Log No 169. Fri 25th Oct 2013 - Bankend to Eastriggs, 19 miles (2607 miles walked)

Because of where we finished yesterday the timings for the public transport were awkward and we didn't start walking until 10.00.

The weather was as forecast and there was a lot of rain and standing water.

It was all road walking again today but I decided I would wear my boots, at least to start with, and keep my feet dry.

We followed the cycle route from Bankend and with the rain it was just a case of head down and a quick march.

The fairly level road walking of this week hasn't really troubled Mick's knees and I was having to work hard to keep up with him, so much so that I had to tell him to slow down today.

We took a break after one hour at Brow, the well here is part of the Burns Heritage Trail, in 1796, on the advice from his doctor, he came here and drank from this well.

At Ruthwell we came off the B724 onto the very quiet minor road to Powfoot.

On the map there was a coastal footpath shown from here but because of all the water we continued following the cycle route on the road and returned to the B724.

We weren't on it long before we turned off for Newbie and picked up the start of the Annandale Way.

The rain had stopped but showers were never far away and we took our third quick break.

We stayed on the Annandale Way as it followed the River Annan.

After we crossed over the river on the footbridge into Annan we once again followed the cycle route.

The buses back to Dumfries were every hour and we got to Eastriggs at 16.00 giving us 20 minutes to wait.

Mick had been hoping to pass the time over a pot of tea but we never saw anywhere to get one.

A quick 19 miles in 6 hours.

Mick & Karen head back home tomorrow but he'll manage to walk with me in the morning to see me safely out of Scotland over the border in Gretna and into England.