Peter Travis, 85, left home at around 4.30 pm in his car without telling his family.
The pensioner, who moved to the town in 2014 to live with his daughter and son in law, is originally from Greater Manchester.
And his family were concerned he may be attempting to drive back to Manchester.
After Mr Travis had been missing for several hours his granddaughter-DnG Media reporter Amanda Kennedy – launched an appeal for people to keep an eye out for him – and her plea ended up being shared on social media by thousands of people.
The pensioner was eventually found by a milk man at around 6 am on Wednesday morning in Barnard Castle, County Durham, more than 90 miles from home.
He is currently recovering from his ordeal at Darlington Memorial Hospital and the family hope he will return to Lockerbie later this week.
Amanda has thanked everyone for their support and aid in finding him.
She said: “The support to help find my grandad was staggering, really overwhelming. “Dozens of people from Lockerbie, Ecclefechan and beyond gave up their time to drive around late at night and help find him.
“My grandad has only lived here for two years and it’s incredibly touching and humbling to see so many people who have never even met him give their time.
“Thank you so much to everyone who helped search and for everyone’s kind words.”
