Lockerbie - Hesketh Newmarket 50.38 miles. Weather fine, except for 3/4 hour with light rain.
Lovely ride to Carlisle. In order to avoid heavy traffic near Carlisle we used NCN 74, 7, and 10 which took us without any hindrance to that part of Carlisle we intended to head for, which was the B5299 all the way to Hesketh Newmarket. But.....it was very hilly. Up till now we never walked a hill, but we or rather I succumbed. What a monster. Those cyclist we saw coming down must have clocked 50 miles ph.
A bit about Carlisle's history. Recent history has showed that Flemish textile workers emigrated to Britain in 1108 following disastrous floods in Holland, providing a foundation on which much of Britain's textile trade was built. Since medieval times, Carlisle has produced textiles, becoming the fourth most important cotton - producing area of the country in the early 1800s due to the special qualities of the river water used in the milling process. Scotsman William Linton started Linton Weaving Mill in 1912, choosing the name of Linton Cumberland Homespuns Ltd. The Linton company started its life in Shaddon Mill, the largest of its kind in the country, built in 1836 for Peter Dixon, a cotton merchant who came from Whitehaven. The mill's chimney rose above 300 feet, and is still one of Carlisle's landmarks and cycling through we didn't miss it.
We are staying in Hesketh Newmarket, a lovely village with a green and little shops around. As if time stood still here. All the properties look very well looked after, quite the opposite we have seen in other small villages. We are of course no longer in Scotland but back on English soil!


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