Moffat Toffee 200km

The day started wet, cold, and with a poor forecast, and I was pretty apprehensive at the thought of my first 200 km.  The first stage was 45 miles, the longest distance between controls I have ever encountered.  But the welcome at Eskdalemuir was fantastic, and it wasn't too far to the next stop.  Due to mental arithmetic stupidity on my part, what I thought was a third of the route was actually the halfway point, which was quite a nice mistake to make.

The stretch from Langholm to Moffat was a struggle, I think I ate the wrong thing, the wind was a bit unfriendly, and it was uphill.  Once refuelled I stopped to take this picture because I could see both Queensberry and Criffel at once - two hills that define the horizon around my childhood/teenage years.

The final stage was equally great and challenging, and in the last few miles I thought I had missed a turning, but it all worked out and after staring at 8 am I finished at 8.10 pm; I was aiming for 8 pm, but I don't think I should begrudge myself the extra 10 mins.  There was one chap behind me, and the two of us and four volunteers finished off the arrivee soup before departing.

I had rather hoped that my blip today would be of fellow peddler TrikinDave; we'll have to make it another time.