Sunday - Day 9

Awoke to another scorcher and I resisted the impulse to throw away the thermals - could be a lot cooler where we are heading. We were provided with breakfast and a packd lunch before we were sent on our way. 200 yards later the no getting off the bike rule was broken (always seems to be first thing in the morning). The temperature was in the eighties and due to the ups and downs of the yorkshire dales the no getting off and walking rule was broken quite a few times.
We seemed to have managed to chose a route which was particularly popular with fat middle aged motorcyclists trying to relive a youth they never had. Unfortunately serveral police cars and ambulances later the road was closed, apprently due to a head on collision. On a more pleasant note the scenery was wonderful, the pennines were on our east all day providing great views. The ups and downs levelled out (not completley of course) in the afternoon. The stopover was a very comfortable b&b just north of Penrith in Kirkoswald. The nights entertainment included a few games of pool this evening which I kindly let dad win so he didnt get too upset.

Monday - Day 10

We passed the halfway mark yesterday - somewhere near where we had our luinch in the shade of the M6, today we will cross the border into scotland.
The day started off well with dad leaving the maps behind on the wall as we prepared to start off and as we were in a valley i was unable to get signal so we blundered on as best we coul. Luckily we came across a shop with a nice big sign saying they sold OS maps, just what we needed, unfortunately they didnt have any in stock and the shopkeepers said they wouldnt of been any good for our purposes anyway.
My memory of the route managed to take us in vaguely the right correction until we reached a high enough point the signal returned to the iphone and we were able to plot our route! We managed fine but I think dad felt a little lost without the security blanket of his maps.
An advert here for the Eden Valley - its lovely countryside and a great walking / cycling area. One of the joys of the trip (cliche alert) has been seeing places that you would never normally visit.
We past through Grenta Green and hugged the M74 all the way to Moffat where we would rest for the evening in a nice b&b.

(David) Have never been to Moffat before and was very impressed. Its an old market town full of individual / quirky shops and almost a complete lack of corpoarte names. We had the best meal of the trip so far in the Annandale Arms, slightly spicy moussakka for me and a steak and stout pie for Ewan, the potates even came in a grease proof bag like gift wrapping for us both - they know how to do things in MOffat!
Tomorrow is the last day of the first leg of the trip. 3 days off in Glasgow to see the family before we start the 2nd leg on saturday.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored us and sent us messages so far, they have helped us along the way.