500 miles

Day 37 was on the Annandale Way, which seemed on paper a logical way to proceed up Annandale. We got early warning of the challenges ahead within 100 yards of the start, when the hacking through the undergrowth began. Worse was to come in the form of an embankment about a mile long, uneven, easy to fall off into ditch (we didn't), easy to get pricked, scratched and stung by the vegetation (we did). Cathy wanted some challenge on her first day, and this was duly provided in a section of forest road where all the trees had been blown down across the path. We climbed over, we crawled under, we pushed through...as Paul said, we haven't had it this hard since Staffordshire. To add insult to injury, the path was by no means straight - on two occasions we saw roadsigns offering a much shorter route to Lochmaben than the Annandale Way, and on one of these, the Way led us directly away from our destination.

To give them their due, the designers of the path did take in some interesting places, such as St Mungo's chapel (atmospheric ruin, where we bid a fond farewell to Kate who was heading back home), Amagill Hill (great little peak with extensive view) and Repentance Tower ("why did we sign up for this?"). On Amagill Hill we celebrated the completion of 500 miles - they had even put up a big monument for us, and so quickly too. Track of the Day inevitably had to be The Proclaimers' song I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). Three quarters of the way there - it's hard to believe, isn't it?