I set off at 9am with breakfast starting at 8. Ideally I would have liked to start earlier as I thought this could be a long day. Having checked out the maps I realised that the digitised route was following one that the End to End book no longer followed - instead it took the Cross-Borders Drovers Road. The old route went over the Meldons with a fair amount being pathless - I decided there must have been a good reason for the change so I would also follow the Drovers Road. I’m glad I did - it was an attractive route with some stunning scenery of the Southern Uplands. Before I’d gone 100 metres, I was stopped by a man who had cycled LEJOG and wanted to give a donation. We chatted for a bit and then he called over a woman he knew who also gave me a donation and chatted a bit longer. The route took me by a Premier store where I bought my lunch and headed out of town - an elderly lady with a gentleman struggling to get into his wheelchair called out a very cheery good morning to me -...