Another beautiful day and another record mileage.  Just over 24 miles today from Gretna to Caldbeck.  Even better we are exactly back on plan with the route.

A little bit of everything today.  We started with a road parallel to the M6, then through Carlisle, then the Cumbrian Way following a river and crossing open fields.

A big nature day.  I saw an eagle and had a Mexican Standoff with a group of young bulls.  They were gathered around the gate I wanted to go through.  If they had been cows I would have just waved my arms a bit and I’m sure they would have moved.  As they were bulls I advanced very slowly and said calming things like “Who’s a nice boy then”, and “Look at that field full of nice cows”.  Complete gibberish seemed to help.  They actually had me surrounded at one point but eventually the gate was reached and I eased through unscathed.  Phew!

A couple of other things of note.  The first was stumbling across the rather splendid Lime House School.  A slightly different setting to The Holt.  The second was seeing first-hand the aftermath of the awful floods; in this case the bridge I should have crossed was simply gone.

I have a decision to make tonight.  Tomorrow’s destination is Keswick, but round the road or over the hill.  Exciting.