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JOGLE route - Dumbarton to CrawfordDay 9 of my end to end cycle ride
After a really great time with my friends in Dumbarton I set off 'into the unknown'. It was the first day where I hadn't pre-booked any accommodation and I was a tad apprehensive about finding my way through SE Glasgow to Hamilton after the Cycle Path had run out! Cycling along the Glasgow Route is a joy; it's flat, very green and hard to imagine you are just a few meters away from the hussle bussle of a great City. It seemed ages before I came to the end of the Path and my apprehension was confirmed as I confronted all sorts of roads going in all directions and not many signs, certainly none to Hamilton. It's at times like these you do literally follow your nose and after a few left and right turns found myself cycling past Glasgow Celtic Football Club. There I asked the way to Hamilton and found I was actually on the right road! Hamilton's a leafy part of Glasgow, I went by the Race Course and stopped a while in some Memorial Gardens nearly opposite. Then it was a few hundred meters before I found the RH turning to Larkhall. I knew that once on that road, I was pretty sure of simple navigation through to Gretna. This was almost the case. There was one part of the B7078 which seemed a bit complicated, but I saw a signpost for Abington and took it. About 400 metres up the slight hill I was stopped by a passing Police Car - it turned out That I was cycling up the slip road to the M74 !!! One thing I should say about the B7078 is that after Larkhall it's a fairly quiet road, very wide and in many parts has a completely separate Cycle Path running alongside - but, there are some parts where the surface simply wasn't designed for Cyclists, it's bumpy, very rough and for the first time on my journey I got saddle sore (come to the rescue E40 cream that night!! I'd decided in the first instance to make it to Larkhall and see how I was doing. I got there and felt fine, so thought I'd just see I was in the next Village - and the next one! I thought Abington would be a good place to aim for, I felt pretty fit and would easily get there, which I did, only to find there were no B&B's. I had the choice of going back a bit and trying a Motorway Hotel or going on, but I had made a promise to myself that I would never go back on myself. Luckily there was a shop open and upon asking there, they gave me a phone number of a B&B in the next Village, Crawford. I rag them and they had one room available. A quick ride down there, all downhill and I had a really nice night in a room with a view. That day I cycled 55 miles and amazed myself ! Tweet |
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