Day 12 ~ Saturday 29th May 2004 ~ New Lanark to Moffat via J14 of the M74
Last night I was accomodated in the second to last bed in the hostel's family room. The double bed had been taken already so I had to suffice with a bunk instead.
The morning started quite drizzly and the cloud was quite low, hiding the tops of the hills.
I took the A73 from Lanark (after a climb out of New Lanark) and joined the A 70 at Hynford bridge. This section of the A70 is horrible to cycle along. There is a quarry further on to and from which numerous articulated lorries rush, more concerned with preserving momentum than preserving life! The occasional driver was very considerate, and these became "friends" to acknowledge each time we coincided.
From J12 of the M74 there is a B road which runs more or less alongside. This was my road (NCN74), and thanks to the motorway it was very quiet. I got the impression that this B7078 used to be a major dual carriageway since for most of its length one carriageway carries bidirectional motor traffic, whilst half of the other carriageway (i.e. one "lane"😉 has become a cyclepath which still contains the occasional old road marking. The second lane of the cycling carriageway is now a grass verge to act as a separator. For most of the length the path was of acceptable quality in terms of surface, and there were only two or three intersections over the 10 mile length.
At J13 there are services accesible to cycles although there was no obvious cycle parking.
From here the A702 takes over the privilege of carrying NCN74 until it becomes the B7076. Once again, thanks to the adjacent motorway these roads were exceedingly quiet.
I am camped on a site run by the Camping and Caravanning Club.
Tomorrow I intend to continue along the B7076 to Gretna. If I don't meet a suitable wife during the day then if I have the energy I will continue to Carlisle.
I have vastly overestimated the time needed to cycle from JOG to Carlisle. This is fortunate since I think I may have underestimated the time needed to cycle from Birmingham to Lands End.
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