to Kirkcudbright - Part 2

This wasn't designed as a two-part blog but some software gremlin decided that's how it's going to be.

Our destination is the Selkirk Arms Hotel in Kirkcudbright. The name of the town comes from "Kirk of St Cuthbert."  It is pronounced "kir-koo-bree" and is a fascinating and attractive Scottish town.  The businesses and houses are painted, mostly pastel colors.

A monastery had been established here by 1000AD, and in the 1100s the area was also home of a Cistercian nunnery and an Augustinian priory.  A Franciscan friary followed in the 1200s

But not everyone thinks this is a great town.  Daniel Defoe - an 18th century English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, spy, and most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe - had this to say about Kirkcudbright: "A pleasant situation, and yet nothing pleasant to be seen,  Here is a harbor without ships, a port without  trade, a fishery without nets, a people without business."

But the town has a history of being a home for artists.  In fact the town seal proclaims "The Artist Town".  And art is coming back.  The Town Hall (see next photo) has been converted into a contemporary art gallery.  The 600 first floor exhibits are all from local artists over the years.

We also visited Kirkcudbright Parish Church, "The Church of Scotland".  The humorous lady care-keeper told us about what she called the "many lies of the church".

1. It's big, originally designed for 1,500. But these days they're lucky if there's 150 in attendance.
2. Concerning the organ, the pipes on the sides are fake, to make it look like a big organ.  
3. And it hasn't worked in over 20 years because they can't afford the 37,000 pounds to repair it.

It's supposed to rain a lot tomorrow so we're planning a bus ride to Dumfries.

The bus service between Scottish towns is excellent.  On the second leg of our ride to Dumfries all seats were full; it was standing room only.

For two of us on a two hour ride the fare was less than $12 US dollars.

to Kirkcudbright

For the next three days we'll be cycling on Sustrans paths.
Sustrans is a UK sustainable transport charity.

Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created over 16,575 miles of signed cycle routes throughout the UK, but about 70% of the network is on previously existing, mostly minor roads, in which motor traffic will be encountered.

Sustrans works with schools to encourage active travel (cycling, walking or scooting) among students. It also works with employers and local authorities. It administers several thousand volunteers who contribute their time to the charity in numerous ways, such as cleaning and maintaining the National Cycle Network, enhancing biodiversity along the routes, leading walks and rides and supporting communities to improve their air quality. 

Today we're on route 7.

It was  a windy day and somewhat challenging, in spite of being only 34 miles.  We did climb 1,700 feet but will be doing 1,000 more than that in Ireland in less than 2 weeks time. The part of the routes we were on 90 percent of today were single lane paths.  Some couldn't support cars.  When there were cars, there were pullouts to enable passing. A little of our route was not paved.  But, in general, it was paved although not always smooth. We were in both farmland and forests.  In the last few miles we ride along Wigtown Bay which dumps into the Irish Sea..  There were a couple of villages along the route but only two large enough to get something to eat.  We had a decent  lunch (soup, sandwiches, omelets, French fries) at a hotel in Gatehouse of Fleet.

Scotland: in Newton Stewart

We’re spending two nights in Newton Stewart, so today is a “loop ride”, e.g. you leave the hotel go riding and return.  It is also an optional ride day; you don’t have to ride from town A to town B.  This is good because it’s raining, and we opt not to ride.  We hope to walk to town later.

Just finished breakfast – an hour and a half.

Newton Stewart is an important market town serving a large rural area including Galloway Forest Park.  The town lies on the other side of the River Cree from Minnigraff, well established by the 1200’s.  Newton Steward wasn’t established until 1677 but it was a planned town and by 1685 had already overtaken Minnigraff in size and importance.

      Creebridge House Hotel, where we're staying 2 nights

A bridge was built across the River Cree in 1745 which was washed away in the floods of 1806.  In 1813 it was rebuilt as the Bridge of Cree that still stands today (and which I am standing on).

I don't know what this building is but I liked it,

Scotland: to Newton Stewart

All 24 of us take a chartered bus from Glasgow to Newton Stewart.

The people in the seat behind us are our good friends 

Patrice Van Vleek and Glenn Gunterberg.  We're doing this tour - actually the Ireland tour after this one - just for them.

The ride is somewhat unsettling; the two lane roads seem narrower than the bus.  In each of the seemingly hundreds of blind turns the bus has to slow down - almost stop to prevent running into someone coming around the corner. The ride takes over 3 hours - more than expected.

This is a very deserted area.  A farm house every 5 miles or so and a small town every 20 to 30 miles.  (Should I talk like the locals and use kilometers?) As we drive through the towns, we see cars parked on the same side of the road, leaving a single lane.

I observe drivers coming from the opposite direction.  Like our bus driver, they know the limitations of the roads. Everyone is courteous.

Scotland: Glosgow Three

There are two main parts of Glasgow:

• The Center - business like downtown, a commercial zone and shops. Our hotel and favorite restaurants are here.
• The West End - B&B's, restaurants and nightlife.

The SEC center, also designed by Sir Norman Foster.  Used for concerts and sporting events.

City Hall. The tents are for the Italian Festival

The Tower used to be the site of well attended (10,000)
public hangings.

The largest terra cotta fountain anywhere.

Scotland trivial: The country's animal is the unicorn.  It may be legendary in most of the world, but not in Scotland.

Scotland: Glasgow Two

In its heyday, Scotland's second largest city was Britain's second largest city, second only to London. Twenty percent of the Scotts today live here.

From 1880 to 1950, 50 ship building companies employed over 100,000 men. This included building the Lusitania and Queen Elizabeth II.  Twenty-five percent of the world's oceangoing ships were built here.

After many years of decline, the city has been purposely revitalized  It is now a cosmopolitan destination with energetic dining and nightlife, free top-notch museums and a unique flare for art and design.

It's five universities host over 150,000 students. Residents of Scotland go to universities free of charge.

Here are a couple of sights from the hop-on, hop-off bus, in the rain.

Clyde Arc. The Clyde River runs through the town.

Scottish Events Center designed by Sir Norman Foster

The old and the new typifies Glosgaw

Scotland: Overview One

We’ve arrived in Glasgow to begin a two week bike tour.  Then we'll go on a two week bike tour in Ireland.

There are two halves of Scotland, the Highlands in the North and the Lowlands in the south.  We will be in the lowlands, starting south of Glasgow and making an east – north - west route, ending in Edinburgh.  We will spend a couple of days in England; our main objective is Hadrian’s Wall – quite different from Trump’s wall.

Click here to read about Hadrian's Wall.

The highlands and the Lowlands are different culturally and  religiously (North is Catholic; south Protestant).  The north speaks a lot of Gallic, the south English.  You’ll find kilts in the north, trousers in the south.

Three fourths of the population is in the 75 mile corridor between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Here is a map of Scotland and another which shows our route.  Click on the maps for a larger image.

Scotland is known for Scotch whiskey, distilleries, moody glens, golf links, kilts and haggis.  Note that I don't like the first or the last of these items.  Irish whiskey yes, but Scotch whiskey, no.

Scotland has 720 islands, most of which I assume are uninhabited.  The country encompasses about a third of UK's geographical area but less that 1/10 of its population.

We went on the Glasgow's hop-in, hop-off bus today so we'll write more about it tomorrow.  Also we had a great Italian dinner tonight about 2 blocks from our hotel. It was so good that we may go there again tomorrow.

It has been raining all day and the same is forecast for the next 13 days. Thirteen days riding a bicycle in the rain?  We may need to find an alternative.