I've wanted to skip across Duchal Moor for a while now. My first foray was back in 2006 up to Muirshiel Country Park, and beyond to Queenside Hill. What a day that was! Back then, I was so skint I couldn't afford the train fare so I cycled everywhere which meant cycling from my digs in Cessnock to Paisley and then on the Sustrans path to Lochwinnoch and up. Now, with a bit of (not much) cash in my skyrocket I can afford the fiver return train fare to Lochwinnoch or wherever without having to worry about not being able to eat that evening. I am still of course, in tune with nature, very frugal, and only really use the train as a springboard or as a way of avoiding a heart-attack by cycling too far. Anyway, here, today I discovered something wonderful about Scotrail. I didn't want a return to Lochwinnoch because I was planning on returning from Port Glasgow, so I had kinda resigned myself to buying two singles (at around a fiver apiece compared with a 6 quid return ticket). So, on the train from Dumbreck to Paisley Canal I asked the conductor if there was any flexibility here, and he punched a few things into his little handheld ticket machine. A few whirrs later he told me about 'Excess': which is exactly what I wanted. It means that he calculates the return fare to your point of return, i.e. Dumbreck to Port Glasgow (which is 5.90) and adds the excess to your existing ticket, that is a return, effectively, to Lochwinnoch (5.60). Here, the excess is 30p, so that's what I paid over and above my return o Lochwinnoch. So, effectively I bought a return to Port Glasgow except that I got three tickets, the two portions of my return to Lochwinnoch and the excess return ticket from Port Glasgow to Dumbreck. You might not think this anything special, but for me it was the flexibility and the ingenuity of it that surprised me. Next week, for instance, when I take my body and bike across Ayrshire from Dunlop to Fairlie I can do the same thing: arrive at Dunlop, cycle to Fairlie and return from there without having to incur the high price of two single tickets. I can simply ask for an excess ticket, explain where I am returning from and voila! A return ticket at a very reasonable price.
Anyway, back to the cycling.
From Lochwinnoch train station every care has to be taken when joining the main road. It is one of the most dangerous exits I have ever seen anywhere, with HGVs thundering down inches away from you (there is no pavement). When you get onto the road on your bike, maintain the middle of the road. Do not let anyone pass you for the 400m or so that it is to the right turnoff to Lochwinnoch village. I say this because there are little traffic islands that thin the road and if you keep to the left, cars and trucks are apt to squeeze you into the verge as they try to squeeze themselves through the narrowed road (which is precisely designed to calm speeding drivers). As I say it is a terrible piece of road and I am surprised there are no speed bumps outside the station to deal with this.
Anyway, once off the main drag, cycle through Lochwinnoch village admiring the collegiate church as you pass, and head straight on onto the single track road by the river which will take us up to the single track road up to Murishiel Visitor Centre.
It`s a lovely road. 3 miles of gentle gradient and with views of the Mistylaw hills and the River Calder to your left. The visitor centre is worth a visit if only to see some of the wonderful birds at the bird feeders out back. As soon as I arrived I saw a great-spotted woodpecker which I had only dreamed about since leaving Warsaw in 2009 (Warsaw is a city of woods and woodpeckers!). The staff are very helpful and to be honest look as if they could do with a bit of company. Sadly, not may people come up here. You could take the short hike up to Windyhill which I did the other day and simply return back down to Lochwinnoch and the train afterwards, or equally hike up to any number of hills around here, Queenside, Hill of Stake, Mistylaw, and call it a day. The remoteness and semi-wildness enriches the spirit immeasurably. But do bring supplies (compass, water, map), as well as perhaps a waterproof jacket, as it ain`t called Mistylaw for nothing!
Today, however, I wanted to take the Hardridge track which is marked on the OS Explorer maps but not on the OS Landranger maps. On the latter it kinda follows the old narrow guage railway line that the grouse shooters had installed (what a bunch of lazy bastards!) to ferry them across the boggy moorland lest their expensive plus fours got spoiled. Anyway, the moor is well boggy and the track is flooded in places, so it is definitely an off-road bike day, preferably with the larger 29`` wheels. Just be careful of some of those pools of water, as some of them run rather more deeply than you might think.
The track follows all the way down to Hardridge Farm and beyond onto the main road where you can turn left at Chapel up over the hill on another single track back road (no longer used by cars). From here it is all rolling countryside to Port Glasgow and some spectacular views from up on top of the Devol Road beside the golf course. The train station is a few minutes away all severely downhill.
Don't be afraid to throw the bike on your back and cross the moor if the path ahead looks too watery.
The view from Devol Road.
Just follow the marked red route from south to north
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