It’s been peeing down all day today, so I’m glad I got out for a wee run yesterday. I do a lot of my riding in Galloway, (a) because I live here already and (b) it would be hard to improve upon, but yesterday it was a nice day and I thought I’d go eastwards for a change.
I headed through Dumfries to Lockerbie, and then turned north up Dryfesdale, thinking vaguely about going up to Eskdalemuir and then back by Castle O’er. However, when I reached the village of Boreland, I noticed a minor road off to the right, and realised I had never been on it., so I’d better put that right. I soon realised that, after the relatively normal Dryfesdale, this road led into a very empty and unpopulated area indeed, known as Corrie. The road wound on for miles, without seeing a single other vehicle.
Eventually I reached a small hamlet of half a dozen cottages called Corrie Common, looking as if it would be the loneliest place on earth on a winter night. A few miles further on, I turned right for a couple more miles., then joining the quiet Langholm-Lockerbie road at Paddockhole. (A paddock is a toad.) This is a twisty road, looking down on the Water of Milk, and leading through Bankshill and Tundergarth to Lockerbie.
At Lockerbie, it was back on to main roads again, and another hour’s ride home.