I got up reasonably early and went to find the booking office to pay, and get a toilet key. I didn’t bother with breakfast, and headed off at about 9:00. But not before getting covered in paint! When I went to pick up the key, I was told something (in my defence it was in Scottish) about painting the furthest toilets, but to use the ones near the building. I saw there was a man painting so I used the ones nearest the building. After packing up and loading, I thought I would avail myself of the facilities (nearest the buiding) once more, and pushing the brown door open, left me with a brown hand! These were the toilets I’d been told to use and there was no wet paint sign! I wasn’t too bothered as my hands had been filthy from packing the bike and doing maintenance (and residual oil from dismantling my folding bike). With some furious scrubbing I managed to wash most of the gloss paint off. As I came out of the toilets, the man arrived (driving a golf buggy from his office 30 metres away) with a wet paint notice – saying the painter shouldn’t have painted that door and had gone off on an unofficial painting frenzy!

I cycled back into Biggar and picked up some supplies, including meths for my stove, and headed down the A702. The road was slightly busier that I would have liked, but all the cars and lorries gave me plenty of room. I was thinking about cutting across to the A73, which despite its name looked like a smaller road on the map. I decided to stay on my road, which proved a wise choice as I glimpsed a much busier road across the valley. I joined the North-South NCN74 at the M74 motorway in Abingdon and stopped for breakfast. Thought it might be my last chance for a square sausage, which is a Scottish delicacy. The order was duly written down on the order book as picture of a square. What I don’t know is whether the rest of the menu had pictorial representations, and it was because the chef couldn’t read. Anyway, it was nice, and consisted of a square piece of sausage meat in a roll, which explains its name.

I headed down the NCN74 which pretty much follows the M74 motorway, on the old road which seems to be used solely for parking of lorries, having their rest periods. The route was either a cycle path at the edge of the road (bumpy), or a dedicated cycle path at the side (often bumpy). I’m really pleased I have this new bike which is perfect, my old bike would have struggled. It seemed like it was pretty much all day on the same types of roads, and while was countryside was rolling it did seem to be predominantly down hill.

Towards the end of the day when I saw some bigger groups of cyclists heading in the other direction. I felt sorry for them as it had seemed I had had an easy day, seeming downhill with maybe a tail wind. Although they had no idea of what was ahead. The beauty of long distance cycling is that you never have to cycle the route again, and therefore the people going the other way are (I presume) largely ignorant of what is ahead of them. I certainly am, I do no significant planning of gradients or anything and just tackle whatever hills appear in front of me. Struggle up it, then say – “I’m glad that’s over”!

I reached Lockerbie, which is only really on the map for one thing (unless Andy Murray is from there – but I think he is from Dunblane another Scottish town associated with tragedy). In 1988 a bomb brought down a plane over Lockerbie, killing all 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground. I took time to visit the Pan-Am memorial, which is in a graveyard just outside town. What really strikes you is the number of smaller memorials in styles from across the world. Some with photos on, like I’ve seen in graveyards in the Balkans, together with Jewish and Chinese tributes, all in a graveyard in a tiny Scottish town. It was a moving experience.

I was now on a final push to leave Scotland, and get into England. This meant cycling through Gretna Green. I have been to Gretna before and knew it was mainly set up for weddings, as there were different laws for getting married between England and Scotland. For the last few miles the cycle route took in some really nice back lanes, which was a relief from the main road style of the rest of the day. Once in the town, I cycled past some shops thinking there would be better ones further on. There weren’t, and by the time I’d reached the “Gretna Gateway Outlet” complex on the other side of town it was too late to turn back. It was going to be a dinner of rice and beans which was bought from a Mace petrol station shop (and a obviously a Swiss roll). I reached the first (or last) house in Scotland with a nice sign post – John O Groats 390 miles, London 318, Lands End 478 miles. Its closer to cycle home, than back to John O’Groats. It really demonstrates how big Scotland is. I’m getting close to halfway and only just in England

I pushed on to the campsite which was in Blackford, four miles north of Carlisle. It was a nice but very expensive at £18. The pricing of campsites is really random, this was per tent, so really good value for a family – but as a solo cyclist a bit unfair. However, it was well equipped and still early, so had plenty of time to do my washing and use the tumble drier. I got everything washed and fresh, which was good as my clothes had been suffering after all the damp weather I’d been experiencing. Two separate cycling groups came in later, both doing LEJOG, heading north after a week or so on the road. A husband and wife doing it for charity, and a Tasmanian and his son (the son was working in London).

The Mace petrol station had provided a reasonable meal, the chicken flavoured rice and kidney beans weren’t bad at all. I’ll have them again! Today I seem to have lost the lock off the back of the bike, and while the risk is low the other cyclist locked my bike with theirs. A new lock is something else to add to the shopping list! What I really needed was new (KlickFix) clamps for my handlebar bag, to suit the larger diameter of my new handlebars. Having the bag on my back was becoming wearing. Chatting to the Aussies, they had stopped at a very helpful bike shop in Carlisle. It sounded like it should have what I need so I checked out their website and they don’t open until 9:30. Which is perfect as I can have a legitimate lie in!