Annan

This agricultural area was the powerbase of the de Brus family, with Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) winning an early victory nearby over the English-backed Balliol on his path to the crown of Scotland. The town grew up at the navigable limit of the River Annan, which flows into Solway Firth, and the poet Robert Burns worked here for a time as an exciseman. The philosopher and writer Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) went to school here and was utterly miserable.

During the First World War there was a huge multi-site munitions complex around Annan, Gretna and Longtown in Cumbria. Britain's military firepower depended upon improvised processes involving "The Devil's Porridge", Boy Scouts collecting conkers, and the future President of Israel.

Visitor information is posted on the Council website.

By train:

Trains run from Carlisle via Gretna to Annan (22 mins) and Dumfries every hour or two M-Sa, every couple of hours Sunday. Some of them continue north from Dumfries via Sanquhar and Kilmarnock to Glasgow Central, but it's usually quicker to take the fast London - Glasgow train and change at Carlisle.

1 Annan railway station is 400 yards south of High Street. There's no ticket office or machines here, so get aboard and buy from the conductor. Annan's old locomotive turntable is still in service in the National Railway Museum in York.

By road:

Annan is bypassed to the north by the A75 Carlisle to Stranraer road with links into town at either end. Near Gretna the A75 joins the A74(M) motorway, which becomes M6 as it crosses into England.

National Cycle Route 7 passes through Annan on its way from Inverness to Sunderland, with a footbridge over the river to carry it to the south of the town.

By bus:

Stagecoach Cumbria Bus 79 runs from Carlisle via Longtown and Gretna to Annan, taking an hour. These run M-Sa every hour, Sunday every two hours, and continue west via Ruthwell to Dumfries.

Bus 179 also runs hourly between Carlisle, Longtown, Gretna, and Annan where it terminates. This is a longer route, taking 70 min, but it's quicker than waiting for the next 79.

2 Annan bus station is on Butts Street just off High Street. See Dumfries for connections towards Stranraer, and Carlisle for elsewhere, eg the X95 to Edinburgh.