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The long drive north back to Scotland today. The landscape for much of the journey was still snowy and provided some scenic views and certainly was no hindrance to our journey. Others have been less fortunate. I have passed this memorial on a high and exposed hillside to the north of Moffat, many times, but today we stopped to take a closer look.

It is dedicated to two officers of the Dumfries to Edinburgh Royal Mail coach who died in a snow storm on 1st February 1831. John Goodfellow, the driver and James McGeorge,the guard had just changed their horses in Moffat before embarking on the steep hill out of the town. Already snowing heavily they became stuck so advised the passengers to return to Moffat.

Their strong sense of duty to deliver the mail prevailed, so they unharnessed the horses and plodded on into the drifting snow. They never made it. Their bodies were later found near a burn where the memorial cairn was erected in 1931. Their bodies were interred in Moffat church yard where two memorials were erected through public subscription.