Mileage today - 86
Total mileage so far - 636
Last night's b&b was the best yet, absolutely unbeatable! After a top breakfast, and a £10 donation from the owners, Joanna set off for home whilst I set off to do battle with the Carlisle traffic. I needn't have worried, it was an easy twenty minutes through the city and out the other side. Riding alongside the motorway for a few miles I was soon in Gretna, resisting the temptation to go to the tacky blacksmith shop. Once out of Gretna I was riding into a very strong headwind that was to stay with me for the rest of the dayall the way around the Solway coastline and up to Dumfries and beyond. I stopped for an hour in Dumfries to get a bite to eat. Whilst there I thought I should go and see Robbie Burns' grave, but after asking three locals and a scouser, I gave up - not one of them knew where it was! I had to make do with his statue instead. After a very brief spell on the A76, it was all beautiful, deserted country lanes for the thirty or so miles up to tonight's stop at Sanquhar. This part of Scotland is so quiet and scenic. It doesn't have the grandeur of the Highlands, but on a sunny day like today it is idyllic . I stumbled across the old smithy that was owned by Kirkpatrick McMillan, all cyclists will know who that is won't you?.... Of course you do....he invented the pedal cycle! A few miles further on at the village of Penpont, I stumbled on something even better, a cafe! A good pot of tea and a generous slice of chocolate cake, for the princely sum of just £2-35! I like Scotland! Just been out in Sanquhar to see the sights - an ancient tollbooth and the oldest post office in the world. Trouble is the Post Office pulled out, it's no longer a post office! It' been a long day, more miles that planned but, apart from that headwind, it's been great! Time for some grub!
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