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Thursday 20th May 2010 Carlisle to Crawford The day started overcast but dry and turned out fine in the end. Carlisle is a big city and it took a couple of miles to be free of it and the traffic. The route then followed a side road running alongside the A74 (M) and eventually became the National Cycle Path 74. This is actually part of the old A74 to Glasgow and is now fairly quiet, a pleasant road for cycling.
I stopped in Lockerbie at the 91 Café for soup, cake & a banana milkshake and as I was sitting by the window I saw Simon from the Leominster B&B cycling by. I looked for his bike when I left the café but didn’t see it parked anywhere. As I recalled Moffat was one of his intended stopping places so I’d be going further than him today. A bit further on, about 13 miles further in fact, I met 2 Jogleurs coming the other way. They were about my age and were hoping to finish their trip by Bank holiday Monday (May 31st) having started last weekend (I think they said Friday but that might have been when they travelled up – Saturday sounds about right which still makes for quite a tight schedule for them). They said that one day they had done 72 miles but had thought that that was a bit too much.
After an easy plod along the cycle route I arrived at Crawford and got an en-suite room at the Crawford Arms Hotel, a place I’d stopped at before, for £35. The standard room was £32 so I thought I might as well pay the extra £3 and have my own bath. The charge included the cost of an evening meal as well so it was pretty reasonable. Unfortunately there was no vegetarian option on the menu but when I asked they managed to rustle up some tasty if rather salty pasta just for me. Very nice of them. Plus an apple crumble and ice cream. It was Madge’s birthday today so I gave her a call and brought her up to date on how I was getting on. There was nothing actually wrong with the Crawford Arms, it was just a tad run-down so as a note in case I ever stay in Crawford again there appear to be some nicer looking B&Bs and a smarter hotel at the northern end of the town – I passed them as I was leaving the next day. Possibly cost more though. Distance: 58.36 miles Average speed: 11.5 mph Max speed: 32.5 mph | ||||
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