Day 9; Penrith to New Galloway

Cycle total 85.3miles
Av speed 12.13mph

A large breakfast served up by the delightful Joan set us up nicely for what was to prove the longest day so far in terms of mileage. Nick and I set off at 9.15 while Patrick was getting his bike fixed and we raced along the 20 miles to Carlisle in the dry. We got to Morrisons just N of Carlisle and waited for Paddy who made even faster progress and caught us up quickly afterwards, his new back wheel proving stronger than the first! Then the rain finally caught up with us as we were heading N which put a bit of a dampner on things. Had a bit of an argument approaching Gretna about whether to go on a short stretch of fairly busy dual carriageway (which is what Ed wanted to do) or be a soft-cock and go round the houses adding an extra 6 miles to the day (which is what the young whipper snappers wanted). In the end 2 beat 1 and we went the long way round and into Gretna and then Scotland! Reached Annan for lunch in Subway and an attempt to dry off a bit and then continued on the B724 whilst the countryside was getting more and more remote and stunning. Got to Dumfries and stopped for afternoon tea. It was a long climb out of Dumfries and I started to feel very weak so a shot of sugar and an easy couple of miles were in order. Turned off the main road for the final 13 miles to Balmaclellan and New Galloway. Watched a sheep almost suffer the ultimate humiliation when it was narrowly avoided by a chav. In good spirits during the final few miles and we got to the Ken Bridge hotel. A couple of lovely pints of Belhaven Best over a massive and good dinner in the old dining room and were happy as pigs in the proverbial.