A lovely sun morning greeted us today and though it gradually clouded over it did remain dry. It was very dark and quiet here last night, I guess I have been used to bigger sites with lighting and woodland noises! Lovely dark skies though it was overcast so no moon or stars to enjoy and just the odd plop of a fish jumping or duck swimming – wonderful. After my fat boy breakfast (nice but no where near as good as I had built it up to be!) we headed off to have a wander around Gretna Green.

Sadly it is all a bit commercialised now, though it did all look bright and well looked after! A whole visitor centre has set up around the infamous Blacksmiths Shop, where weddings are still being performed.

With a range of gift and foodie shops and lots of rather cheesy ‘photo spots’.

Still just to enter into the spirit of things we wandered around the Courtship Maze – in fact Poppydog loved it (am guessing a rabbit or two had also frequented the maze!).

Among the many little quotes about love and marriage in the maze – this one made me smile!

We wandered around the rest of the small village but it wasn’t anything that special – ah well we have been and seen!

After this we made several unsuccessful attempts to get down to the water for a bit of a beach run and this is as close as we got at Annan Waterfoot.

Too boggy to get to the sand beyond so we called it a day and headed back to site – I think we will concentrate our efforts to the west from now on!

Two thoughts of the day:

Fishing – now this is a pastime that is beyond me – some of these guys have been here all day, just sitting and watching the water? I can sit and watch the sea all day but a pond?

Visitor attractions – whilst no doubt good for business, Gretna Green certainly had plenty of visitors, rather loose some of their magic – do you not think?