Day 7 – Newcastleton to Bute – 374 Miles.

After a comfortable night in Newcastleton, we headed off into Dumfries and Galloway. We passed through Gretna, and on to Dumfries and Dalbeattie for a mid-morning coffee stop. From here it was long the Solway coast, through the rain and the really blustery winds. We came across another old RAF site, West Freugh. We headed south before Stranraer in order get to the Mull of Galloway – Scotland's most southerly point. We stopped here for lunch in a new visitor's centre. The sun then came out and dried the roads, allowing us to fully enjoy them for a while – it wasn't long until the sideways rain returned though!

















From Stranraer it was a relatively straight-forward ride north up the A77, which hugs the coast up into Ayrshire. We followed it all the way to Skelmorlie for the ferry across to Rothsay on Bute – our target for the day. Once on the island – we searched for a suitable place to set up camp – we came across St Ninnian's bay on the south of the island, which seemed a perfect spot. Thanks to the rain and the wind, there were none of the midges that had eaten us alive in Snowdonia!
















All in all, a fairly straightforward day – some great roads and great riding though! This marks pretty much the half-way point in mileage and days, but we've still got lots of riding northwards to go!