Introduction

Today, I undertook a 25 mile round trip cycle ride. mainly through the farming country of East Ayrshire.

Information on the trip

Weather was clement with extensive periods of sunshine and no rain.

Notwithstanding the relatively short route I encountered a wide variety of landscapes and sites, as illustrated below.

Farms: The county is well populated with traditional ‘mom and pop’ family farms. In addition to crops these rear sheep, cattle and even alpacas.

Crannog: I am reasonably confident I encountered the site of a former Crannog from the Iron Age (800 BC-AD 43).

Alpacas: Witnessed a herd near the town of Stewarton which I have never seen there before. I believe these animals are grown for their fleeces.

Corsehill Castle: Remains located near Stewarton. Partly destroyed when the railway was built nearby. May date from early 17th century.

Isle of Arran: Visibility today was just good enough to provide a silhouette of the mountains on Isle of Arran. This island lies about 15 miles offshore to the west.

A wild swimmer in a reservoir. Not sure if the person, together with other water enthusiasts, should have been there. No life saving equipment was evident as site usually used for recreational fishing.

Sheep with young lambs

Horses.

Landscape view of Glasgow: This illustrates why the name translates as ‘green hollow’ which it would have been about 1500 years ago.

More information

For more information on many aspects of Scotland for the tourist please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland. ISBN is 978-1-9161332-0-4. Also available via Kindle.