Went to east kilbride the other week
Grimmer than a grim thing !
Rural airshires lovely though . Kilmaurs and surrounding area and is good for cycling if a little flat.
I nominate Nobeerinthe fridge to organise a STW Ayrshire chapter day out!
+1
😀
Tomc Can you say where you will be working? No problem if you can't/ won't. For what it's worth I've lived and worked in Killie/ Irvine and would advise Prestwick to live in. If I could move thats where I would be looking.
Hows about a fairlie/west kilbride ride during the hols, and we can then tell tomc all about the riding?. And even post up some pics.
I rather like Ayrshire (memories of trials riding years ago) but there are some desperately unfortunate places.
I have to occasionally visit a site near Beith. Beith has a baker that claims its Scotch pies are award winning. The pies are the only possible reason anybody could have for going to Beith.
peterfile - Member
bit of a side question bob. What years were you living in Killie?
1978 till 2002. I thought I recognised you. Did you used to be friends with Steven Cree?
If you move to Ayrshire, take up sailing.
Watty irvines award winning pies full of keish
,were the best
Not that dried up sh1t that Maurice passes for a pie
No guessing who used to stay in beith
Shithole best avoided
The mountain biking around Darvel is very good with some locally buildt XC and DH trails on both sides of the valley. The XC trail is about 23kms long with only about 2km on connecting roads.
There's also Craufurdland estate where we have built a 10km XC route with jumps, berms etc. Not too good in the winter though.
There's a new XC route being built at Whitelee Forest over the winter.
Also you can go to the Newmilns Ski centre and practice DH.
There's plenty of local mountain bikers here, with trips to trail centres organised almost every week.
Wow - didn't expect so many responses...and great to see I'm on the brink of starting a bike club (which I'll definitely join if we move!)
maccruiskeen: you're spot on about Princetown. Its almost joyously bleak up there - and you can enjoy it all the more when you know you're about to ride home and its downhill all the way.
The kids will be 3 and 6 when we move. Young enough to pick up the accent I hope (will be actively encouraged by their Scottish mum).
Overall, it seems there are no standout towns, but some do have some good schools, and you can get a lot for your money if you want a rural life. The local MTB-riding's average but a little travel gets you a lot more, and there is good road riding. Sounds good to me.
I'll be sure to let those that kindly volunteered to show me some trails / answer Q's know if I'm coming up for a reccy.
maccruiskeen: you're spot on about Princetown. Its almost joyously bleak up there
the pub beer garden (in a July hailstorm) is also one of the few places you can camp - thats why I'm familar with it 🙂
When you come up bring a good road map and put in some milage driving round the back roads- for all the whinging snobs say ( 🙂 ) the most notorious shitholes are often cheek by jowl with some incredible little hamlets and some cracking little country retreats.
If you look at the map of scotland you'll see that it generally has a remarkable lack of roads - ayrshire by contrast has loads more little back roads and backwaters (thats what makes it so good on a road bike).
Actually - for rural have a look around Moscow too, the village itself is small and has no amenities but theres quite a scattering of rural properties around it you're very quick into Killie.
1978 till 2002. I thought I recognised you. Did you used to be friends with Steven Cree?
I left Killie in 2001. Steven used to go out with one of my close friends, Gemma (probably around 2000 - 2002). I didn't really kick about with him, although he was around quite a bit.
What school did you go to/year left? I reckon we must know quite a few of the same people. I used to go riding with the Marsh brothers (their dad owned the car garage which used to be where the new Tesco is now) and two other brothers (Willie and ???, whose surname I can't remember!), lovely lads, really miss getting out and about with them.
I was also the PR manager at Expo (for my sins) for a couple of years when i was a student, which means if you ever used to go there, we've probably met at some point!
Drop me an email if you'd rather not put it on here. I'm still down in Killie a lot, my mum lives next to Howard Park.
edit
Best description I heard of Patna is that it's "the Arsehole of Ayrshire - and Dalmellington is ten miles up it"
fnarr fnarr
pebblebeach - Member
Meant to say that Fenwick is quite a nice wee village too, couple of decent hotels/pubs. Some new houses being built too if thats what you're after. Sorne also very nice.
Avoid the following - galston, newmills, darvel, tarbolton, mauchline, patna,dalsmellington, to name a few - all old mining/mill towns that have had the life torn out of them and they're just shiholes now.
What pish are you talking?! I agree with you about the others but Mauchline a shit hole?! Brilliant primary school, good amenities for its size and 3 nice(ish) pubs. Ayr and Killie both 15min away, Glasgow 30 min. The only thing that lets it down is the lack of a railway station as the mainline to glasgow runs through it. Left when I was 17 but I visit family once or twice a month. Missus is from rural Oxfordshire and she loves it!
Killie town centre is run down and I feel that Ayr seems to be self destructing under the ineptitude of south ayrshire cooncil but given a choice, I'd stay in Prestwick or Ayr. On the coast with nice beaches and great links up to Glasgow.
As for mountain biking, I used to use all the paths around Mauchline as well as the old quarry in Sorn to scare myself. Mauchline pit has some nice little drop ins and there is a mountain biking club at New Cumnock (Glenafton MTB club) which meets once a week. I've not managed to meet them but they're on facebook and seem friendly enough. Because of the right to roam act the best advice I would give you is the usual, get the landranger and go where ever you want. All the 7stanes sites are within 2/3hrs of killie and you have Fort william/Glencoe 3.5hrs away.
I would move back in a shot but work ties me down here. Hampshire is too impersonal compared to the "shire".
Agreed, mauchline is no shithole.
The Black Bull in Mauchline is some place 😆
Hows about a fairlie/west kilbride ride during the hols, and we can then tell tomc all about the riding?. And even post up some pics.
Yeah I would be up for that, drop me a email mate.
I could be up for that too, depending on timing etc. Are we talking road or mtb ?Hows about a fairlie/west kilbride ride during the hols, and we can then tell tomc all about the riding?. And even post up some pics
Irvine - I kept a boat there for a couple of years. My experience of the place was driving in to the harbour either from the Ayrshire Central end or from the A71 then through the industrial estate (which is just like any other industrial estate). Spent a night on the boat every so often but never really checked out the pubs. Always though it was pretty nice, but that was from a fairly limited point of view. I'd happily stay in the harbour area though. Good access to the fleshpots of weegieland.
Went to auchinleck academy and my family's from cumnock. Out of all the villages in the area, I would only live in mauchline. Would love sorn but errr......
I'm a loudon (refuse to use silly name) drinker but venture up to the bull occasionally for the duke box 😛
Irvine....Always though it was pretty nice
I hate to break this to you...it's not.
17 years of living there followed by 14 years of living in a variety of other towns/cities in the UK and elsewhere has taught me one thing, Irvine is a shithole 🙂
Ianc, wash your mouth out! MTB, of course!. 😀
I can do any day between the 1st of January to the 7th. Would be riding from west Kilbride railway station, not too early if there are folks travelling down. Ian, I'll text graham at GMBC and see if any of the others fancy it.
This ride can be done by train from Glasgow, opens up the possibility of a wee dram afterwards!.
wow, i guess my standards are much lower than many others, i lived in irvine for 18 years (bourtreehill) and it was absolutely fine.
i still go there regularly as my mum and dad still live there, and its still fine imo.
im not saying its the centre of the universe or anything, but if i had funds and was looking to buy a place there are worse places to live.
obviously, some of the council estates are shitholes, but you get them in any decent sized town, not just irvine.
Peter where a outs did you live in killie? If you don't mind me asking.
Get yourself along to an Auchinleck Talbot.vs. Cumnock junior.football match. P.s. Juniors ain't kids up here in case you don't know. Serious stuff 🙂
gavinturnbull - Member
The mountain biking around Darvel is very good with some locally buildt XC and DH trails on both sides of the valley. The XC trail is about 23kms long with only about 2km on connecting roads.
Really? I would have killed for that when I lived outside Darvel (straight across the valley from Loudoun Hill)
I don't tend to go back to the Irvine Valley much apart from Christmas or New Year to see the folks. Spent a week in Newmilns last New Years. Either it has got A LOT worse in 10 years, or I just never saw how bad it was.
peterfile - Member
We used to go riding in Sorn when I was about 17! I think i've got a video of us somewhere
Me too! Lorimers I think my friends used to refer to it as?
Greenock cut...it wont be technical riding but good for a spin
The Cut itself is pretty bland but some lovely riding in the hills above The Cut, you just need to know where to look.. 😉
Get yourself located in east ren somewhere.
Good schools and a better class of ned. Try whitecraigs, eaglesham, Newton means, giffnock, williamwood, hazeldean to name but a few of the nicer places.
You are 15 miles from Killy using the cycle path from NM.
House prices are a bit more than the likes of Kilmarnock, but for good reason. Seriously you owe it to your kids not to go to a school in Killy.
IMHO>
Largs: Been known as Gods waiting room since the dawn of time. Infuriatingly long traffic lights. But nice enough, has reasonable places to eat and drink and pretty good if you like watersports as well. The people do have a higher opinion of themselves than they really should and they sometimes have that'incomers' chip on their shoulder.
Fairlie: Some really nice property and as mentioned some mountain biking on your doorstep, close enough to Largs to use the facilities with the benefit of not having to live there.
West Kilbride/Seamill/Portencross: Nice town with a wide variety of property, everything from child friendly estates to beach cottages and small holdings, same biking as Fairlie on the doorstep.
The Three Toons(Ardrossan/Saltcoats/Stevenston): Mostly poo poo'd and Saltcoats and Stevenston ( and for the most part Ardrossan) town centres are miserable places. But there is a bit of regeneration going on and there is a host of new builds on the outskirts of decent enough houses and the price will be comparatively good. In Saltcoats alone I'd say the areas with decent property outweigh the crapper ones. Again if you like sailing the Marina is decent enough, you can also roll down to the ferry to Arran for some biking. The beach at Saltcoats has also had alot of work done, its now very clean and you often get windsurfers/kitesurfers/jetskis/canoeists etc using it. And for commuting to Kilmarnock your dual carriageway all the way and pretty equidistant to Largs as well.
Kilwinning: Open air lunatic asylum
Irvine: Has good and bad bits, the outskirts has some nice enough estates, some of the new town stuff is pretty miserable and the 'mall' is a genetic experiment. The harbourside is fairly nice though, nice pubs and eateries.
Troon: is nice but I think the premium to live there doesn't match the actual living. Seen as one of the posher parts of the shire.
I'd love to tell you more about the mountain biking but mostly I'd chuck the bike in the car, my out the door riding is mostly on the road bike or crosser.
BTW I live in Saltcoats and apart from a notion of moving down to Portencross a while back, theres nothing really in the other places to tempt me away.
