Finally, it had arrived our annual summer tour! The Anglo-Scottish Border route is a coast-to-coast cycle route starting from Carlisle, then cycling to Gretna, before following the border to Berwick-upon-Tweed. For Anglo-Scottish Border Day 1 we would just be making our way to Newcastleton.

Last year, we experienced rail travel misery in reaching the start point of the tour. Thankfully, this year it was much more pleasant.

We had agreed to cycle in two groups to reach our first destination, Newcastleton. Sarah had been struggling with injuries and had not completed a lot of cycling this year, so giving our first group a head start was a wise move.

Setting off from Carlisle station we soon joined NCN Route 7 and cycled past Carlisle Castle.

It wasn’t long before we left Carlisle and were out into the quieter lanes.

Then crossing the River Esk on our way to the Scottish Border.

In the meantime, the second group had arrived in Carlisle.

Our first crossing of the Anglo-Scottish border was just outside of Gretna.

We dropped into Gretna Gateway village, now renamed Caledonia Park, for some lunch.

Then it was back on our bikes again to make our way to the River Esk estuary shoreline.

Once we had taken the obligatory photos and taken a look around we turned around and began to make our way inland.

Still following NCN Route 7 we cycled through Gretna.

And back into England …

A little later, the second group arrived at the shoreline.

We left NCN Route 7 at Longtown and cycled along Netherby Road.

We were now steadily climbing and Sarah was struggling. However, she forgot to mention that this might have been partly due to not having a fully functioning set of gears.

A quick tweak of these and life became much easier!

Our toughest little climb of the day was up to the road which would then take us into Newcastleton.

It now started to rain.

For our first evening, we would be staying at Newcastleton Bunkhouse.

In the evening we went for a specially prepared meal at the Liddesdale Hotel. The meal was excellent!

Today, we cycled just over 34 miles. It had been a reasonably gentle and enjoyable introduction to the tour. Tomorrow we are off to Selkirk.

You can view our Anglo-Scottish Border Day 1 route from Carlisle to Gretna and then on to Newcastleton below: