Weather. Lots of weather. Any overabundance of weather.
The rain hadn't so much stopped last night after we got to our bed and breakfast as gone on pause. By the time we got going this morning, it was definitely back on. There was also a fierce wind from the west.
We rode up to Gretna with a cross wind buffetting us, driving the rain into our faces. It was worst at the crossing of the river Esk just south of Carlisle. Forget what your teachers taught you about raindrops being teardrop shaped. The raindrops today were needle-shaped, with a few ice crystals at their tip to make them sting more.
Robert had discovered last night that after a few hours of cycling through rain, he had all but lost the use of his hands- not very convenient for braking and changing gear. I found that my waterproof jacket wasn't, so we stopped at Gretna where Robert bought gloves and I another jacket. Both better protected, we turned west toward Dumfries, straight into the headwind.
Annan was our lunch stop, by which time the rain was off and it stayed dry for the rest of the day, turning sunny in the evening. On to Dumfries then Moniaive. There has been lots of water in the rivers, and I stopped in Dumfries for the picture attached.
The wind was strong enough to make us need to pedal downhill as well as up. Robert remarked that it was like the effort of going up a hill, with the wind noise of coming down. The wind was roaring in my ears, making it difficult to hear anything.
At one point, I passed within 4 feet of a buzzard that was sitting on the ground on an embankment behind a fence. We were both startled when we saw each other and it spread its wings and flew off gracefully.
Tomorrow we planned to take the ferry to Arran, but the weather forecast is even worse than for today, so we'll phone the ferry company tomorrow to see if the ferries are running.
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