Day8 Carsphairn to Gretna Green

Today was slightly shorter than intended. the weather has been sunny all day and the riding has been very enjoyable. Unfortunately I was enjoying it so much that I forgot to drink my water - this didn't seem to impact me until about 4pm when I suddenly ran out of steam, Jan and I had met for a cup of tea at Moniaive and for lunch at Dumfries (Scotch pie and chips washed down with a Tango) but when I got to the afternoon tea stop at Gretna Green I'd had enough. I was only four miles short of the revised target of Longtown, but I didn't fancy it. It'll have to wait until tomorrow. Tonights B&B is a lovely farmhouse about 8 miles northwest of Longtown. We'll drive back to Gretna Green for tomorrows restart. In theory it should be a short day tomorrow - about 30 odd miles down to Lake Ullswater. I fancy a rest. Within a few minutes of tomorrows restart I'll be back in England for (almost) all the rest of the ride. Today we mainly travelled through the Southern Uplands of Scotland (having left Maureen and Jim at last nights B&B - what a lovely couple). After Dumfries (which reminded me slightly of Chester), there was some nice easy cycling south and east with views across the Solway Firth to tomorrows objective - the Lake District. I was possibly at my lowest ebb so far as I met up with Jan at Gretna Green and fair plays, she coped with my grumpiness and sorted me out with a cup of coffee and some shortbread. I'm all happy and rehydrated now following an excellent home-cooked meal of Steak pie and loads of vegetables washed down with a bottle of Pinot Grigio. Luvverley! Jans highlights of the day include a lovely cup of tea at Moniaive and the panoramic views of the distant Lake District. She wasn't so impressed when I drove the last few miles to the B&B - it was so much fun to just use gentle pressure of my right foot to go quicker and slower (and to have a broad seat under my bottom for a change) and I just had to remind myself how good a Scooby is! A minor observation at this point: in the far north of Scotland they seem to prefer Subaru Foresters, in the Great Glen area they go for Subaru Legacy's and then further south it's the Impreza that gets the vote. But, apart from a white WRX that passed me in a car park in Fort William, Jan's been driving the only Impreza going my way so far. Another observation I've made today is that for quite a few miles I was following the route of National Cycle Network (NCN) route 7. For some reason it kept on diving off the B road I was using to make a two mile loop where I was riding one! Couple that with some well-intentioned (but rubbish) cyclist routing at a couple of junctions and it would appear that the idea of this particular NCN route is to slow cyclists down and minimise any 'inconvenience' to motorists. This is the wrong approach in my book - inconvenience the motorist I say, because all they have to do is press a pedal with their right foot to deal with any situation, much easier than the effort us cyclists have to invest. Anyway, England have just won 3-1 and I'm ready for bed, so it's off the soapbox and time to hit the sack.
Cheery-bye, Bob & Jan.

Todays stats:
Accumulated mileage : 439 miles
Todays mileage : 51 miles
Todays average : 14 mph
Todays Maximum : 31.6 mph