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Ralph Cox•Follow
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August 25, 2022

Corner to Corner, Day 25: Gretna to Abington

https://www.cycling4charity.org.uk Following Richard Barrett's route largely. Great route, lots of beauty. On the whole, quiet roads and good surfaces, except for mile 31 to where the route briefly joins the A701, and NCN 74 shortly after we joined it. The gradient rise was gentle. Still a slight headache after yesterday's cattle grid, and over rugged parts of road. After 4 glorious days with Jon cycling and Anisa"s heavenly driver support, we were back to carrying our bags and food. Sad to leave without them. Took 2 stones out of the front tyre, both cut but fortunately without going through.
Distance
55.8 mi
Elev Gain
2,362 ft
Time
5h 31m
Landscape
Seagulls from the River Esk, smile to the south, feasting on the fields being cultivating by a tractor with apparatus
And the beauty of the sky.
River Esk, 1-1.5 miles south beyond the fields.
Devil's Porridge Museum, Eastrigg. With a 120 day trip rather than 60, we could stop and explore! https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Factory,_Gretna#Production
The sudden switch to single storey terraced cottages since entering Scotland. These are in Eastrigg. Not yet discovered why. Searching Google with single storey terraced cottages scotland history
Change of landscape, again. Un-named road reached by turning right off Church Road, Dornock. River Eden (after the Rivers Eden and Esk have merged and before they become the Solway Firth) is seen on the left.
River Eden
View north from Dornock, and in the distance four chimney-like structures. What are they? More pictures as we got closer.
1789 Annan Old parish church, Church of Scotland. https://www.annanoldparishchurch.co.uk/about/history/
Annan high street, where we stopped for food. Lorraine went to a farmers market. Ralph went to a bakery for an excellent coffee, a haggis pie and quiche, both yummy. Public facilities in the 1878 town hall, where the tower is, were used. About Annan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annan,_Dumfries_and_Galloway And its town hall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annan_Town_Hall
River Annan, looking south/left
River Annan, looking north
View back to Annan, from after Howes, on un-named road off B721 going north. Its town hall the most prominent skyline feature.
River Annan
Going through these photos with OS Maps, Google Maps and Wikipedia, I have now discovered this to be the Chapelcross nuclear power station which operated between 1959 and 2004. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapelcross_nuclear_power_station
Lovely way the local farmer cut the hedges and lawns beside the road.
0:30
Landscape change, east of Dalton
OS Maps' aerial map shows 3 churches in Dalton: This one on the B7020 leaving the village which Google Maps describes as "Dalton Church and Cemetery" as distinct from the 1895 "Dalton Kirk" with spire, Wikipedia and Scotland's Churches Trust entries and roofless 1704 shell south east of it. There are services at the kirk; I am unclear there is any activity at the church. https://scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/church/dalton-kirk/ The B7020 was delightful, btw, till Mile 31.
0:24
About 1.5 miles north of Dalton, looking into the distance north towards the area between Lochmaben (4.5 miles ahead on route) and Lockerbie (east)
Castle Loch, our first. Can't see the castle ruin. Left to see Lochmaben's church. I hope I don't offend: my reaction was "Is that it?!" Such was my naevity about the size of lochs.
Lochmaben church of Scotland. https://www.lochmabenchurchofscotland.co.uk/
2 kudos
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