[/quote]I'd just stand and look at the sign for a while – it's got to be one of the UK's most glorious place names. I imagine if a Glaswegian said it he could be arrested for disorderly conduct.
Brooklyn Beckham should consider himself lucky he wasn't conceived in Ecclefechan
Theres not an awful lot going on in the immediate vicinity, but the M74 is about as pleasant a motorway as you could hope to travel, so there are quick easy daytrips to places like Moffat and Biggar ( pleasant towns) and perhaps New Lanark (big industrial history thang) to the north or the lake district to the south. Closer by though is Caerlaverock Castle, to the south of Dumfries, if you like that kind of thing. Staying in Galloway, the Galloway coast gets nicer the further west you go – starts quite wetlands/estuary like at the Dumfries end, gets sandier and more crinkly the further you go towards Stranraar. Kirkudbright is a nice destination town, Kipford and New Abbey are nice stop-off points.