The
official route from Carlisle to the Scottish border takes a dog-leg up the A7 and then the A6071 to Gretna, which avoids the route 3 miles shorter along the A74. However, this was early on a Sunday morning, so I chanced the dual carriageway which connects the top of the English M6 to the bottom of the Scottish A74(M). Nearly at the border here.
The boundary itself is this fairly minor waterway, the River Sark. Note the shorts strapped beside the tent, still drying from being washed two nights earlier. Laundry is not easy on the move.
And
then you're in to the famous Gretna Green. Not very active on a Sunday morning, but I felt I'd reached a real milestone getting to Scotland, so sent a couple of postcards, just in case I didn't reach John O'Groats.
Then began a very pleasant run heading towards the west coast.
The land was easy going and the weather benign.
I couldn't believe there was really a place called Ae! Ooh, it's foreign up here
but very beautiful.
The
reason for making a good distance of 82 miles that day was that I kept going till 7.45, looking for somewhere to stop. I ended up at the most basic and charming camp site of the trip (see comments in diary).
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