RESIDENTS OF east Ayrshire were a bit, shall we say, hacked off over the weekend, when the two-day Tour of Ayrshire cycle race took place on their doorstep.

Locals tell us that this meant a number of local roads were shut for up to eight hours per day, across Saturday and Sunday, with many farm roads being closed.

That zero access might have been an issue had anyone been planning to cut silage! It also left some people out of their homes for up to five hours.

One of the more annoying moments came when a local dairy farmer asked organisers how the milk tanker should get into the farm to empty his tank – to which an East Ayrshire representative asked "Does it need to get in?"

That was before adding: "I didn't realised cows were milked at the weekends."

But the thing that has really ticked off a member of our staff is the fact that East Ayrshire previously told us that 'East Ayrshire's roads do not have an issue with pot holes', but, lo and behold, three days before the cycle race was to take place, a number of 'emergency repairs' took place, albeit it shoddily, in preparation for this beloved cycle race.

Business has since resumed as normal, but will the people of East Ayrshire be so accepting next year, if the race is to continue?

Crossing two great divides!
LAND AGENT Jimmy Butler has crossed the great divide – in more ways than one.
Not only has he switched companies from Strutt and Parker to Savills, but the Ulsterman is also crossing back over the Irish Sea to work in Dublin with his new job.
Apparently the send-off given by his Edinburgh colleagues was quite a night – just about enough to fuel his homeward journey!
And, he had plenty to celebrate too, as he had just been involved in releasing one of the biggest farm sales for some years coming on the market through S and P. This has 2397 acres being sold on behalf of the well-known Whiteford family, from Tain, in Easter Ross.

Islay dramas
I BELIEVE that the long-awaited marriage of Dave McArthur and Fiona Kelly went swimmingly well last week.
As you would expect an Islay wedding to do, it lasted for at least three days and, come the Monday morning, there were a few sair heids about.
But, as usual with island life, there was also added drama by the fact that the Islay lifeboat was that weekend involved in a search and rescue operation to locate a missing surfer who had left the shore at Machrihanish. 
The good news was, the combined lifeboat and helicopter resources deployed found the missing man clinging to his surfboard after 32 hours in the water. 
Well done to those crews – and there was no spanner in the wedding works, despite Dave being the engineer on the lifeboat!

The buyers beware!
NEXT week, the island of Bute’s two oldest dairy herds will be dispersed. 
First up will be the dispersal of James Mcalister’s Bruchag Ayrshire herd, at Carlisle, on Wednesday, May 10, followed on Thursday, May 11, by Robert Macintyre’s Dunallan on-farm dispersal. 
I hear that Robert (‘The Provost’) has ordered 12 cases of litre bottles of whisky to give out as a ‘luck penny’ to every cattle purchaser. 
This should make for an interesting boat journey back to Wemyss Bay. We await our ambassador, Alasdair Fletcher’s take on it!