Must Ride Route – Scottish Borders

Whilst most people blast through to the Highlands, Alex Carnegie reminds us that some of the best roads in the UK can be found in the Borders…

I live north of Glasgow, so to avoid travelling through or around the city, my usual motorcycle rides see me heading north into Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, or up through Glencoe or Glenshee into the Highlands. However, when I had the chance of a few days away before autumn set in, I decided that this time I would head south and explore the Scottish Borders. I had read about the South West 300, a circular driving route which follows the Dumfries and Galloway coast then travels north into South Ayrshire and combined that with advice from other bikers and a Motorcycle Sport and Leisure article by Mikko Nieminen, to come up with my own Dumfries and Galloway day ride.

Heading to Ayr as the starting point for my trip, I joined the A713 outside the town and started my ride south. This is a quiet, winding road through South Ayrshire travelling through villages and open countryside, skirting the Carsphairn Forest then following the edge of Loch Ken and taking me straight to my overnight stop in Castle Douglas.

Next morning I started my Dumfries and Galloway day ride with a short section of the A75 heading east to Crocketford where I could join the A712, the first of the roads I’d read about. This is a fantastic biking road, twisting and turning across moorland, through hills and woodland, before entering Galloway Forest Park, which is a ‘dark sky park’ for all those stargazers out there. This is also the location of the Raiders Road Forest Trail. The trail is made up of gravel tracks through the forest, providing the opportunity to do a bit of gentle off-road riding and seeing the woodland and wildlife up close, all for the small fee of £3. However, that wasn’t on my schedule for today, so I continued west on the A712 past Clatteringshaws Loch and dam. The dam was constructed as part of the Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme and provides water through underground tunnels to Glenlee Power Station. Where I stopped, the 1930s’ dam overlooks the remnants of an old stone bridge and the current A712 road bridge, and the three sit harmoniously in the landscape. That’s something you arguably can’t say about the many wind turbine farms springing up around the nearby hillsides.

The A712 continues its winding route to Newton Stewart where I joined the second road I’d read about, the A714 to Girvan. This is another hugely enjoyable biking road which I followed until shortly before Girvan, where the B734, then B7044, head west leading on to the A77 coast road south. This road is part of the official SW300 and follows the Firth of Clyde coastline to the seaports of Cairnryan and Stranraer on Loch Ryan. From Stranraer it was an easy few miles on the A716 and A77 to the pretty seaside village of Portpatrick. The village dates back 700 years and sits on the extreme west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway, that hammerhead-shaped headland that brings Scotland to within 21 miles of the Irish coast. There is an attractive harbour, Dunskey Castle and cliffside walks including the start of the Southern Upland Way, but for me it was simply time to stop for lunch!

The SW300 explores the Rhinns of Galloway with a return route down to the southernmost tip at the Mull of Galloway, but to keep my day ride manageable, I cut that short and turned left at Sandhead to follow the next section of the route, the A747. This runs around the coast of Luce Bay, through Port William to Monreith, and from there I took various minor roads (okay, I got slightly lost!) until I popped back out at Newton Stewart and rejoined the SW300 route on the A75. This road again follows the coast, this time with fantastic views over Wigtown Bay, and then continues east to Gatehouse of Fleet. Unfortunately, a minor road through the hills leading back through Laurieston Forest to Galloway Forest Park, which I was told not to miss, was closed when I was there, so I took an alternative route on the A755 through Kirkcudbright on to the A711 and back to Castle Douglas. My day ride was a thoroughly enjoyable 205 miles on great roads that were so much quieter than some other parts of Scotland.

My return ride home the next day had one or two more surprises for me. The plan was to ride various minor roads up towards the motorway services at Abington, so I took the A713 on to the A702 to Thornhill and then the A76 and B797 through Mennock Pass to Leadhills. Again, these were great biking roads, winding up and down hillsides and through valleys, and then in Mennock Pass I came across a number of cars, campervans and tents wild camping along the side of Mennock Water. This wasn’t just an area for camping though, as the people were panning for gold in the river. Apparently, gold was first found here in the 16^th Century, and was used to make the Scottish Crown Jewels. Traces of the precious metal can still be found today so you can get yourself a gold panning licence, a sieve and join the gold rush!

Further on I came to Wanlockhead and was surprised by the sign which said it was the highest village in Scotland. I had always thought of Tomintoul as being the highest village, but at 1531 feet above sea level, Wanlockhead beats Tomintoul at ‘only’ 1132 feet. After a quick snack at Abington Services, I discovered that my planned route on the A73 through Lanark was closed, so it was on to the motorway and home the quick way.

The borders had really surprised me with great roads and fantastic scenery easily accessible from Glasgow or Edinburgh, and with Dumfries only 34 miles from Carlisle it’s easy to get to from south of the border, too. My day ride had only really included the coastal sections of the SW300, but this established driving route had helped me find some great riding in the south-west Scottish Borders. Bikers racing north on the A74(M) don’t know what they are missing.