A fairly short day, only about 56 miles.
Another damp start to the day, we packed up reasonably early and then headed to the local cafe to enjoy a Full English. Fortified, we cycled steadily on through Annan (still raining) till reaching Gretna. We had a break at the Outlet Shopping Centre. Gave us time to dry off a bit (rain finally ceased), for Ian to attend to his bike, have a relaxing mug of coffee, purchase trousers etc. More importantly googled campsites, agreed on Lowther and phoned to book in.
Having agreed that we would take the A74(m) to save a few miles,we set off only to discover that bikes were banned due to high risk (upgrades and roadworks meant no hard shoulder),so back to the original route via Longtown and A7 to Carlisle. Through Carlisle, on to A6 and down to Penrith, arriving at Lowther about 4pm. Facilities were superb, it had stopped raining, and they even let us stay for free as we were doing the ride for charity. Red Squirrels & hares on site were an added bonus!.