Along the cuts

View from the Greenock cut

The weather looked better than forecast so Graham and I decided to 'play away' and cycle the Kelly and Greenock cuts. We started down by the sea at Lunderson Bay, it makes for a big climb but gives access to some nice singletrack. The Kelly cut has had a make over in the past year, all the mud is gone, just an easy remote wide track and nice cycle.
Coffee and cake at Cornalees centre then anticlockwise (to get the best outlook) around the Greenock cut. The views were nice, low cloud clinging to the hills across the Clyde with a little bit of occasional sunshine. The final icing on the cake was the leafy singletrack down beside the gorge above Inverkip.

An absolutely classic trail, its a combination of the Kelly and Greenock cut, I may have to add it to my MTB route web site.

Today's SB video here.

Kirroughtree and Dalbeattie

McMoab Kirroughtree

With the settled weather this week I couldn't resist mountain biking a little further afield, down in Galloway just under 2hours in the car.
Galloway's largely neglected by the masses from the south heading to the big hills of the Highlands but its all the better for it in my opinion.
Thursday I travelled down to Kirroughtree one of the 7 Stanes areas and looped around the black circuit there's been an extra loop or two added since I was first there reducing the amount of fire roads riding.
Its a case of keeping alert for the next drop off or boulder field, great fun though especially with that McMoab rock section.
Spent the night at Minigaff Hostel then headed over to Dalbeattie, another of the & Stanes for more of the same, there's quite a bit of tame fire road riding but plenty of nice singletrack too. The black sections are scary I only did the half slab, I didn't like the idea of doing it without knee and elbow pads and someone on standby.
A couple of great 1/2 days on the MTB, here's hoping the settled weather will last into next week for more of the same.

Short video here

Fenwick Old Kirk in the sun

Fenwick Old Church

After my little attempt at underwater filming using a tea caddy with a plastic window I decided to 'splash' out and buy a waterproof case for my little IXUS 55.
A bit of extravagance as I don't really have any more ideas beyond filming in some shore rock pools or pond. Anne suggested my next purchase would have to be a wet suit so that I can do a proper bit of underwater filming but I think not, although it may be an encouragement to go to some nice hot seaside holiday resort and film some colourful sea life.

On the cycling front Tom and I had a nice outing, first for a long time, on the road bikes Dalry to the RSPB Lochwinnoch.
Also managed a spin on the bikes with Anne from Dean park in Kilmarnock to Fenwick old Kirk taking in a couple of bits of singletrack on the loop back plus a picnic lunch, sitting on a wall in Fenwick in the sun.

SB video here.

A painfull fall

Woodland trail

A couple of days back I went galavanting on the MTB over some local technical trails. I've done them loads times before so you'd think no problem but things went just a bit badly on a steep drop. I got a little off line wobble at the bottom and at the next bend turned a bit early catching a rock hidden by some ferns, the front wheel instantly turned 90deg, the bike stopped on the spot and I flew over the bars downhill.
Unfortunately another little rock was poking up just where I landed and gave me a lovely grazed bruise on my hip. I didn't hurry to get up, just lay there cursing like blazes waiting for the pain to go away. It did eventually and I decided I'd have to go do the stupid thing again, second time I got the line right but it goes to show how unexpected accidents can be. I think there's a moral to this story somewhere but I'm not going there......

Portencross rocks again

Portencross harbour

Went down Portencross way again today and had a walk along the rocks. Lots of folk down there but no one other than Anne and I on the rocks. There were lots of lovely little pools and I got to thinking it'd be nice to get some video shots below water, so after lunch back home I took out the tea caddy which has a window on the side and used it to keep the camera dry and video below the surface.
Nothing very great but caught a few shrimps feeding at the weed, some of the weed was pretty colourful and floating which is nice. I think I may adapt some plumbing tubes or similar and have another go at it.

Video here.

Sunday got out on the MTB with Katy, Craig and John from Straiton, from his place we headed over to Dailly. I was expecting the ground to be nice and dry but there must have been a lot more rain down that way, we did lots of mud plugging on route.
Up on the moor above Dailly the mist deteriorated to rain so since it was near lunchtime we took shelter in the lime kilns at the highest point and when it eased we visited the old workings behind the kilns.
The Dailly singtrack was great we all lapped it up before stopping off at Tilly's for a second lunch before climbing out the other side of the valley finishing along Craigfin and lots more mud.
The run took us nearly twice as long as anticpated, we were all pretty tired by the time we finished, part of the problem was the 4 punctures and difficulty of repair in the damp conditions after running out of spare tubes.
Great day out just the same, similar (shorter) route here.

Short boring video here.

Windfarm views

Law castle view

Anne and I went a walk up to Busbie Moor windfarm today, the views were fantastic so couldn't resist taking a bit of video to show them off, no MTBs just views.

4 goto Fairlie

Burn splash near Fairlie

Katy, Craig, Graham and I were off over the local trails to Fairlie yesterday.
It was Katy and Craigs first MTB outing in the area so I planned a route to get some nice trails under our wheels without being too off puting.
Up biglees then along the landrover track to Fairlie, through a couple of burn splashes, a loop in Kelburn to get onto Fairlie glen's marvelous downhill then down to the Mudhook pub for a snack finishing via picturesque Portencross and the beach.
To get the best out of the on route water splashes we 'tamed' them scooping out the larger stones to stop that front wheel slipping thing in the water, still didn't manage to clear them but we all had fun watching each other splashing about.
As we were tucking into some tuna sandwitches in the pub one of the guys got talking about his cycling days on a fixed wheel bike.
You'd never have guessed he'd been a cyclist from the size of his beer belly.

Video here

Beauty and the Beast

I spent a fruitfull half hour in the garden yesterday, there's a large spider up near our little pond and I've been desperate to get some good shots of it. Well yesterday I got what I was after and thought I'd share the photo contrased against a butterfly from Portencross.