A few photos on an overcast day before we left Carlisle and then off through early morning traffic. It was busy until we reached the turn for the motorway, and then not too bad.

We soon turned off onto this cycle path, mostly dirt, so mud in places with the recent rain.

It was pleasant enough, but I wouldn’t want to cycle on it with tires any narrower than ours. It is apparently an old disused railway line, but I think the advertised gravel and shale surface has worn away and not been replaced.

We then stopped in Longtown for sandwiches to take with us, though the weather wasn’t promising for a picnic lunch. Northern accents and “Ta” with an awkward “Thanks” as an after thought. I think she was worried that as Americans we wouldn’t understand “Ta”. Which I didn’t when I first moved to England.

We stopped at a small shop just over the Scottish border for Husband to buy a bottle of water, having left his water bottle at the desk at the hotel in Carlisle. He had a brief conversation with a man outside the shop and we were both amazed at the strength of his Scottish accent so close to the English border, after the clearly English accent just the other side.

Most of the day was on a quiet A road that runs parallel to the Motorway, so only local traffic. But it was mostly straight and flat, and bypassed the few towns there were, so it wasn’t our most exciting day. But then yesterday probably was, so slightly dull wasn’t bad.

We did go through Ecclefechan, where Thomas Carlyle was born and is buried, though he actually died in Chelsea. This statue is actually a replica of the original, which is in London. Impressive, though, and the daffoldils are still in bloom here. (Because it is very cold.)

As we cycled along, climbing out of Ecclefechan, we began to see the Scottish hills, secure in the knowledge that we would be climbing through them in the not too distant future. So nice to have the view without the effort today.

It turned drizzly, so we are saving the sandwiches for another day and stopped in Beattock, a tiny village, for lunch in the pub. I stopped to let a horse and carriage go by before turning in. Very nicely turned out they were too. And polite.

It was just us, so quiet there as well. And with the wind at our backs, we could actually speak to each other as we were cycling and be heard.

We are in a tiny room in Abington. They had us booked for tomorrow, but husband had the confirmation from them for tonight. So they had a room, just a bit cozy. The heat is on, and they gave us tea while they looked for our bags that had arrived earlier. Found them so all is well. And someone from the hotel in Carlisle had noticed husband’s water bottle and stuck it in a bag, so that’s back too.