On the morning of Saturday 11 April, none of us were claiming that we'd had our best nights sleep of all time! We had to contend with the cold (there was a reasonably heavy frost) and Nev's snoring (with it's upward inflection).
A frosty morning at the campsite near Creetown
The cold meant that a lie in was simply not an option, so we got moving reasonably early and headed off to find some breakfast and collect Nev's bike while the sun came up. After failing to find anywhere for breakfast in Creetown itself, we headed to Newton Stewart and were lucky enough to find the Chatter Box cafe, where we enjoyed a great breakfast and our first haggis of the trip!
After breakfast, we headed back to the Kirroughtree bikeshop, but the news was not good. They had been unable to fix Nev's back wheel! We headed back to the campsite to pack the tent and work out what to do next.
Whilst we were packing the tent, Ed suggested that with Ash leaving before today's ride, Ash's back wheel may fit on Nev's bike. This was an inspired suggestion and it worked a treat! Ash headed back to Cheltenham and Nev, Hedd, Ed and Stu headed for Dalbeattie.
We tried a few of the skills sections at the begining of the ride, but this led to a long delay with Nev and Stu getting inexplicably lost. Eventually we were away though on fire roads for the first climb of the day. At the top, there was a steep section of granite to practice on, and we all had a go.
The sun comes out as Ed completes the steep granite drop at Dabeattie
Stu on the first steep granite drop at Dalbeattie
The view from this point was pretty good, so we wasted even more time with a quick detour to the viewpoint.
Ed takes in the view at the Heart stane viewpoint at Dalbeattie
By now, the sun was out and it was feeling warmer than it had all week. We headed for the first downhill section of the day: Moyle Magic. This section was great and much closer to what we're used to riding in the Peak District, Lakes or Mid-Wales with technical, rocky, singletrack. We had a few mechanicals at this point, with Nev losing Ash's back wheel on the descent (maybe it wasn't such a great fit afterall?!?!) and Hedd needing to replace a front brake disc that had worn down to the metal backplate!
This didn't take too long though, and we moved on to the Barnbarroch loop and eventually to the qualifier and the slab.
The Qualifier was reasonably straightforward, just a steep drop of pitched rock, but The Slab was definately worth a look before ploughing over. It's a 15 metre section of steep granite without much of a runout at the bottom.
Stu tackles the slab at Dabeattie from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.
Ed, Hedd and Stu took it on but Nev wasn't keen. Eventually we persuaded him to take it on from halfway down, and he nailed it!Stu tackles the slab at Dabeattie from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.
Nev tackles the Dalbeattie slab from halfway down from Hedd Roberts on Vimeo.
With our confidence up, we headed on with more great technical, rocky singletrack. There was a diversion in operation, but fortunately we didn't miss the Terrible Twins, two steep granite sections in close proximity. From here, Jacob's Ladder provided a bit of interest, but it was mainly steady stuff right back to the car.
What a trip! Hedd, Ed and Stu talk about coming back to Scotland, and soon!
We were soon packed and away with Nev doing a legendary job with the driving once again, we were home between 9.30pm and 10pm.
What a fantastic trip!
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