Storksb's LeJog: Day 8 Carlisle to Biggar (South Lanarkshire)

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Day 8 Carlisle to Biggar (South Lanarkshire)

The stats for the last day in England and first day in Scotland are:

Miles: 70.8
Climbing: 2850 ft
Average Speed: 13.6 mph
Max Speed: 30.0 mph
Time Riding: 5 hr 13 mins
Total Duration: 7 hr 55 mins
Steepest Gradient:

Day 8 (Friday) started with very tired and sore legs, the worse they have felt on the entire journey. The aches soon eased as I threaded my way through Carlisle and onto the Scottish border at Gretna. Whilst relaxing and taking in the fact that I had ridden the length of England another couple of End to Enders joined me. We shared LEJOG stories before going our separate ways, them North West into Ayrshire and me North to South Lanarkshire.
The road north from Gretna is the old A74 demoted to a minor road when the A74(M) was built, it would be a great route as it is wide, relatively straight and the gradients are gradual but the road surface, as many had warned, is so harsh it sends constant vibrations up through the front forks, often causing the teeth to rattle. It is also a fairly boring route though there were welcome breaks as I passed through Lockerbie (grabbed lunch and ate with the Lockerbie Sheep) & Ecclefachan. Eventually I left the old A74 and headed along the A701 Edinburgh road into Moffat, a sunny market town. I took another break here, enjoying a nice Latte sat in the sun just relaxing watching the world go by. It was just as well I took the break because I was not prepared or expecting the climb that followed. Rising to 1372ft. The climb was not as hard as Shap the day before but was equally as stunning, only surpassed by the descent. The descent was Fantastic, mile after mile of awesome scenery as I descended from the source of the River Tweed down the valley for mile after mile. Perfect!

River Tweed

With only 6 miles to the overnight stop in Biggar I turned off the A701 and headed west, eventually arriving at the B&B at 4:45 (would have been earlier but I managed to put the wrong address into my GPS).