Prestwick to Castle Douglas

Today has undoubtedly been the toughest day so far, both physically and psychologically. The weather began grey and  drizzly, and there was a strong head wind all the way to Castle Douglas. This makes a significant difference when sitting so high with all the body exposed. Although the road was reasonably quite, occasionally huge, long log lorries thundered past. I felt tired, despondent, and preoccupied with the back wheel tyre, which is splitting down the middle right around the wheel. I am hoping it will get me as far as Carlisle, where I will take a day's rest. I certainly didn't expect to get me as far as it has done today. Hopefully, in Carlisle I can either purchase a new wheel, or tyre, or sow the tyre together from side to side with a tough needle and very strong thread. Alan, the unicyclist I stayed with, recommends a product called Sikaflex, used in the marine industry.

As I cycled out of Ayr, leaving the Scottish west coast behind me for good, I was joined by a single cyclist. He explained to me how the huge cargo ships docked out at sea transport coal. They wait until they are sent to obtain it from the cheapest seller, sometimes as far away as the United States or China.    

My arrival in Dalmellington, a small Scottish town eleven miles outside of Ayr, caused quite a stir. A group of men stood around the bike reminiscing, and then the workers from the bank, outside of which I had left the bike, left their posts to take photos. One of the old men, with a weathered face, wearing a cap, informed me that back in the 1930's, the police constable for that area, John Millen, went everywhere on a penny farthing. The old man also told me how as a young man he could earn seventeen pence a week down the pit, with bonuses. He'd saved up and bought his first three speed, and he and a group of seven friends had cycled all the way to Blackpool for their holiday.

One of the men kept fingering the solid front tyre of the bike, explaining to one of the other men how solid tyres were good, as you could shoot at them, and even with holes in, they would still roll. I hoped he wasn't about to try this theory out on my penny as I left town! Another man who had gathered to look at the bike, very much like Billy Connolly in his demeanour, insisted on showing me his biceps, then rolled up his trousers to show me his leg muscles. On his phone he then showed me pictures of his great grandmother, grandmother, and mother; and of himself with a long beard and shades, wearing different hats; and a picture of weights lifted clean above his head as a younger man. "They weighed five and a half stone," he said, "and I could lift them up and down all day." Behind the somewhat manic presentation, I think there was a great degree of sadness. He had lost his wife the previous year to multiple sclerosis, and had spent years before that nursing her, and carrying her.

Yesterday was the whisky cyclist. Today, I met the Brompton crochet cyclist. She introduced herself to me in Patna. Everywhere she stays, she crochets something. She is currently touring Scotland on her bike running crochet workshops. "I'll have to crochet a penny farthing now," she cried as I cycled off. Further details can be found on http://createwithfibre.blogspot.co.uk/

Despite my tiredness and despondency, I was struck by the beauty of the southern uplands, with their rolling hills and pine forests. I saw some kites circling above Loch Ken, the redness of their feathers revealed as their bodies caught the sun. As on previous days, I enjoyed the smell of pine resin from freshly cut wood, the sounds of chirping birds, the diving and darting of swifts, and the sight of numerous wild flowers. And today, maybe because the sun came out in the afternoon, and it was warm, I saw butterflies.

I have erected my bivvy tent in a campsite in Castle Douglas. The warden, knowing the ride was for charity waved the fee. Such kindness has been my experience over and over again. I was in a cafe this evening, eating pie and chips and drinking tea. The lady serving me informed there have been reports of two penny farthings in the area. So maybe I do have an impostor!