Sunday 19th.
Great day today - got back into England after 80 miles and stayed at a friends' - Helen & Gerry Sheridan - about 10 miles from Carlisle.

Very slow start though; took us about 1.5 hours to get going especially when the first hour was uphill out of Edinburgh. Our legs hurt but once you get in a rhythm the pain is forgotten and you just ride.

We went through Galashiels and then stopped for our first lunch - we decided to try having two hot lunches as we were running out of energy about 2 hours before the end - and then we stopped again about 60 miles in for our second lunch.

Some fantastic scenery today. After climbing up into Selkirk we went down into the valley and followed the river (Esk I think) for hours with a few gentle hills and rises. Edinburgh seems days ago as does the start in John O'Groats.

Feels good to back in England; at least here we know how far everything is! 89 miles yesterday in just over 6 hours which was not bad as the first hour was about 11 miles!

375 miles in four days so tomorrow we go over the half-distance which will be good for the head.

Tomorrow's route is Carlisle - Penrith - Lancaster - Preston