Day 128 Gourock to West Kilbride

 

Date: Thursday 4^th July 2013   Distance: 24.68 Miles

 

After another visit to cousin Ronald in Edinburg we drove to Gourock where we left the car in the free car park opposite the police station again. Setting off at 2 pm we were soon on cycle route 75 which hugged the coast most of the way today. Passing the coastguard’s cottage- lovely white building with small lighthouse- we nearly missed the sign for the cycleway heading away from the traffic and nearer the sea. For 3 or 4 miles there were views of Arran, Rothesay on Bute and plenty of ferries to-ing and fro-ing. The rocky shores had plenty of seabirds, some with chicks. There was a little rain but later it was sunny.

 

It was a flat route but against the wind. The off road bit stopped being a cycleway but it looked OK for cycling and there were wheel tracks. The path went through a wood, boggy, with tree roots to negotiate. Then we came out at Inverkip Marina where there were plenty of immaculate boats lined up surrounded by typical marina accommodation.

 

We passed by a huge tower to a power station though judging by the dust they were knocking the main building down, on our way to Wemyss Bay. A ferry leaves here for Rothesay and we were surprised by the state of the station when the place looked fairly upmarket.

 

This route had a lot more to offer than much of Scotland having museums, craft and leisure activities particularly at Largs. It was quite busy and winding on the run into this town but we liked the look of Largs. There was a museum on the Scottish Vikings and a ferry goes from here to the Great Cumbrae Island. There is a station here to West Kilbride, the end of today’s journey but we will take a bus today back to Gouroch. The sweet and cake shops are a delight here and I bought a naughty rum baba to eat at the bus stop.

 

Larg’s marina, reputedly the best in Scotland and also a posh golf course followed and then came Fairlie, Scotlands first Fairtrade village. We had to cycle on the road for a while past EDF Coal Power Station passing under the coal dust conveyor belt from housing dominating the landscape.

 

We turned off for West Kilbride away from the sea and up a steep hill. It was rural but not as remote as some places we have been through. When we got to the town we realised that we needed to be near the sea and had unnecessarily gone up- our B and B was in Seamills, on the main road. We resorted to Sat nav to find the house. It was busy with non- stop traffic and hard to cross the road, being near to 5pm.

 

This is the view from our window. 

We were welcomed and shown our room which had the most fantastic sea view. Then we rushed to the bus stop to take the first leg back to Gouroch to fetch the car. Every day we had to do this till Stranraer. Because of the way the trains and buses connected it would have been 7 changes on the last day and too complicated. We then had a short wait in Largs till 6 but the bus was just £8 each to Gouroch and it is quite nice seeing a different aspect of the journey we had made by bike..

 

 

We were recommended The Fin Restaurant at Fairlie and stopped here with the car on the drive back to the Band B. Apparently she sends coach loads to them and it was worth the stop though the Cullen Skink wasn’t the best he had had, the fish and chips was fantastic and I loved my scallops and salmon in a whisky sauce with mornay topping.  They haven’t a licence but you can buy wine from their shop which was very good!

 

 

At the back garden of the B and B was a gateway to a grassy walk leading to the extensive sandy beach. The wind whipped up the sea and it looked like there would be a fabulous sunset but unfortunately the cloud was too dense. And it never amounted to much.