Scotland: Creetown to Balloch

Day 23 (1000km!)
Distance- 66km (1046)
Weather- on and off, sunshine and rain
Highlights- Gleb trool MTB
Lowlights- gravel road to Glen trool, midge fest, forgetting to shop
Accommodation- Wild camp in galloway forest with about 2 billion midges

Woke this morning to the sound of rain, oh no, not again. But it eased just as we pulled ourselves out of bed to go and search for the best mobile phone reception in town for the interview. This was found in the town square where we were able to get a little shelter, but were unable to escape the dreaded midges.

The phone eventually rang and we talked for a good 10 minutes to Chris Lawrence about the trip and what we were trying to do. I think it went well despite the interruptions of trucks passing and midge swatting. We then headed back to camp to a world of MSR stove problems (good when they work, annoying when they don’t). On the road a little late but going all the same. We phoned home to let all know we were famous and on the radio. We then headed into the Galloway forest for the first time which meant tree lined avenues and plush green surroundings. We had to pass Kirroughtree, a mountain bike park, on the way due to time constraints, darn.

The we decided to explore one of the routes through the Glen Trool forest mountain bike park. The route was an interesting, mainly active forestry roads so we dodged log trucks, log milling areas, large mud puddles and got thoroughly dirty. But the 1000km mark was passed on the way. We were all little demoralized as we dragged ourselves in to Glen Trool for lunch hoping there would be a wonderful cafe like some other mountain bike parks , but were greeted to over priced tea and scones, bugger. We did the new Blue route at the park, taking Andy’s advice, and found the 8Km circuit short and sharp, with a bit of climbing and some fast flowing downhill sections. Completed in about 35 minutes of actual riding, it was worth doing, but we look forward to doing some more technical stuff in the future.

We then headed to Glen Trool village to buy some food,no shop, bugger. We decided to head on and have a scratch dinner. Then the rain started, we all agreed a wild camp was in order soon. But amazingly the weather cleared and we were treated to a beautiful afternoon. The ride was a steady climb over 5km over the Galloway forest through plantations, clearings and open farm land. We were passed by two fighter jets going very fast, I thought past the sound barrier.

Thank goodness for every up there is a down and it was beautiful. The green hills were drenched in sunshine and studded with sheep clinging to out crops. Little streams cut their way through the plush green grass in little rocky beds. The road was stuck to the hills side with a barrier on one side. We found a camp at the bottom of the hill, in the forest. Our first night of wild camping!