Well, just a quick note to say that if you scroll down to the bottom of the post for Day 1, you'll find a link to see the route from Gatehouse to Gretna in Google Earth. It'll show you where the photos in the blog were taken too.
I'll let you know when Day 2 has a KML file available (probably not for a few days)
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
National Cycle Route 7 - Gatehouse to The Black Horse
Wednesday 7th October 2009: Day 2
Gretna to Little Salkeld - 55 miles approx
133 miles running total
A cold and frosty morning greeted us when we managed to get out of the very comfy beds at Surrone House and downstairs for a nice cooked breakfast. I suspect the cold weather and the fact we only had about 55 miles to do today, mainly on the flat, meant we were a little later getting away than was ideal. About 10.30pm actually. But at least no waterproofs were needed.
Cycling along with Ian, you learn that he's not one for stopping, so apologies for the lack of photos at this early stage of the day (or in fact later on as well... ahem)
We pressed on and reached Longtown in about an hour, which of course meant finding the public toilets for Mr McDonald. I'd have taken a picture to set the scene, but well, you know, I suspect there are laws and all that.
We stopped at the Gretna Bakery on the main street and got some nice Steak and Onion pies for later and then set off again.
First snag of the day as we missed a route 7 sign a few miles up the road and only twigged when we got to the busy A7, so we turned back and managed to get on the obscured cycle path. We did an extra mile by accident. Curses.
Blimey. Look. A picture!
Only about 2 hours into the day's cycling and on a stretch of old railway line near Westlington, we remembered to get out the camera. It's got to be packed away when cycling 'cos it's too big to go in a pocket and pedal comfortably. The next trip needs a slimmer camera.
Just past this point we found a rather confusing route 7 signpost and ended up deviating from our original planned route. Sustrans need to do a bit of work here. In fact, they need to do a lot of work.
So instead of heading south towards Carlisle, we were heading west towards the M6 for a while, though after crossing it, we did turn south and followed some incredibly straight roads past the Kingmoor railway yards. Not wildly exciting this stretch to be honest. The route 7 signs were ancient, so it was probably the original route.
And then we trundled through the suburbs of Carlisle, through a park, across a bridge, along a footpath / cyclepath or two and then the route 7 signs ran out and route 72 ones started. Arsebiscuits.
Ian's fancy SatNav meant we knew roughly where to go, but not quite how to get there because it wasn't fancy enough.
Anyway, for future reference, if you're on Bridge Street heading west, turn left onto Viaduct Estate Road, which is where we went wrong due to missing signs.
Of course, when we found Route 7 again, sod's law ensured it was closed and being dug up, so we had to find our own way across the river. Should have turned right over Nelson Bridge, but we went straight on and got very lost for ages before we found the riverside route again. We lost an hour in total which wasn't great. Looking back I should have had loads of photos of us looking flustered and lost. Oh well.
It was time for lunch.
You can click on this majestic panorama to get the full impact of Mr McDonald's fine physique.
Nice spot to eat though. Them pies from Longtown were excellent.
So, after the obligatory bog stop in a Dalston pub by you know who, nothing to do with the pies mind, we kept cycling along lots of minor country roads, with trees and grass and sheep and cows and stuff. And, er, not many pictures.
It did start to gradually go uphill all the time, and with the headwind it was harder going than expected.
Look at these two chancers.
We weren't as happy as the pictures show if I remember and it was after 5pm by this time, but we stopped for a snack and to ring ahead to the B&B at Little Salkeld just to let them know we were actually going to turn up at some point.
Penrith was still to come, but once we got to the next village of Skelton, it was mainly downhill for a good way.
Under the M6 and it was into Penrith and the delights of Fell Lane. Quite steep and half a mile long.
I got up there a few minutes before Ian. Here he comes. Slightly blurry, but it was getting quite gloomy and I was breathing hard.
(Due to the climb and not the subject matter)
It's quite a spectacular view from the road at the top though.
Look at that. Best click it to get the bigger one. We were quite lucky with the weather really.
6.15pm by now though, so it was darker than the pictures show. Bike lights were on.
We still had about 7 or 8 miles left to go, and there was a couple of nasty hills to get up, but the Bank House Farm B&B at Little Salkeld was reached about 7.15pm. Had the place to ourselves too.
Quick shower and we were very kindly driven to the Shepherds Inn pub at Langwathby. Great place it was, fantastic food, a good pint and lots of banter with the locals. They even called the B&B to pick us up at the end of the evening. We liked that.
He's a professional photgrapher you know.
Gretna to Little Salkeld - 55 miles approx
133 miles running total
A cold and frosty morning greeted us when we managed to get out of the very comfy beds at Surrone House and downstairs for a nice cooked breakfast. I suspect the cold weather and the fact we only had about 55 miles to do today, mainly on the flat, meant we were a little later getting away than was ideal. About 10.30pm actually. But at least no waterproofs were needed.
Cycling along with Ian, you learn that he's not one for stopping, so apologies for the lack of photos at this early stage of the day (or in fact later on as well... ahem)
We pressed on and reached Longtown in about an hour, which of course meant finding the public toilets for Mr McDonald. I'd have taken a picture to set the scene, but well, you know, I suspect there are laws and all that.
We stopped at the Gretna Bakery on the main street and got some nice Steak and Onion pies for later and then set off again.
First snag of the day as we missed a route 7 sign a few miles up the road and only twigged when we got to the busy A7, so we turned back and managed to get on the obscured cycle path. We did an extra mile by accident. Curses.
Blimey. Look. A picture!
Only about 2 hours into the day's cycling and on a stretch of old railway line near Westlington, we remembered to get out the camera. It's got to be packed away when cycling 'cos it's too big to go in a pocket and pedal comfortably. The next trip needs a slimmer camera.
Just past this point we found a rather confusing route 7 signpost and ended up deviating from our original planned route. Sustrans need to do a bit of work here. In fact, they need to do a lot of work.
So instead of heading south towards Carlisle, we were heading west towards the M6 for a while, though after crossing it, we did turn south and followed some incredibly straight roads past the Kingmoor railway yards. Not wildly exciting this stretch to be honest. The route 7 signs were ancient, so it was probably the original route.
And then we trundled through the suburbs of Carlisle, through a park, across a bridge, along a footpath / cyclepath or two and then the route 7 signs ran out and route 72 ones started. Arsebiscuits.
Ian's fancy SatNav meant we knew roughly where to go, but not quite how to get there because it wasn't fancy enough.
Anyway, for future reference, if you're on Bridge Street heading west, turn left onto Viaduct Estate Road, which is where we went wrong due to missing signs.
Of course, when we found Route 7 again, sod's law ensured it was closed and being dug up, so we had to find our own way across the river. Should have turned right over Nelson Bridge, but we went straight on and got very lost for ages before we found the riverside route again. We lost an hour in total which wasn't great. Looking back I should have had loads of photos of us looking flustered and lost. Oh well.
It was time for lunch.
You can click on this majestic panorama to get the full impact of Mr McDonald's fine physique.
Nice spot to eat though. Them pies from Longtown were excellent.
So, after the obligatory bog stop in a Dalston pub by you know who, nothing to do with the pies mind, we kept cycling along lots of minor country roads, with trees and grass and sheep and cows and stuff. And, er, not many pictures.
It did start to gradually go uphill all the time, and with the headwind it was harder going than expected.
Look at these two chancers.
We weren't as happy as the pictures show if I remember and it was after 5pm by this time, but we stopped for a snack and to ring ahead to the B&B at Little Salkeld just to let them know we were actually going to turn up at some point.
Penrith was still to come, but once we got to the next village of Skelton, it was mainly downhill for a good way.
Under the M6 and it was into Penrith and the delights of Fell Lane. Quite steep and half a mile long.
I got up there a few minutes before Ian. Here he comes. Slightly blurry, but it was getting quite gloomy and I was breathing hard.
(Due to the climb and not the subject matter)
It's quite a spectacular view from the road at the top though.
Look at that. Best click it to get the bigger one. We were quite lucky with the weather really.
6.15pm by now though, so it was darker than the pictures show. Bike lights were on.
We still had about 7 or 8 miles left to go, and there was a couple of nasty hills to get up, but the Bank House Farm B&B at Little Salkeld was reached about 7.15pm. Had the place to ourselves too.
Quick shower and we were very kindly driven to the Shepherds Inn pub at Langwathby. Great place it was, fantastic food, a good pint and lots of banter with the locals. They even called the B&B to pick us up at the end of the evening. We liked that.
He's a professional photgrapher you know.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
National Cycle Route 7 - Gatehouse to The Black Horse
Tuesday 6th October 2009: Day 1
Gatehouse to Gretna - 78 miles approx
A wet and miserable start to the day and after breakfast and packing and getting everything sorted, it's almost 10.15am before the pedalling starts in earnest.
A snap from the church wall at Borgue with the self timer. Look at that lovely weather. Still smiling though, despite the grey skies. The rain was that fine drizzle most of the time with the occasional heavier shower. Could have been worse though, and the wind was light.
Kirkcudbright.
Here you can see Ian posing by the harbour. He's been hanging around the docks for years of course. He's crossing his legs already and we're only 14 miles in.
Having spent the previous week in Egypt, Ian was to become increasingly reliant on these. Not so much spending a penny, more a few pounds.
The cycling cap under that helmet was great in the rain, as were the overshoes.
Endura Luminite Overshoes for those that are interested. Ian coveted them.
But 14 miles in by midday wasn't quite the speed we needed to keep up, so it was off again along the B727 to Gelston and Castle Douglas.
Somewhere between Kirkcudbright and Gelston, we spotted this.
I'm not sure what Ian's attempting to show, but I suspect he's exaggerating an awful lot.
Unless he's just had a dump.
Castle Douglas. 1.30pm. 25 miles in.
Is there a better place to have a lunchtime pasty in the rain, than a bus stop?
We ploughed on along the old military road towards Dumfries, which was a suprisingly hilly route, with the bit through Haugh of Urr in particular being a bit of a climb. Basically, it was slow going. Ian's not the quickest uphill, and the wet weather gear was getting a bit damp and sweaty which started pulling at my knee, so we weren't exactly flying along.
Now I'd been scouting ahead on the internet before we left, and there's a cafe in Dumfries called the Tree House Cafe which was supposed to be bike friendly and it was just off the route. Ideal spot for a meal and a coffee we thought.
Could we find it? We even asked directions, only to finally stumble upon it after half an hour of searching. Closed. Much swearing.
So, it was a stop at Greggs and a street bench.
No sign of toilets and then to top it all, Ian got a puncture somehow.
He seems quite happy about it though.
By this time it was 4.30pm and we'd only done half of the day's mileage in 6 hours.
But then, our luck changed. Some posh 20p a go toilets were found, and we hit the next section along the Solway Firth which was lovely and flat.
Here's Ian in front of Criffel. 5.20pm
The rain had stopped too. There was even the occasional flash of blue sky. We raced on along the flat roads at a good speed. Yay for those low resistance tyres.
6.30pm near Powfoot, about 55 miles in.
Starting to get dark, so we stopped to put on some lights. The temperature was starting to drop off too.
Look at that sunset though!
Does this look like the face of a man who's stopped in every public toilet for that last 55 miles?
Well, darkness fell shortly afterwards which sort of spoils the photo taking, but we pedalled on through Annan, and eventually made it to Gretna at about 8.15pm.
Here's an internet picture of our accomodation for the night, Surrone House, in Gretna.
The owner, Christine, was great, and as we were the only guests, despite the late hour, she happily made us a fantastic dinner which we were more than ready for.
The room was very nice as you can see.
(You'll pay for this shot Mr Photgrapher!!!)
We retired to the Crossways Inn just along the road for a couple of pints before giving up for the night.
We'd done 78 miles, 4 steak slices, 2 pasties, 3 doughnuts, 6 Cadbury's mini rolls and lots of liquid by this point. Day 2 will follow soon.
Gatehouse to Gretna - 78 miles approx
A wet and miserable start to the day and after breakfast and packing and getting everything sorted, it's almost 10.15am before the pedalling starts in earnest.
A snap from the church wall at Borgue with the self timer. Look at that lovely weather. Still smiling though, despite the grey skies. The rain was that fine drizzle most of the time with the occasional heavier shower. Could have been worse though, and the wind was light.
Kirkcudbright.
Here you can see Ian posing by the harbour. He's been hanging around the docks for years of course. He's crossing his legs already and we're only 14 miles in.
Having spent the previous week in Egypt, Ian was to become increasingly reliant on these. Not so much spending a penny, more a few pounds.
The cycling cap under that helmet was great in the rain, as were the overshoes.
Endura Luminite Overshoes for those that are interested. Ian coveted them.
But 14 miles in by midday wasn't quite the speed we needed to keep up, so it was off again along the B727 to Gelston and Castle Douglas.
Somewhere between Kirkcudbright and Gelston, we spotted this.
I'm not sure what Ian's attempting to show, but I suspect he's exaggerating an awful lot.
Unless he's just had a dump.
Castle Douglas. 1.30pm. 25 miles in.
Is there a better place to have a lunchtime pasty in the rain, than a bus stop?
We ploughed on along the old military road towards Dumfries, which was a suprisingly hilly route, with the bit through Haugh of Urr in particular being a bit of a climb. Basically, it was slow going. Ian's not the quickest uphill, and the wet weather gear was getting a bit damp and sweaty which started pulling at my knee, so we weren't exactly flying along.
Now I'd been scouting ahead on the internet before we left, and there's a cafe in Dumfries called the Tree House Cafe which was supposed to be bike friendly and it was just off the route. Ideal spot for a meal and a coffee we thought.
Could we find it? We even asked directions, only to finally stumble upon it after half an hour of searching. Closed. Much swearing.
So, it was a stop at Greggs and a street bench.
No sign of toilets and then to top it all, Ian got a puncture somehow.
He seems quite happy about it though.
By this time it was 4.30pm and we'd only done half of the day's mileage in 6 hours.
But then, our luck changed. Some posh 20p a go toilets were found, and we hit the next section along the Solway Firth which was lovely and flat.
Here's Ian in front of Criffel. 5.20pm
The rain had stopped too. There was even the occasional flash of blue sky. We raced on along the flat roads at a good speed. Yay for those low resistance tyres.
6.30pm near Powfoot, about 55 miles in.
Starting to get dark, so we stopped to put on some lights. The temperature was starting to drop off too.
Look at that sunset though!
Does this look like the face of a man who's stopped in every public toilet for that last 55 miles?
Well, darkness fell shortly afterwards which sort of spoils the photo taking, but we pedalled on through Annan, and eventually made it to Gretna at about 8.15pm.
Here's an internet picture of our accomodation for the night, Surrone House, in Gretna.
The owner, Christine, was great, and as we were the only guests, despite the late hour, she happily made us a fantastic dinner which we were more than ready for.
The room was very nice as you can see.
(You'll pay for this shot Mr Photgrapher!!!)
We retired to the Crossways Inn just along the road for a couple of pints before giving up for the night.
We'd done 78 miles, 4 steak slices, 2 pasties, 3 doughnuts, 6 Cadbury's mini rolls and lots of liquid by this point. Day 2 will follow soon.
National Cycle Route 7 - Gatehouse to The Black Horse
Well, after a not inconsiderable blogging break, mainly due to no one taking cameras out on the bikes with them, it's time for Dunk and Mr McDonald's jaunt along a good chunk of National Cycle Route 7, starting in southern Scotland, near Gatehouse of Fleet and finishing back at The Black Horse three days later.
Monday 5th October 2009: Day 0
Bikes and gear loaded up into Dunk's car and driven to Gatehouse. A variety of pies and pasties bought at Tesco's on the way, and then it's time to admire the local scenery.
You can tell he's wondering if this trip is a good idea.
Our resident photographer for hire showing off again. Definite calm before the storm, those rain clouds are looming.
The evening was spent in The Masonic Arms in Gatehouse. A spot of fish and chips, and the odd pint.
Tenants. Scottish lager. What could possibly be wrong with that.
Dunk doing his best Paul Newman impression. Ian was allowed to win a game just to get the trip off on the right foot. He'll claim he was the superior player, but it's not true. Just luckier.
So, all ready for an early start in the morning.
Monday 5th October 2009: Day 0
Bikes and gear loaded up into Dunk's car and driven to Gatehouse. A variety of pies and pasties bought at Tesco's on the way, and then it's time to admire the local scenery.
You can tell he's wondering if this trip is a good idea.
Our resident photographer for hire showing off again. Definite calm before the storm, those rain clouds are looming.
The evening was spent in The Masonic Arms in Gatehouse. A spot of fish and chips, and the odd pint.
Tenants. Scottish lager. What could possibly be wrong with that.
Dunk doing his best Paul Newman impression. Ian was allowed to win a game just to get the trip off on the right foot. He'll claim he was the superior player, but it's not true. Just luckier.
So, all ready for an early start in the morning.
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