Question is, why so good a racing platform? Always thought of Escorts as family, not performance cars. But reality is apparently more complicated than that.
It was a great handling car, 32 WRC wins and multiple domestic championship wins paint a picture of how good it was! As mentioned people just loved modding them also, they were a boy racers dream!
Back to cycling now...
I had a rough route planned in my head only to be scuppered by a road closure at Carnwath, it turned out to be a blessing though as my alternative route was just superb! It was a murky and overcast but pretty mild day, with a temp of 16C and a 20mph SW wind! The forecast wasn't the best but all in all I lucked out and missed the worst of the heavy showers! I headed down the back roads to Allanton and Carluke, a great road with little to no traffic!
Love this descent from Allanton!
Then its straight into a big climb after rounding this turn!
From Carluke I made my way over the back roads to Yieldshields and Carnwath, another amazing quiet road!
Be glad you can't smell the big dung heap in this photo...
This is a very hard climb, I always come down it at over 40 mph!
Then came the descent towards Carnwath, its a fast one! The photo almost makes it look flat...
Its then a short sharp climb before this amazing descent down into Carnwath!
I arrived in Carnwath and there was a road closure sign that was on my intended route so I decided to head for Newbigging instead, the descent from Carnwath to Newbigging is incredible so it wasn't a difficult choice!
After passing through the village I took the back road towards Biggar, it starts with a beast of a climb and just as I started up the climb a squall passed over!
You can see it in the photo, I was glad of the tree cover up the climb!
This final climb is a tough one but the descent after this is just sublime, even when its raining...
At the bottom of the descent I turned sharp right to head up the big climb towards Libberton, the rain had actually completely missed this part of the road!
I could even see some brightness across the fields to the west, Tinto Hill was completely hidden though!
I stopped part way up the climb for this photo looking back down the hill!
Further up Tinto Hill was starting to show but the peak was completely covered in thick cloud!
The final climb before the road plummets down into the valley, I was really looking forward to this part!
I stopped at the top for this photo, the sun was trying to make an appearance but down Biggar way to the south it was looking pretty grim! I was very glad I was heading north...
I then shot down the long twisty descent like a scalded cat, grinning from ear to ear and telling myself I had picked the best route!
I then arrived in Libberton, where I stopped for some photos!
Tinto Hill was still shrouded in thick cloud!
The road into Libberton!
I had another cracking descent after leaving the village before this big climb! Way in the distance near the top of the climb is a guy on a completely illegal e bike, he wasn't pedalling up the hill at all...I'm sure it was the same guy that flew past me on this road in the opposite direction at well over 30mph going uphill!
The road into Carnwath, my final photo!
I was going to head down this road earlier in the day when I saw the road closure sign but I was glad I decided to head for Newbigging instead, it would have been a lot harder going the other way! I passed through the village and joined the same road I had flew down at high speed earlier in the day, this time it was a big climb up to Braehead! The descent after passing through Braehead is just incredible although I did catch another squally shower on the way down!
Then it was the big climb up to Forth where I joined the back road up to Climpy, another big climb but the 20mph wind was helping! Thankfully the rain was short lived and I enjoyed a dry descent back down into the valley, at the end of the road I turned west for Allanton and used the same back roads I had used at the start of my ride! I made it home just in time for dinner, had to wash the bike first though as it was completely filthy! What a day though, I picked the perfect route for the conditions! After yesterdays 50 miler my legs were feeling it at the end, both days my average speed was over 17mph and I was pretty shocked it was over 17mph today with all the climbing...
Shame it didn't have a 2 litre Cosworth like the stunning white one!
