Gretna Green
Route Miles: 80.3
Total Miles: 605.4
Miles to go 394.6

Cycling out of Patterdale alongside Lake Ullswater was spectacular this morning. The scenery was unbelievable and a mix of different brown and green shades coloured the surrounding hillsides whilst the lake itself was flat and serene. I'll definitely be coming back to this part of the world again.

Had a peaceful sleep in the dorm last night and I met a few hill walkers at breakfast who trek from YHA to YHA in the District. It's interesting that in the 3 YHA's I've stayed in, the average age is far from youthful - I'ld put as prime SAGA material or mid 50's!

Went through Carlisle today where Leeds were the visiting team for the early kick off. Plenty of foot and mounted police escorted the hordes of travelling fans and I heard sirens in the distance as I left the city centre. For any Saints fans reading this, Carlisle is a very nice town to visit next season. This is on the basis that a) Carlisle stay where they are and b) Saints remain in business.....(For non-football fans, Saints are struggling in the Championship and Carlisle are in the next league down).

I made Gretna and therefore Scotland at 13.00 and took a picture by the first Scottish house etc. Lots of 'Original Blacksmith Wedding Venues' but I saw no marital ceremonies where I thought there would have been several for a Saturday.

Pressed on the B7078 which snakes round the A74(M) and it was completely free of traffic. Diverted off at Lockerbie to have a look around but was disappointed to see a virtual ghost town. Lots of closed and boarded up shops and hardly anyone on the street. Very eerie. Out Of Lockerbie I caught up with a fellow cyclist called Mark who is an Audax (National long distance cycling club) member. He was great company to Moffat and gave me some very helpful hints and tips re the rest of the journey north.

The B&B in Moffat overlooked the local rugby club and I watched the home team score a last minute try, only for the fly-half to hit the left hand upright with his conversion attempt from just to the side of the posts. I found out later that they only lost by 1 point from the facially bruised prop who served me some pasta in a nearby Italian. Suffice to say he wasn't happy with his teammate. Moffat are in the National South West League 2.