Thursday was the first day of our honeymoon cycle tour, our Scottish Borders Day 1.

We cycled from home to Stockport Station where we caught a train to Manchester and then an onward connection to Carlisle.

The last time we were at Carlisle Station (on our Lochs and Glens South tour), they were still renovating it but that is all completed now.

We stopped briefly at Costa just outside the station to grab some lunch.

We used the lift near the Castle to cross the road.

Our route out of Carlisle was a fairly familiar one that we have used a number of times before.

Andy was having problems with his rear derailleur, which meant that the chain kept coming off the rear cogs. As we were only just over 6 miles into the ride we decided to return to Carlisle and find a bike shop for some repairs!

We found our way to BikeSeven on Market Street. The mechanic was very helpful and managed to straighten things out quite quickly. Having had the bike fixed, we retraced our route and set off towards Gretna again.

Thankfully the rain had about stopped but at times the wind was quite gusty!

Just before we entered Gretna, we crossed over the border into Scotland.

As we entered Gretna, we headed out to the coast, to officially start our coast to coast.

Leaving the coast we returned to Gretna.

Following the cycle route, we skirted round to The Famous Blacksmiths Shop.

We arrived at The Famous Blacksmiths Shop in Gretna, where we stopped for a brew.

Having had a cuppa, it was time to continue and complete the last 10 miles of the day.

As we came into Canonbie, we soon reached The Cross Keys Hotel – our stop for the night.

When we arrived, still slightly damp from the earlier rain, it was wonderful to find that they had a real fire!

The chef provided a wonderful meal – leek and potato soup to start, followed by a very tasty vegetable and cashew stirfry with rice. It was an excellent way to finish the day.

We had cycled 35 miles, which was about 10 miles further than planned.

You can view our Scottish Borders Day 1 route between Carlisle, Gretna and Canonbie below: