25 July 2012, 75 miles (day 6)
What a day, fantastic, sunny. A tail wind too!
Joined by Nick, we left Fran's home after saying goodbye to Alan, Olivia, Georgia and Poppy who are going to the Olympics! Bye to Steph, Susie, Gillian and Scott, thanks for waving us off so early!
We headed south on the A701, direction Broughton, with
England-shire on the horizon. Stuart the
fireman (in orange) joined us at the Leadburn junction, Charlie says that he wins the prize
for the best cycling outfit.
Further along the road, Kirsty and Chris were waiting and
joined the peleton at West Linton to make this the largest group so far (9!)
Great speedy cycling and excited chatter followed (must be
proper cycling now, Paul) and on to the first stop at Broughton for great coffee
and home made cakes from the night before party at Fran and Al’s (thanks Rosie, Steph, Jane, Anna, Bianca, Mara and Ania).
Cracking on to Moffat we had a steady climb towards the Devil’s
Beef Tub and the source of the River Tweed, losing Paramedic Chris and Fireman
Stuart on the climb …. (no really, they had to get home and peeled off back for
Edinburgh before the summit). Thanks for
the help in getting us so far today guys.
The sun was high and we flew down into Moffat, hitting
speeds of 40 mph, along the swooping scenic, spectacular special, super
Scottish, snaking circuit. Moffat for
lunch - and goodbye to Kirsty (it was good to catch up with you Kirsty,
Fx). A small ice-cream nougat wafer was
sampled and enjoyed by Chris, Charlie and Dave!
Passed the cake test with flying colours. Dave also had his first Irn Bru....
From Moffat we headed to Beattock, where we picked up cycle
route 74 (B7076), lovely road relatively traffic free, which ran alongside the
M74 motorway.
Cheers to Nick who turned for home shortly after
Beattock.
All was going well and we
planned to stop in Lockerbie for tea. But Fran suffered puncture numero uno. Our first technical hitch- but our alpha
males stepped up to the plate - the girls knew they would come in useful.
We passed through Lockerbie, thinking of those lost in the
disaster, then downhill pretty much all the way to Gretna Green (historically famous for eloping couples to get hitched quick, much like the Las Vegas of the UK). On our way, we met a sockless cyclist who was riding
with an orange in his mouth about to enjoy it, when Jan asked him the way. Naturally, he answered and ejected his only
orange on his 60 mile cycle ride onto the road!
Jan quickly replaced the orange with a chocolate bar … and so all was well.
We arrived smiling and smelly, due to the heat of the day,
ready to marry our bikes. Fortunately,
most agreed, but Dave said that he’s only having a holiday romance with his
bike and wasn’t ready to take the plunge.
Yippee, we loved it today, the sun was shining, the wind was
behind us and the sky was blue. After
such a long day, we were pleased to arrive at our **** (4 star) boutique B&B, with amazing views of
the surrounding vista and glimpses of the future!
Great meals at the pub next door, the Solway Lodge Hotel. 70’s revisited. Strains of Neil Diamond, Prawn Cocktail,
Scampi and Chips and Black Forest Gateau to toast the newlyweds next
to us who were celebrating their first night together playing cards*. There were no takers for today’s
special: Liver and Onions.
Hi guy,s that looks like a good day in the saddle and trust mrs Jones to grab all the attention of the first puncture ,nice to see you getting some sunshine and long may it last,
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ci vediamo la prossima volta
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Looks and sounds like you all had a great day. Glad you got some sunshine and lets hope that you've had all the bad weather you are going to have on the trip.
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