A76

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A76

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From:

Kilmarnock (NS279762)

To:

Dumfries (NS366286)

Length:

56.2 miles (90.4 km)

Meets:

A71, A77, A719,
A70, A702, A75

Primary Destinations

Dumfries • Kilmarnock •

Highways Authorities

Transport Scotland

Traditional Counties

Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway

Route outline (key)

A76	Kilmarnock - A75
A76	A75 - Dumfries

Intro

This road is almost all S2 and also quite hilly. It heads south-east so if you are taking the scenic route to England from Ayrshire, you are nearer to England but always about 20 miles from the M74 / A74(M) (hopefully renumbered to M6 one day).

Route

Section 1: Kilmarnock-A70

The is the A76 just south of Crossroads.

This road starts on the busy A71, A77 & A759 junction. Traffic from the North, South & West has been used to D2 or D2M sections of road, but the roundabout slows traffic down before starting on the A76. We're on the outstikts of Kilmarnock. We start going South East, and the A76 is signed for Dumfries. We also follow the old G&SW railway line, the old northern end of the London St. Pancras-Glasgow St. Enloch line (Now closed). It is still used sometimes for WCML dirversions. Anyway, the first classfied road that we meet is the B7073, at a roundabout. After this, it is quite hilly but you can do speeds of 60mph on this road. We soon meet the A719 at a staggered crossroad. Still we follow the railway line as we meet the B744 at the village of Crossroads. It goes quite fast & then we meet our first town, Mauchline. We meet the B743 here on a traffic light controlled junction. After Mauchline, we meet the B705 & B713 as we follow the contours of the hills. There are a lots of dips & humps but it is quite fast. We soon arrive at the Cumnock bypass, probably the only one on this route. The old route through the town is now the B7083. This is the new bit of the road. Very soon, we meet the A70 at the middle of the Cumnock bypass. Turn left for Cumnock & Edinburgh, right for Ochiltree & Ayr.

Section 2: A70-Thornhill

We have just left the A70 roundabout and we are still on the Cumnock bypass. We do the last two miles of this and then we're back on the old road via a roundabout. This is where the B7083 ends. We now head towards New Cumnock (about 100 years old!). Again, we cross the G&SW railway line and we're truly in the hills now. We don't see another classified road for the next 6 miles. We have a roundabout then we pass a unclassified road to Mansfield, Ayrshire. We pass New Cumnock station, the last SPT station. The trains are in 50's style Blood & Custard livery. Also we meet the last classified road in Ayrshire, the B741. After this, we won't meet another classified road until Crawick. After that, we now enter New Cummock proper. There is nothing to write about here but it is a mining town. Soon, we meet the road from Mansfield with the railway near by. Crossing the border into modern day Dumfries & Galloway it is a lot hillier and sometimes it can get misty, but as we're in a valley that is not so mush of a problem. We enter Kirkconnel & pass the station, now just plan jane (First) Scotrail. Another small town, we soon exit the town and now meet our first classified road after the Ayrshire-Dumfries & Galloway border. The B740 goes on to the old A74. We don't enter Crawick but we enter Sanquhar & pass its railway station. There is a museum here & a picnic site.

After Sanquhar, the railway line & road follow the same valley. For the next 10 miles, we're parallel with the railway. At Mennock, the B797 has a T-Juction here. The B797 heads towards the A702 at Abington, a part of the old A74. We're about 12 mioles from Thornhill. At Enterkinfoot, the railway leaves us for the next few miles. At the next turning, you have two options. Turn right for Drumanrig castle or turn left for Marton Castle. At Carronbridge, we meet our first A-class road since Cumnock, the A702. The road is a lot straighter now and this is a simple traffic light controlled juction. Now we multiplex with the A702, the only major multiplex on the A76. The next section to Thornhill is very straight & we have the B731 'ring road' for Thornhill. Before the roundabout, we lose the A702 as that heads towards St. Johns Town of Dalry via Moniaive. We arrive at the roundabout in Thornhill. It is pretty much a local one though.

Section 3: Thornhill-Dumfries

We're in the middle of Thornhill now. We leave the roundabout & outside the town, we meet the other side of B731 'ring road' & we head towards Dumfries, the place name signed since the start of the road. At Closeburn, the G&SW line returns & we have the last parallel bit with the railway. We go past Park & Kirkpratrick. At Kirkpratrick, we turn SW briefly & the railway does the same. It is a litlle hilly here though. After a last kink, we are pretty much straight. We now cross into former Dumfriesshire (though I do not know if Ayrshire has a border with former Dumfriesshire) and we pass Auldgirth, a very Scottish name if there was one! We now lose the railway though it is about two miles way to our east. Now doing speeds of 50-60mph, we are only about 10 miles from Dumfries. We pass Holywood hamlet, the village a few miles way. At the B729 juction, we pass the Twelve Apostles—a prehistoric sturcture. (Pre-history here is up to about 140 AD). We enter Newbridge, the last place before Dumfries. We enter Dumfries with a roundabout. Nearby is the first McDonalds. Anyway, we meet the A75 with another roundabout. The A75 is where the bulk of the traffic goes—either to Gretna for England or Stranraer for Ireland. This roundabout marks the end of the primary section. The road is still straight as we meet yet another roundabout. Here though is where the D2 section starts—but not for long! We meet the A780, the old A75 here & the road ends. We are now about 60 miles from Kilmarnock. As we're in the town centre, park up and enjoy the town!