Day 112
January 23, 2022:
I came downstairs to find Nigel in the living room. He had packed up the three eggs I had hardboiled last night for my ride today, and also gave me a banana, a tangerine, and a granola bar. The kitchen doesn’t have proper ventilation, so if you cook food in the house, the fumes or aromas spread out and you can smell the food from anywhere. In this case, it was a bit of smoke, as Nigel seared the toast and bacon. He also cooked some beans, sauteed some mushrooms, and fried some eggs. It was a good breakfast. Classic.
Before leaving the estate, Nigel gave me a tour of the gardens. It’s a beautiful yard, even in winter when the flowers aren’t out. It’s been a surprisingly warm winter, and that has led to a few early buds forming on the trees. The estate has several wild fields, a few fields full of sheep, a deep creek running down the middle, a small orchard, a selection of berries, and meandering trails that loop back to the house. There are several small huts and cottages for storing wood and equipment. Nigel made a point of showing me the various improvements he has made to the property, from a new roof for one of the cottages to a new channel for streamwater to flow through rather than over one of the paths. This week, he’s working on moving and chopping some of the trees that fell down after Storm Arwen. I can tell he’s proud of his work.
After the walk, I gathered my things, packed, and waved goodbye to Nigel. We exchanged contact info before I left. I cycled back through the village, passing the golf club on the other side of the street where Nigel is now a regular. Then I headed through the fields and over the hills towards Penpont. It was a peaceful morning, and as I cycled I watched swifts fly overhead, saw pheasants run in the fields, and enjoyed the dense evergreen woods that the road wound through.
On the way, a cyclist passed me going the other way, then after about forty minutes, caught up with me again. Her names is Heather, and she’s just retired. She ran a B&B for many years in the Yorkshire area, and now wants to move closer to her daughter, who lives in Edinburgh. She’s staying at a holiday cottage her friend owns for now, and we cycled there together. I gave Heather my number before continuing on on my own.
Penpont resides along a stream called Scaur Water, which is a tributary to the River Nith. The town is pretty flat, but is surrounded by fields and hills. Heather told me about a cafe in town, so I went there first. I ordered a raspberry/granola/custard bowl, a slice of carrot cake, and a hot chocolate with marshmallows. The food was good, though I did have to pay with my rather limited reserve of cash. I asked the baristas there to point me to Andy Goldsworthy’s works in the area. They told me to get the KPT Community Hub app on my phone, which provides a plethora of information not just on the locations of the cairn and arches, but on all sorts of local opportunities. I got it, then decided to just head down the road to see the Millennium Cairn.
The Millennium Cairn resides on active farmland, but there’s a wooden gate in a fence to allow visitors to get to it via a layby. Given the right to roam laws, I wasn’t concerned. The cairn itself is large, perfectly egg-shaped, and made from a red sandstone. It’s an impressive work. I wonder where the stone was sourced from, since it surely wasn’t from that paddock. The individual stones are not cut. Their edges are rough and uneven, so it makes me wonder how he was able to preserve such a uniform shape for the finished piece. It was worth going to Penpont to see the cairn.
After that, I followed the road towards the A76, skipping Thornhill, and instead making my way past Drumlanrig Castle. I didn’t go in. The estate was close to closing, and I’ve frankly seen enough old-fashioned buildings full with opulence. They’re really all the same. Just too many rooms than they knew what to do with. “And here is the yellow room….”
I felt my rear tire going flat as I cycled down a hill towards a rest stop. I’d have to take care of that later. The rest stop has a public restroom, which was open, free, clean, and stocked. Lucky find. I made camp there by the River Nith beside a picnic table. A semi truck rested in the parking lot. It would be him and I here alone all night.
