A new memorial bench has been unveiled to commemorate the life of an Ayrshire cycling legend.
A gathering of cyclists from Ayr Roads/Arnold Clark CC and Ayr Burners were joined by members of the public when they attended the unveiling of the new Davie Bell Memorial, at Rowantree Toll, near Barr.
The Memorial Cairn itself was erected by public subscriptions in memory of David E T Bell, also known at ‘The Highwayman,’ who for many years contributed cycling articles to the Ayrshire Post.
Davie’s articles are contained in two books, the first of which (The Highwayman) was published by The Ayrshire Post in 1970 and the second (The Highwayman Again) in 1987.
The Memorial Cairn is visited by thousands each year and its stunning location at the crossroads of Rowantree and the Nick o’ Balloch is a fitting site for The Highwayman, who loved the hills of South Ayrshire and Galloway.
A spokesperson for the organisers behind the new memorial bench said: “The Forestry Commission provided an earlier bench some years ago, but weather and the exposed nature of the site took its toll.
“Vic Possee, a former Chairman of Ayr Roads, very generously arranged for a new bench to be constructed using Galloway Elm.
“The bench was constructed by fellow cyclist Colin Reilly and Peter Neal and is a fine example of local craftsmen’s work.”
Dr Tom and Mhairi Smith of Pinwherry also attended.
Dr Smith, for many years, provided medical assistance to the renowned Davie Bell Road Race and, as a retired local GP of the Stinchar Valley, he and Mrs Smith were delighted to have been invited.
Mrs Margaret Fairbairn, President of Ayr Roads CC, unveiled the Memorial Bench accompanied by the skirl of bagpipes played by Evan Oliphant, a past winner of the classic Davie Bell Memorial Road Race.
The year 2013 marked the 100th anniversary of The Highwayman’s birth and there was a bumper turnout that year when Ayr Roads CC staged the annual Davie Bell Memorial Race.
There's been so many stories surrounding The Highwayman over the decades; none more so than in 1949, when Post editor John McNair wrote about a man who had ridden up the Merrick on a pony, he knew that Bell would take up the challenge with his bike.
And sure enough, later that year, Bell and five mates got on their bikes and became the first to pedal up the highest peak in south-west Scotland.
David’s articles captured the camaraderie and banter of his era in the halycon days of cycling.
His weekly column was so missed that after his death, the cycling community, along with Ayrshire Post readers, built a monument to him at Rowantree Toll, within sight of the Merrick and its neighbours in the Galloway and south Ayrshire hills.
The stone cairn, surmounted with a relief map of the area, sits beside the Straiton-Glentrool hill road at its junction with Rowantree Toll and Nick o’the Balloch mountain pass, country which Bell knew so well.
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