Day 15 - Penrith to Gretna Green

Day 15 –  Penrith to Gretna Green

We leave around 9:00 am. The hostel stay here has been great.

 It is a quiet, sunny and cool Sunday morning. Churches have cars parked in front of them. They are busy enough.

We are slightly confused for a few minutes on our route so things feel normal. Then we're off -  route found. Nice gentle riding with a few ups and downs.  We climb up a bit to 230 metres. Then it is generally downhill.

We come across a completely delightful house beside our quiet path. We have a chat with couple who are working in their beautiful garden. They tell us about their house and show us more garden around the back.  

They voted stay(no Brexit). As did everyone we talk to if the topic comes up.

We find there are defibrillators everywhere. Even small towns have several on display. Including in old phone boxes. This is reassuring on some of the more taxing climbs.

Below - This was probably the only phone box we saw with a phone in it. More likely they would be repurposed as community book exchange or a de-fibrillator station.

Below is a picture of the tallest structure in the UK. Over 350 metres |I think.

 We have lunch at what's called the “cycle café”. It has been recommended. But actually we both don’t like it. There are lots of wasps which leave me on edge and the food is average.

We cycle through Carlisle and have great cycling along a cycleway beside the river. Fast, flat, interesting. At the end of this cycle way we are in the middle of Carlisle and we cycle past the Carlyle Citadel – an old major fort structure on the high hill in the middle of town that suggests to me the grim barbarity of life in the middle ages.


Out of town we go and along the river Eden. It is interesting for me to see the River Eden so large and now close to the sea. My mother used to talk about great times she had on this river with friends when she was young. But her River Eden was many kilometres upstream in the Yorkshire Dales – a river of a very different character to here.


Heading on towards Gretna Green we keep asking anyone we meet – “are we in Scotland yet?”  “no – but soon”. To avoid motorway travel we need to cycle a great diversion. This is often the case. Imagine a square. The motor-way from point A to point B goes along one side. Our route however – to avoid the motorway goes along the other 3 sides. Three times as far. Ces’t la Vie. It does not take as long as I expect.


There are no scales on the maps in our guide. As far as I can tell, there is no regular scale from one map to the next. Which means that sometimes routes are unexpectedly long and also the opposite. This section was unexpectedly short time wise.


We arrive in Gretna Green and the visitor centre to see a couple with a wide age gap getting married We initially thought it was the father giving away the bride..

Yes we are now in Scotland. The couple arrive in an old fashioned horse drawn carriage. The tourist complex sells some tacky Scottish tourist trinkets – but other better stuff as well. It attracts couples for marriage when perhaps things are not so straight forward. Here is a quote from Wikipedia:

“-following the 1754 Marriage Act which prevented couples under the age of 21 marrying in England or Wales without their parent's consent. As it was still legal in Scotland to marry, couples began crossing the border into Scotland and their first stop was the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, Gretna Green”.

I wonder whether to buy a small bottle of whiskey. But can't find a small and quality bottle. I do feel I have arrived in the homeland of my ancestors. Dumfries where my Scottish gran came from is just down the road.

We ride up the road a mile  to another night in a “Days Inn” motorway hotel. For our cheap, easy and convenient stay. £46. Not too many choices for food so it is Burger King for dinner. Zita has the vegetarian option. I don't.

And yes we are in Scotland and that is a big milestone on our trip. However – before we get too excited, we should remember we only passed half way yesterday.