Thursday 8th September - Moniaive to Fenwick

After a good sleep I had breakfast with Tim, Ruth & Morvern, then headed off towards Kilmarnock. I'd been warned about the brae coming out of the village, but it saved a mile or two, and I was determined to do it without getting off and pushing. It was up there with the Trottiscliffe and Malham hills, but I made it eventually. This rather strange sculpture was in the middle of a field shortly after I set off.



It was a long, uneventful, ride through Dumfries & Galloway and up into Ayrshire, and although the scenery was quite spectacular, it rained non-stop and various bits of me were starting to ache. The new waterproofs I bought in Carlisle seemed to be working fine, but it was a long slog through the Drumlanrig Estate on minor roads, and then along the main road towards Kilmarnock. I stopped for coffee and a snack at Kirkconnel, and met up with a group of end-to-enders, cycling from Land End to John 'o Groats in about 10 days. They had a backup van and one of them had already dropped out with an injury. Our more sedate pace seemed very sensible.

Near New Cumnock there is an opencast mine, and the coal passes under the main road on a conveyor belt.




Later on, I passed the national Robert Burns memorial, but it was only open by appointment.



After getting lost in a housing scheme on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, and inadvertently venturing on to the sliproad to the decidedly cycle-unfriendly A77, I finally made it to John and Susan's house at just before 5pm. Don had spent the afternoon sunning himself in the front garden with the Guardian while I was battling the elements. Hereon our narratives converge again (until he loses me again).


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