brae which is an optical illusion on the A719 not far from Trumps golf course. Funnily she didn’t fancy my suggestion of an all day session ????

Breakfast was ok but the landlady couldn’t half talk… (again got her life story – starting to see a pattern here…) By the time we’d finished breakfast and kitted up in waterproofs it was about 11am. We set off in drizzle towards the A77, our road to the electric brae.

We quickly found the A77 miserable with heavy fast traffic. After one near miss with a van and trailer we got off and walked up the grass verge to the first road off the A77. Hearing locked wheels skidding behind you and then seeing a trailer snaking as it passes you is no fun !

We then used a back road to get to Turnbury and cycled passed Trumps golf course. I was going to get Sazz to video me standing at the sign pointing at “Trump” and making a “wanker” gesture with my other hand. I didn’t because there was a large man in a kilt guarding the entrance. If he was one of Trumps boys I might be mistaken for a black man & shot in the back. What devision and hatred that man has created. Grrr rant over

After Trump we stopped for lunch at Maidens and looked at our route. The only way to electric brae was down another A road – even Sarah didn’t fancy it ! We devised a quieter route home on quiet country lanes. A more pleasent journey home… We tried for a selfie but the rain had other ideas…

Having not made it to electric brae I’ve copied a little bit of info from Wikipedia…

Electic Brae: Though the road appears to be running uphill, a suitably free-running vehicle will slowly move off from a standstill. It was widely believed that vehicles were being propelled uphill by a mysterious magnetic force, but the road’s apparently uphill slope is an optical illusion. This runs the quarter mile from the bend overlooking Croy railway viaduct in the west to the wooded Craigencroy Glen to the east. Whilst there is this slope of 1 in 86 upwards from the bend to the Glen, the configuration of the land on either side of the road provides an optical illusion making it look as if the slope is going the other way. Therefore, a stationary car on the road with the brakes off will appear to move slowly uphill.

There are hundreds of gravity hills around the world. The explanation often given for the phenomenon is that of a visual illusion, similar to the well-known Ames room, in which balls can appear to roll against gravity

We were greeted by out talkative landlady the moment we returned. She offered to dry our wet gear. Very nice of her but, as we discovered later this was because there was no heating on in the hotel !

We asked about an earlier breakfast as we wanted to be on the road early tomorrow. I thought she’d say “oh what time do you want breakfast – no problem” instead she said she’d leave something out as she doesn’t get up till 8:30… As compensation she did knock a whole tenna off the bill !

Now if you don’t know Girvan its no exaggeration to say it’s a little run down. This didn’t fill us with hope for fine dining but TripAdvisor did list a couple of options that weren’t chippies or takeaways.

We fancied the Auld Aquaintance Fusion Bistro & a booking was made. It was a small place run by a husband and wife couple. They made us very welcome but I did have to go down the road to the CostCutter to get some booze. They were eager to please and the curries we ordered were freshly made to our liking. Now I like to think of myself as a bit of an onion bhaji connoisseur and these hit the spot. So worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Girvan.

Today’s route…

We’re now in bed hoping that the rain and howling wind stops before tomorrow else we may be getting the train home…

One thought on “SW300 – Day 3.

  1. Oh dear…. hopefully the weather will improve.. not sure why Sarah declined an “all dayer” though… it would have been my choice…

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