Another early start due to weather, just after 7am this time so not as early as Sunday! The wind was from the SW and only around 15mph for a nice change, my plan was to ride down to Muirkirk in East Ayrshire which would have been around 75-80 miles and I was hoping to get home for lunchtime and avoid the heavy afternoon showers! I made my way down the back roads to Allanton and then took the back road to Carluke and up to Yieldshields, from there I stayed on the back roads and was heading for Carstairs Village! It was a nice morning and around 11C when I set off, just nice for me!
The back road to Carstairs Village!
I had a short sharp climb soon after this and then this awesome descent, Tinto Hill was shrouded in thick cloud in the background!
From Carstairs I made my way down to Hyndford Bridge where I headed south towards Rigside on the A70, there were some threatening clouds hanging around but it remained dry!
The A70 is a proper rollercoaster road and such a blast to ride!
I got lucky as most of the traffic was heading in the opposite direction towards Lanark, including many huge trucks! I passed through Rigside and was looking forward to the awesome descent down into Uddington only to be thwarted by a nasty looking accident! There were 2 vans and a small car involved, 1 of the vans and the car had been catapulted into a field on the very twisty descent and there were blue lights everywhere! Luckily they allowed us to pass and hadn't closed the road at this time, I hope nobody was badly injured...
I continued south towards Douglas and Glespin, another amazing road!
I was approaching Glenbuck Reservoir and this view caught my eye!
I stopped at the reservoir for a couple of photos!
I switched to my second battery here with 43 miles covered and was only 3 miles from Muirkirk now, the amazing roads just continued!
At Muirkirk I turned north towards Strathaven, a few miles of climbing at first but I now had a tailwind helping! I stopped many times for photos on this road, its a great road with very nice views all around!
I then had this cracking descent on a very smooth road!
Then it was time to climb again, up to Glengavel Reservoir!
A few miles of descending next and I was flying along with the nice tailwind, a couple of miles before Strathaven I turned off the main road to take the back road towards Sandford! Yet another amazing road!
Just before Sandford I took the back road towards Kirkmuirhill, another road of ups and downs and twists and turns! I was going to turn left at Kirkmuirhill and take the straight road to the Clyde Valley but I was enjoying it so much I decided to extend my ride and take the twisty back road to Auchenheath which is a big descent followed by a big climb! The final descent down into Hazelbank in the Clyde Valley is just incredible, I usually stop for photos on the way down but I was enjoying it too much to stop!
I continued along the valley to Crossford where I crossed the River Clyde and started up the biggest climb of the day through Coziglen, I stopped for this photo before the climb!
My second battery was lasting well and I had the bonus of using level 3 assist up the climb, it was most welcome as I was getting tired now! On the way up the climb I stopped for a couple of photos of the valley with the sun shining on the garden centres!
I continued up the remainder of the climb into Carluke and took the back road to Morningside and then the back road to Allanton, in the morning the road to Hareshaw was closed so I had to use the main road for a mile or so and I had no intention of using the main road on the way back! Knowing these roads like the back of my hands helps and I chose the back road to Cleland to avoid the closure, the final descent was sure worth it! I passed through Cleland and took the back road to Newhouse with only a few miles to home now! I got home with 89 miles in the bag and made the decision to have lunch and go back out to complete the century, switching to my 3rd battery as the second one only had 24% remaining!
This was where my luck finally ran out, I was doing a local loop and as I climbed the hill up to the Blackhill Transmitters the sky turned very dark! I thought I was going to get away with it after stopping at the summit for these photos of Roughrigg Reservoir!
The scene to the north where I would be heading, I knew I wasn't getting away with it now...
Just as I started down the descent the heavens opened and I got battered with hailstones, that was sure painful! Thankfully the hail was short lived but the rain got heavier and heavier, it was a proper monsoon and there were rivers running down the hill into Plains with floods starting to accumulate down in the valley! I turned west for home at Plains and arrived home a short time later absolutely drenched!
I have been riding my luck recently so the odds were against me, it was a good test for the bike though and it passed with flying colours!
Despite the downpour I had such a fantastic day and it was good to get an imperial century in the bag right at the start of the month! Very annoyingly I was halfway through posting this when my browser crashed, I have had this happen before and returned to find most of my post intact, I wasn't so lucky this time though...
