Tuesday
After weeks, if not months, of planning, it was finally time to hit the road. We will firstly become Northerners, shortly followed by becoming Jocks.
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Early Start
Both of us were awake before 6am. Steve is always an early riser but Nikki up at 5.45am is unheard of. Still it was an exciting day ahead of us, almost like Christmas morning. Our early start was a good thing, because even though we had spent 4 1/2 hours packing on Monday, we had still somehow ended up with a final ‘2 page’ to-do list before we could leave. Last job was to put the bikes on the back, and we were off.
and off ..
Nikki took the driving seat first today, and ahead of time she said she was a little nervous, most unlike Nikki, but as we drove off towards Saffron Walden she did fine, and as we stopped for Lunch just north of Sheffield she commented that it was way easier than she was anticipating, so yahoooo, we can both drive ‘the beast’.
It was around 230 miles to Durham, and including our lunch stop it took 5.5 hours. Weather en-route was shocking, and it was very windy. The van is top heavy so you get buffeted quite a bit passing lorries, or as they pass you. Nikki ending up driving all the way to Durham, and she commented that although we could do 70 on motorways, she only really felt comfortable at 60mph due to the wind. Apparently when driving you can’t leave the belted seats, so Steve’s plan for a kip en route were thwarted.
Some of our friends, Dick and Heather, gave us some books when we retired last year titled‘ take the slow road’, very apt.
2 Responses
You might want to drop the “Jocks” word now you’re over the border. 😬
Was that a greasy spoon? A proper breakfast for journey?