Abington to Carlisle
Distance Today: 59.33 Miles
Total Distance: 391.5 Miles
Average Speed: 13.1 MPH
Maximum Speed: 28.1 MPH
Time in Saddle: 4 hours 31 Minutes
Our digs were a bit out of the way, but clean and pleasant. And we enjoyed another darned fine breakfast. We set off for Abington to pick up our trail. One of the staff at the hotel told us that Abington is the highest town in the UK. So we felt sure that today would be mostly downhill. Apart from few nasty climbs it was indeed mostly downhill as we headed for our next overnight stop at Carlisle.
Our route took us down minor roads running alongside the M74. The result was a fairly traffic free morning with motorised traffic favouring the motorway. It was also surprisingly rural and though we could hear the noise of the heavy traffic from time to time, we were still able to enjoy the views. This morning we saw yet another chapter in the story of Dan's bad luck. Adding to the problems of his exploding knee and stacking, now his cycling shoe is jammed in his pedal. We think he's lost a screw from his cleat and he's unable to unclip his right shoe from the pedal. Whenever we stop he has to take his shoe off leaving it attached to the bike, which annoyed Dan, but gave us another opportunity for some serious mickey taking.
We made our lunch stop at Lockerbie, at pub, or rather hotel called the Kings Arms. It's situated smack in the centre of the town and did great food. They also locked our bikes in a store room for safe keeping. I've never been to Lockerbie before. If you ignore the industrial units (and no town is without it's industrial quarter) to the north of the town it's well worth a visit, having a village kind of atmosphere.
Setting off again we set our course for Gretna Green. We didn't see too much of the village sort of skipping over the top. But we did pass the Blacksmiths which had some rather interesting artwork dotted about, and a tartan shop.
A mile or so down the road we hit a big milestone, we left Scotland. Scotland had looked after us so well (apart from the idiot construction worker who tried to get us killed) and I was sad that we'd left. Above all, I was going to miss the scenery and the friendly people all too wiling to help. And if really pushed to find more I'm going to miss haggis and the beer, 90 shillings is a stunning pint. But I'm really not going to miss the midges. Scotland can keep it's midges.
We took a few pictures next to the "Welcome To England" sign and set off for the last few easy miles down country lanes. At least, that's what our map told us. What our map didn't tell us is that there was no entry from the nice country lanes we'd elected to cycle down to our hotel (Hotel? Quite a lofty description for a Travelodge). So after cycling up and down the lanes for half an hour or so we ended up on the A74, which is a motorway in all but name and legal status.
Never mind, it was just for half a mile or so and we were now set for a meal, a beer and an evenings rest, though not before cleaning and lubricating the bikes.