Today was our last day in Scotland. I've joked with Tara a few times that of all the countries we've visited, Scotland is my favorite. Absolutely everyone we have spoken with has been friendly, the countryside is breathtaking and we both think Scottish accents are incredibly endearing. We will miss you Scotland.

Before we left Eyemouth we hiked up a to a cliff (The Bantry?) to see the views and snap a few photos.

Crossing into England was very anticlimactic, but the moment we arrived a train whizzed by signalling our entrance into a new country. We hadn't seen a single train in Scotland!

As we rode into Berwick upon Tweed we were both immediately thankful that we had stopped early last night. It felt like a tourist trap with its busy streets and crowds of people milling about. Eyemouth was much more our speed. We asked at the tourist information center where we could find the cycle path to Holy Island that Dave at Home Arms had told us about. It was just outside town through a seedy village called 'Spittal'.

We quickly located the cycle "path" which wound up being nothing more than a well marked ditch that ran alongside the ocean. The hilly route alternated between very loose gravel, uneven grass, and long furrows of mud. It was surprising how different the coastline in England felt than Scotland's. As we continued on, the terrain changed from coastline to farmland. At one point we passed a group of older Englishmen smoking pipes and golfing about twenty feet away from flocks of resting sheep. Suddenly it felt very British!

Below is a photo of Tyler surveying the view a bit off the bike trail.

As we were opening one of many gates along the path, our cellphone rang. This is always very surprising as we've gotten used to being without them for the most part. It was Tara's grandparents calling to say hello; we had a nice chat before continuing on. Unfortunately we didn't leave early enough this morning to cross on to Holy Island before the tide came in so we opted to free-camp near the ocean a few miles north. We'll visit the island that is only accessible during low tide tomorrow morning before continuing on a bit further south.

While Tara and I made camp in we both commented on how we felt like we were getting the hang of things. The rain didn't bother either of us and we set up fairly quickly in an organized fashion to relax and make dinner with plenty of time to spare. Finally! After dinner we went to wash our dishes in the ocean and to our amused dismay the tide had gone out and we now had our very own beachfront but no water to clean with.

One last thing: there are snails everywhere, here is a photo Tara took of a pair of them snuggling.