Great Cumbrae
We left on Thursday 15th October after lunch. The
traffic though heavy wasn’t too bad as we drove up the M6. It was nearly dark
when we arrived at Ayr for an overnight stop and we remembered the shorter days
Scotland has in the winter.
Next morning there was dense fog which dampened our spirits
somewhat. After a short distance towards Larg, where we would catch the ferry
to Great Cumbrae, we suddenly came out into brilliant sunshine and so it
remained all day. This was really lucky as most of the country was having bad
or dull weather.
We arrived at the ferry car park just in time to partially
build the bike, after smashing 2 bottles of beer destined for an evening
tipple, hastily buy a ticket costing £5 each return, before embarking on the Caledonian
Macbrayne boat. These seem to be half hourly though.
The water was very still and the views lovely on this very
short trip- about 10 minutes. After arriving at the port, which had a small car
park and a loo, we turned left at the road and rode the 10 miles clockwise
around the island. The road is well tarmacked and flat with few cars but many
families with bikes. A local nickname is island of a thousand bikes. The
weather was good for us but it can be very windy though the ferry side is often
protected by the mainland.
There are some
interesting geological rock formations. We passed the” lion” before Millport,
Cumbrae’s town and at the beach here is the” crocodile”, unfortunately painted
to more represent its title. Across to the mainland after leaving port you can
see the power station run on the local deep sea coal. We could smell the
burning coal.
It was 4 miles to Millport and we stopped at the one café on
the island- the Dancing Midge. We didn’t feel very well received as customers
but we wondered later if it was our cycling gear. To our astonishment this
little island has 3 bike shops all hiring bikes, even tandems and one had a
large 5 seater conference bike constructed in the round with a basket in the
middle for business stationery and lap tops. Bikes rule here!
Following the road takes you right by the sea most of the
time and the views after Millport were of Arran and Bute across the firth of
Clyde. Riding here was a very tranquil experience and we often had the road
completely to ourselves with just bird song to accompany us. We were sad to see
a squashed hedgehog which couldn’t have been from a bike. There was a bus but
we were only passed by a handful of cars and that was around Millport.
Back at the ferry again a lot more people were arriving,
mostly with bikes. It was just past midday. Elderly ladies with shopping
trollies were waiting to go to the mainland for their weekly shop. One lady
said the ferry usually manages to run no matter the weather but just
occasionally high winds stops 1 or2 crossings.
We both loved this island and would have liked to go through
its middle to the highest point and to see the Cathedral but we needed to press
on to get to Bute where we were staying 2 nights.
