DUMFRIES and Galloway is set for a cycling boom in 2018, with a pair of cycling fanatics set to help boost business in their dream destination.

Husband and wife Warren Sanders and Esther Tacke cycled 32,499 miles on a four-year round-the-world cycling trip, taking in Asia, USA, Europe and New Zealand, but on their last leg home through Scotland they fell in love with the region.

They took over Galloway Cycling Holidays earlier this year, after the previous owner approached them on hearing the couple talk about their worldwide adventures.

The business was relaunched last month as they joined seven fellow tourism businesses on VisitScotland’s business development mission to Germany.

Influential German online travel magazine GEO.de has named Dumfries and Galloway in the top 10 destinations to visit in 2018.

Tacke said: “Dumfries and Galloway has such a beautiful and varied landscape with a network of hundreds of miles of quiet, cycle-friendly roads.”