Grampian returned yesterday from an 800 mile four day trip with 3 overnights that took in Dumfries & Galloway and the Lake District.
We were joined for part of the run by friends from Central Scotland who were on a trip of their own which matched in parts.
We based in Langholm at the Eskdale Hotel ( https://www.eskdalehotel.co.uk/) and can thoroughly recommend it. Really good food and comfortable accommodation, Langholm is a friendly town where people still say hello to strangers in the street.
We travelled down from the North East avoiding main roads where possible which took us up Necessity Brae in Perth, through Dunning Glen and with a stop at Monas of Muckhart. Crossing the Forth via the Clackmannanshire bridge we cut across the Forth Valley before getting on the A7 down to Langholm.
Just a side note, a lot of the roads in Southern Scotland are fantastic for enjoying an MX-5 on and generally not busy, you can see why the area breeds good rally drivers!
Our first excursion took us to Gretna (to meet our CS friends) and then along the Solway coast to Silloth for a coffee stop.
From there it was south via Maryport (where our CS friends left us) and then east via the Hardknott and Wrynose passes. If you haven’t done these they can best be described as ‘brutal’ in places, the car certainly gets a good work out!
A trip back via Grasmere (busy), Kendal (busy) saw us stop in Threlkdeld for coffee etc. From there it was up to bypass Penrith and then on to Brampton on some nice high roads, through to Longtown and back to Langholm. Our only hold up of the day was one tractor driver in an older machine (22mph limit) who wasn’t pulling over for anyone on the A595 near Egremont, I think the queue built to about 50 cars!
Our second excursion took in the Museum of Lead Mining ( https://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/ ) at Wanlockhead, a stop in Moffat and a run back via the Talla and Megget reservoirs, again fantastic, empty sweeping roads!
Our run home took us up through Lockerbie, Moffat, Biggar, a quick motorway blast up to Perth and then home via Blairgowrie, Glenshee, Braemar etc…
