We cross the border

We had a very pleasant stay at Middle Holly Cottage.  The owners, Gill and Andy, had only taken over the place the day before and we were their second guests!  I thought it was a privilege to share in their endeavours as they were sharing in ours.

This morning I practised my qi gong alongside Sean as he fixed up his bike, which felt very companionable.  The drive to Gretna Green was quite odd as the M6 was so incredibly quiet.  For 10-15 minutes at a time I was the only vehicle in sight.  And even I had to admit that the scenery through Cumbria was beautiful.

I stopped at Asda Carlisle to stock up and ate my lunch in the car park.  I've got quite a dab hand at this, balancing the chopping board on my knees and eating the tin of salmon without spilling any juice.  After checking in I decided to walk to the Gretna Green Outlet Village as it was only a mile away and there was not really anything else to do.  Gretna is a strange sort of place, it's incredibly tacky and seems to be entirely based around weddings.  It appears that people come here to get married in the same way they go to Las Vegas - as a kind of novelty.  The reason it has this reputation is that back in the 18th century, laws in England on marriage were much tighter than in Scotland, particularly for younger couples, so those who wanted to marry young and without their parents' permission would elope to Gretna Green, as it was the first town over the border.  Anyway, the outlet village was not very exciting, but the shops were air conditioned which was a blessing in the heat, and I got Sean a Ralph Lauren polo shirt at a vastly reduced price.  Check back tomorrow to see if he spurns it.

It was a shorter day for Sean today so he arrived at about 5pm.  Our bathroom has a spa bath with a TV, which he was absolutely delighted by, exclaiming "the TV is waterproof!".  Well, yes.  As I write this he is in the shower watching cycling on the TV, wearing his glasses of course so he's able to see the action properly.

Tonight our dinner options are few.  Gretna Green is not renowned for its fine dining, and on examining the pub that was recommended by the B&B owners, I decided against it as I didn't want to eat my dinner being pointed and stared at because I've got all my own teeth.

We're now halfway in terms of days, and over halfway in terms of mileage, so I was in reflective mood today.  I am absolutely in awe of what Sean has achieved so far, and I was feeling quite emotional with pride as I made my journey along the M6.  To think that he has cycled the length of England is incredible, and the idea that he can do almost the same again is even more incredible.  As for me, I think I haven't done badly either, driving to all these places by myself when two years ago I was too frightened even to drive to our local Sainsbury's.

So far I think it's worked well.  Everywhere we've stayed has been nice, and some places have been great in many ways.  I've managed to stick to my eating regime, and I've kept up my qi gong/tai chi and Pilates.  Nothing has gone wrong with the bike and Sean has been bearing up well.  We've got a good routine going which makes everything just that bit easier.  If there has been one difficult thing, it's been unloading the entire contents of the car and getting it up one or more flights of stairs, every day, in very hot weather.  That has not been fun.  However - SO much better than everything that would have come with driving a motorhome.

So I'm pleased with how things are going.  Hopefully our good luck will continue.  John O'Groats here we come!