Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
All four of them stood on the tarmac in front of the shop and waved us off. If you are
ever in East Ayrshire - or further afield - and have bike problems, then I would whole-
heartedlyrecommendWalkersCycling.Although,Ithinkmostpeoplehavetopayfortheir
supplies and repairs.
Interestingly, John Dunlop - the inventor of the pneumatic bicycle tyre - was born just
a couple of miles west of here. Actually, on re-reading that, it is not very interesting at all.
I would like to add that, after leaving Kilmaurs, The Falcon's chain never fell off again.
We were in such good spirits that we failed to notice that we had been cycling uphill for
ten miles.
'Will this fuckin' hill ever end?' said Ben.
'I hope so,' I panted.
'Shall we look for somewhere to stay in the next town that we get to?'
'Yeah. There's a place called Neilston in another ten miles.'
'Ten miles? Are you kidding me?' asked Ben.
'Err, no. It doesn't look like there's anything else before there anyway. We've done
really well today. I reckon we'll have done over 90 miles.'
'WHAT? My god, you are such a slave driver. If I'd known we had done anything near
that much, I would have stopped for the day ages ago.'
'I know. That's why I didn't tell you.'
The road continued to climb for several miles and then descended steeply for another
three miles into the village of Neilston. Our first impressions of the town were not too
favourable. It was 8pm and a girl in her early teens was being sick outside the Chinese
takeaway on the main street.
Ben suggested that we try and spend the night in the church, but the church door was
locked. We knocked but there was no response.
'That looks like the vicar,' I said, spotting a man walking down the road away from the
church. We chased after him.
'Excuse me,' panted Ben. 'Are you the vicar for that church up the road?'
'Yes, I am. Is there a problem?' he asked suspiciously.
'No, no problem. We were…' Ben paused, trying to catch his breath, 'we were wonder-
ing whether there was any possibility of us sleeping in the church tonight.'
'Sleeping in the church? Whatever for?'
'We're cycling the length of the country without spending any money and we need
somewhere to sleep tonight.'
'Sorry, I can't help you.'
'We don't need beds or anything like that. All we need is some form of shelter,' I
pleaded.
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