e2e.bike

Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond

Menu
  • End to Ends
    • Britain
    • Ireland
    • France
    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Belgium
    • Netherlands
    • Luxembourg
    • Austria
    • Switzerland
    • Denmark
    • Czechia
    • Slovakia
    • Poland
    • Latvia
    • Cuba
    • Sri Lanka
    • Taiwan
    • Isle of Man
    • Faroes
    • Liechtenstein
  • Coast to Coasts
  • Yorkshire Ridings
  • Others
  • Writings
Menu
← PreviousNext →

M2H 7: Ayr to Moffat

Posted on 26 May 20142 April 2021 by Rob Ainsley

I left Ayr without further investigation. I’d done all the jokes about Robert Burns and John McAdam I could think of last year, when I passed through on my multiple End to End trip.

Today was always going to be a bit of a slog, east across from Ayr to the old A74, and then down that road towards Moffat, especially as it rained much of the morning. I proved that my new rear Ortlieb panniers are completely waterproof. And that my new front Halford panniers aren’t.

In Auchinleck I kept seeing signs for ‘Barony A Frame’, which I thought must be some sort of Disney character, but in fact it was this remnant (picture) of the coal mine that was here, now left as a monument to the lost industry.

The old A74 is now a virtually unused series of roads, and also a Sustrans path, NCN74 (picture). A curious experience, because it’s on such a big scale. Normally on a Sustrans route you get a concentrated sense of things happening: within 15 minutes you might cycle along a towpath, by the side of a road, through a housing estate and scruffy park, then alongside a derelict battery-acid factory via a dump, for instance. But this gives you no such sense of achievement, even if you’re bombing along at 15mph, because the views just never change.

A joyous freewheel in the sun down the A701 with lovely scenery got me into Moffat, a handsome town with what’s said to be the thinnest hotel in the world (picture, on the far right). And I thought you couldn’t get anything thinner than the Eagles’ Hotel California.

Anyway, I won’t be staying here. I’d never get my bike inside with those Ortliebs.

Miles today 66
Total miles 423

Previous
←   M2H 6: Lochranza to Ayr
Next
M2H 8: Moffat to Penrith →

You are here

e2e.bike > Coast to Coasts > Rhyming Coast to Coasts > M2H 7: Ayr to Moffat

Recent Posts

  • Czechia 9: Frýdek-Místek to Třinec 22 May 2025
  • Czechia 8: Olomouc to Frýdek-Místek 21 May 2025
  • Czechia 7: Brno to Olomouc 20 May 2025

Random Posts

  • Sri Lanka 13: Kandy to Sigiriya26 January 2015
    Thanks to another very early start in the cool Kandy dawn, and …
  • Cottingley: Fairy story9 October 2019
    The suburban village of Cottingley, a few miles northwest of Bradford, is …
  • Birds Trail 2: Down to the reserves23 March 2023
    Another day researching birdspotting routes, this time on back lanes through woods …

Search e2e.bike

Find me

        
Facebook • Twitter • Linked In • Email
© 2025 e2e.bike | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme