Day 23: Ecclefechan to Carlisle

Distance: 23.0 miles
Time: 6 hrs 35 mins
Weather: Cloudy
Cumulative distance: 400.2 miles

Company en route, England, a routing error, 400 miles, and almost two stranded vehicles.

I checked out of the hotel and set off in the direction of Gretna, where I would meet my parents, my brother Howard and my nephew Henry. After 10 quick step miles, I met them at the Gretna Inn. They had a light lunch, then Howard and Walter the dog joined me for the remainder of the walk to Carlisle.

Within minutes, we successfully crossed the border into England, leaving Scotland behind after 22.5 days and 388 miles. It's clear how most people underestimate the size of Scotland, but I am certainly more aware of its scale now.

Minutes into England, I made the first navigational error of my journey to date. It wasn't a case of misreading the map, more a case of being too busy talking to have time to look at the map. The bottom line is that we (I) missed the turning and ended up taking a 3.5 mile detour. Poor Walter ended up walking almost half marathon distance. A small silver lining - the detour did result in the total distance breaking through the 400 mile barrier.

It's probably fair to say that this was the least scenic and least walker-friendly road on the journey to date and, possibly, of the entire journey. Howard really wanted to join me on the journey but, due to a forthcoming family holiday, this was the only day he could make.

We finally arrived in Carlisle and I checked into another Travelodge. We had a table booked for an early dinner, so only time for a quick shower, then straight out to rejoin the family.

After a delicious Italian meal, we dropped Howard, Henry and Walter near the station and they rushed off to catch the train back to Warrington with 3 minutes to spare. Seconds after they had disappeared out of sight, we realised that Howard had left his own car keys behind, but had taken in error the keys for the car we were sat in. Despite being in my flat canvas travel shoes and having walked 23 miles earlier, I sprinted 250 metres to the station platform and caught him just as the train was arriving. Seconds later and two cars would have been stranded 100 miles apart.

Tomorrow is another rest day - perhaps appropriate after today's dramas.