Day 8 - 30th Sept

First of all I want to thank everyone again for their very generous donations, it is much appreciated and i hope to thank each of you at some point! I have passed the target, so thank you again.
So today it was Farewell Scotland, Hello England! Almost home....Well, 712km down, about 850km left, but at least that's one country done. Hurrah!
Now I don't know what the recommended sights of Carlisle are (I didn't stop), but I can say that the roadsign "The South" was a thing of beauty and celebration! The euphoria lasted only until the first Cumbriam hill shortly after leaving town but these were satisfying moments.
So a recap, surprises, good and bad about Scotland? I was looking forward to the Scottish section the most, seemed to have the most potential for the unknown and adventure.
Good surprises: highland and lochs scenery more impressive than expected, particularly up through Glen Coe; haggis (particularly for breakfast) and road surfaces (nice of the Europeans to fund up north) 
Not so good: windy and exposed Caithness, Scottish bar hours (I am trying to sleep bah humbug), apparent shortage of pasta (only extra creamy cheesy lasagne available just about everywhere), Clydebank in Lycra, quite alot of places did look quite rundown.
Overall a good tour - thank you Scotland.
So Dumfries to Penrith today, 88km, ave 19.9km; knee has improved alot-  ok its still rather large - but it held up well, having successfully employed my new peculiar cycling technique. Now cutting out scenic diversions - straight down the A roads - let's just get there!
PS I've found the easiest job in the world - forecasting Scottish weather. Every single day, no matter where I was, the forecast on my day of travel was "light rain". The rest of the BBC 5 day forecast is probably random (sun, heavy rain, blizzards etc), but when you get there - it'll be light rain. It may rain, mostly it didn't, it'll just be rather grey. But don't get me wrong, I was happy, it could have been alot worse.