Day 26 - Abington to Glasgow
Quick facts:
Weather: H17 C L 7 C Humidity 92%. Wind SE 8 kph
Depart: Days Inn Abington Service Centre
Destination: Warmshowers host in Glasgow
POP 85% at 9 am
Planned distance: 41.6 mi 66.5 km
Planned ascent: 1,335 ft
Planned descent: 2,034 ft
Route: Ride with GPS photo
For actual metrics see the Strava section of the route.
Hello / Good day,
Today Ralph and I decided not to leave Abington until checkout time at 11:00. We have 40 miles to pedal with a lovely downhill, and our Warmshowers hosts in Glasgow work during the day. We will arrive there in the early evening - after 6 pm as requested.
We left the Welcome Break service centre and Days Inn at 11:15 heading north into the cool grey. It wasn’t raining and we were soon pedalling past wind farms and sheep pastures under mixed cloud skies DOWNHILL on a continuation of the very good cyclepath we had enjoyed yesterday. It was beside A702 which was beside the M74 where all the traffic zipped along. I stopped 8.6 miles later at the T-junction for Ayr to the west and Edinburgh/Glasgow to the east. A pretty good start to the day. This was section NCN 74 the last part to complete the cycleway from Gretna to Uddingson near Glasgow.
Wind turbine farms on all the surrounding hills.
One of the small towns we passed through was Coalburn. Named a century ago for the coal industry that supported the community. Coal was mined from 1840 to 1968. The coal has been replaced by wind turbine electricity generation.
The town may need a name change to Windburn.
The information board was designed by Coalburn primary school children in the shape of a bing to celebrate their mining heritage. The sign explains a “bing is a spoil bank of excess material removed during mining.”
As we continued to Lanark-Kirkmuirhead our weather luck ran out and the heavens opened up. A very fit, wet cyclist in an Italian cycling jersey riding a lovely roadbike, beckoned to Ralph by hand signal suggesting a cup of tea. It seemed like a very good idea. His house was literally 100 feet up the side street. We all dripped into his foyer, took off our raingear and were introduced. Anne and Stuart of Kirkmuirhill were our host and hostess for the next hour as they offered tea, lunch… whatever we wanted. We had a lovely tea with cake, cookies and chocolate!
Off we went again with the skies grey but the rain stopped. Thank you Anne and Stuart.
A fish ladder at Avon Water.
We went through Hamilton and as we pedalled through a lovely park I looked everywhere except to the right where the large Hamilton Mausoleum sat. It is huge and imposing so you can imagine Ralph’s surprise when he stopped and took pictures and I missed it. I did get a glimpse of its dome from the Hamlton Racetrack a little later.
It is a disappointment when something is happening in a town we are passing and I am not able to participate. This was definitely the case when we passed the Hamilton turf race track.
It was Friday night and as we passed the entrance to the racetrack it became obvious that « everyone « was dressed in their best and attending the races. « Their best » for the young ladies were very short mini skirts that seem to be back in style. They are going to freeze to death at this huge outdoor event.
This race tract was opened in 1782. Lots of history there.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Park_Racecourse
From my side, I sadly missed a « once in my lifetime » opportunity. Oh well. I didn’t have the right fascinator to wear anyway.
https://fascinatorsdirect.co.uk/pages/ultimate-guide-to-fascinators
Our day was completed as we wiggled through South Glasgow and met our charming Warmshowers hosts Vaiva and Stephen who had a veritable feast waiting for us on arrival.
As I keep saying. A fabulous end to another wonderful day.
Safe travels.
Lorraine