Day 8: Penrith to Moffat
Just the best day!
This was supposed to be a flat no frills day but it was easily the funniest day of the whole thing. Sadly - for him - it was at the expense of my riding partner for the next few days and an unexpected adventure…
We also crossed the border into beautiful bonnie Scotland. Just amazing!
A quiet start in Penrith
The day started off smoothly enough. I got ready in the 80s decor hotel room of the Station Hotel - heater in the cupboard with my clothes to dry them off - and then waddled off to McDonald’s to start the day on the right foot with Dunny. He had driven over early that morning from a village outside Harrogate to ride with me for a few days (what an absolute hero!!!) and, after a greasy but satisfactory breakfast, we were ready to go just before 10am.
The rain was lashing down - as expected - but we both had the right clobber so off we went, unfazed… but soon very wet.
Scotland is upon us!
In seeming no time at all, our soaked bodies and bikes had sped down the lanes to Carlisle and further north… and we were in Scotland!
I’m trained to whooop when I see entry signs to the fellow Celtic country and did so enthusiastically when I saw the sign!
It also meant the back of my tour of England. It took me 7.5 days to get to the border. A firm handshake from Dunny commemorated the occasion!
Scottish coastline flatlands
We pressed on through the flat coastline region, past Gretna, when Dunny’s inner tube popped, with a very loud bang. We were perplexed. We studied the the tyre casing and the wheel spoke holes. Nothing. We concluded it must have been a weak area on the inner tube and pressed on with a new inner tube.
We then got to Annan (ten miles from Gretna). Once again… BANG. It was immediately obvious that it was much more serious this time… there was a two inch hole in the side of the tyre… the sidewall had exploded! We had missed that there was a problem with the tyre beading. His bike was completely unrideable… much to his absolute horror. I of course thought this - and his reaction - was the funniest thing ever. I laughed non-stop for about an hour (seriously).
Dunny is the most organised man you have ever met, and he has been telling me all week how he was going to meet me and take on the role of ‘Mr Admin’ (his words) and get my ‘go to Land’s End and point North’ approach to LEJOG (my words) in tip top condition. He had everything meticulously prepared and could survive everything, except perhaps for a nuclear bomb… and the once-in-a-lifetime event of a bike tyre exploding! It was brilliant!
Amazingly, we were right by a station (we would have been snookered were we in the countryside), so we got the train back to Carlisle - just making Halfords before it closed - got the train back to Annan and set off again, meeting some chap who’s just come back from Turkey on the way (talkative bloke). We got to Moffat about three hours after we intended, but that didn’t matter in the slightest. Also, the rain had stopped. We were on the road again. Happy days.
Bonnie Scotland!
If never been to Gretna before and was amazed how flat the surrounding costal area was, especially given how close it is to the Lake District.
After 20 miles or so, things got hiller… and the surroundings became truly spectacular. The roads began to roll, and the mountains in the background became larger and more imposing. The views can’t be mistaken for anywhere else. Unmistakably Scotland.
At one point, we nearly had a second incident…. two huge deer sprinted across the road in front of us! Luckily they were twenty meters or so away… if they would had hit us I suspect that would have been that for the riding for the next few weeks, and also hello to quite a bit of saltless hospital food.
Approaching Moffat
The scenery got more an more amazing as we approached Moffat. It’s a really lovely modest sized town down in a basin surrounded by large, very pretty hills. Very nice indeed. Also very nice was the only place we could find open for a sit down meal; the Spice India curry house. A few Kingfisher and Cobra (both!) later - and following a really tasty garlic curry - we were off, and ready for game of pool at the venue before bed. I flukes the black in the deciding game on a black ball game. Sorry Dunny…
The hostel was amazing. An old house that was immaculately kept. We had run of several lounge rooms and the bedroom was lovely, and the beds comfortable. Perfect for a good night of sleep before another day on the road.
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