Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Diary - Part Nine

Day 9 - Monday 10th July
Having unlocked the bikes and loaded up, we left Carlisle at 10.30am, heading North. An hour and a half later, we were in Bonnie Scotland.

We posed for a couple of photos (for about an hour). The picture you see on the left here is the third time Doug and Martin crossed the border from England to Scotland as they felt the moment deserved a decent photo. They also swore the air was suddenly smelling sweeter. I detected the faintest whiff of deep-fried mars bars.

After a bit of food-shopping in Gretna we got back on the road to Dumfries - ignoring the chap who shouted to us about the dragon up ahead (at least, that what I think he said, I still haven't quite grasped the language). We actually bumped into him again as we lunched in Dumfries but failed to get an explanation of the dragon, instead getting a warning of "the longest hill in South-West Scotland" up ahead. He wasn't wrong.

Eventually we reached Moniaive, a small town with a pub, a shop and a picnic table. We took advantage of two of the three.

The rest of the day was spent in the pouring rain cycling up long hills and down the other side, negotiating more and more cattle grids along the way - one of which tried to swallow Helen's bike.

Eventually, at around 7pm, we arrived at our accomodation for the evening. A shed in the middle of nowhere (Kendoon Youth Hostel, near Castle Douglas). The welcome was warming enough, it's just a pity the radiators weren't!

Still, it was a bed for the night and somewhere to get a hot cup of tea and some food. And also somewhere where french schoolkids can start out from on their way to getting lost in the Southern Uplands, or so it would seem.

Day: 9, Distance: 70.1miles, Cycling Time: 5 hrs 8 mins, Ave Speed: 13.6mph, Max Speed: 30.2mph.

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