A nice dry, bright day today, so I decided to explore another area I hadn’t visited before, in the north of Cumbria. The day started badly: on the way down the track to the road, I passed a neighbour walking her dogs, two springer spaniels. Exchanging greetings, I rode on, only to have one of the little bastards chase after me and bite my leg. 
(Message to self: buy some longer boots.)
Reaching the road, I’d only ridden about a mile when a woman in a VW tried to kill me by pulling out in front of me without looking. Thanks to Mr. Brembo, I survived. At this point I began to wonder whether someone up there was hinting that I should go home and mow the lawn instead. However, I persevered and the rest of the ride went fine.
Turning northwards off the A75 at Annan, I headed up to Canonbie and turned right just after Rowanburn on to the B6318, evading the border posts as I crossed the Liddel Water into Cumbria near the hamlet of Catlowdy. Back in the 16th century, this was about the most dangerous place to live in Britain, with Liddesdale being home to the very worst of the Border Reivers. Now it is as quiet and peaceful a place as you could wish for.
The empty road wound on, providing long views over unspoiled countryside towards the northern extremity of the Pennines.
A turning on to a single track road eventually led me to Bewcastle, where there is a ruined castle and a church with the stone shaft of a 7th century Anglo Saxon cross in the churchyard.
This is very much Roman Wall country, with a Roman camp at Bewcastle, as the local signpost suggested.
Navigating by the Pennines to my left and the distant Criffel to my right, I carried on along the empty road through more undulating countryside, past Askerton Castle (I told you this used to be a pretty rough area) until eventually coming out at Lanercost Priory.
From there, it was just a few more miles to Brampton, then on to Longtown and Gretna and eventually home. 135 miles in total, and definitely an area I would like to re-visit and explore further, With some longer boots.
