Day 8

Carlisle to Gordon Arms (Yarrow) - 70 miles
Over the border today and the sun shone on us. The day was not without incident. Less than thirty seconds after leaving the Travelodge, Anne pulled up with the first puncture of the day. Stopwatches out and just over 5 minutes later we were back on our way. A 30 mile ride to the border, accompanied by Angela and Keith, where we were met by our support team extraordinaire together with Doreen and her splendid mobile tuck shop. Having gorged on the contents we were off once more with farewells to our Lake District pals, back now to the original five cyclists. Hillier now but McGorgeous scenery with rolling hills- lush greens and purples. It was all going swimmingly until Christine not only snapped her gear cable but followed up seamlessly with a puncture. The emergency support team swooped in and, with the help of Tommy from the bike shop in the village of Langholm (who repaired the bike for free), the team were able to set off again with only minor delay. Christine disgraced herself yet again later in the afternoon with a second puncture. Speedy-tyre-change Anne stepped up to the mark but the team are now starting to worry that the Scottish pot-holes may start to take their toll on the bikes. We have acquired two spare bikes which will accompany us up to JOG on top of Margaret's car. We are hopeful that we are armed for all eventualities. Tonight we are comfortably settled in the Gordon Arms and have been joined by international singer-songwriter Suzanne Jones, who is currently crooning to the assembled company in a most convivial evening.