Day 11
June 21st - From Dumfries to Penrith

I was expecting the worst today when I saw the forecast but when I left the b&b it wasn't looking too bad. The roads were wet but there was plenty of blue sky. I wanted to head east towards Carlisle via Gretna so I went along Robert Bruce way, into Robert Bruce Avenue, past the Robert Bruce statue and got onto the Gretna road. My left knee was still twinging, it seems to be that way for the first 10 miles or so each day and then it starts to feel better.
I had to go round a few roundabouts which is always a laugh on a bike but eventually I made it onto the flat, wide a-road. By lunchtime I had reached Gretna and decided to stop for something to eat. This was a really nice place, very pretty and almost everything there was geared towards the wedding 'industry'.
Almost as soon as I left Gretna I passed the "Welcome to England" sign and made sure I got a photo taken next to it. It was a bit of a shame to be leaving Scotland, the last 10 days have been great, the weather, the people and of course the scenery and as soon as I got into England it felt like the holiday was over and now I was just 'going home'. I'm sure England has plenty to offer but I won't really have time to see much of it. Also, I couldn't believe how quickly the accents changed as I got into England - one minute I was talking to scots, the next they were all geordies !
If this whole trip turns out to be 1250 miles long as I expect then today, in Carlisle, I passed the half-way point even though it doesn't look like that on the map. When I was in Carlisle I stopped in a garage to ask about the best route to Penrith. I asked the guy behind the counter if the A6 was flat from there on and he said "Oh yeah, downhill all the way . . . except for the uphill bits!". That'll be that famous northern wit I've heard so much about. Anyway, once my sides had stopped splitting I headed off and it was really hard work for the last 15 miles to Penrith. The sun was out, it was boiling hot and the road was one long climb with a few small downhill sections. I hit the odd shower but nothing serious enough to get the waterproofs out. Even when it was raining the temperature was still in the high 70's.
Eventually I reached Penrith which looked like a really interesting place and if Dumfries was Robert Bruce country then I was now definitely in Wordsworth land. Again, everything here is named after him. Earlier I saw a plaque on a house saying that William Wordsworth's grandparents used to live there so there is some connection at least.
The only free room I could find in Penrith is above a pub which has a disco going on til 2am. Fortunately I'm three floors up but I can still hear the bass thumping away. Earplugs on standby.
I'll have to plan my route carefully tomorrow, Kirsten warned me that there is one road south from here that has a 1000ft climb so I'll try and go round that instead of over it. Today I did 58 miles taking the total to 643, still just about on target to finish on July 1st in time to go back to work on the 2nd !

The Routemap

The Speed (in blue) and the Elevation (in green).