After last week’s washout, we were hopeful for a break in the rain this weekend and it duly came – indeed we even saw some sunshine!
Eleven of us gathered at Dock Park this afternoon for our jaunt to the 12 Apostles. This is one of our more challenging rides, as it involves a bit more road riding as we make our way through Lincluden and down the Irongray Road. We were grateful for a patient driver who not only followed us down the Irongray Road at a slow pace, but also all the way down into Newbridge too, as one of our back markers made a fairly cautious descent of the hill.
Once at the 12 Apostles – the biggest (if not the most spectacular) stone circle on mainland Scotland – it was a largely sunny afternoon, and we had a chance to chat and share home baking (Jim had brought peanut butter cookies to supplement the coffee and walnut cake) while the kids vanished to the far end of the stone circle.
For our group shot, we chose the largest monolith. You can’t do this at Stonehenge …
We found a nice side gate which would have saved us pushing our bikes through the long grass, but it had been carefully designed to make getting even a small kids’ bike through it impossible, so we returned out of the field the way we had come.
Crossing the A76 at Newbridge, we detoured off the (rather fiddly) official cycle route to go round on the quiet road past Jock’s Loaning and then over the A75 by means of the curly wurly bridge.
Then we were almost home – so it was time to break out the bubble machine and lay down a nice trail of bubbles for the rest of the ride to follow. Happiness is a bike that blows bubbles …
Cycling Dumfries 