Saturday
One night to go, and today we are heading back into England. We set off in the Scottish rain, of course we did.
One of our friends Richard, who is Scottish, assured us that it doesn’t always rain in Scotland, we beg to differ, but honestly the poor weather has not deterred us or spoilt our adventure, and as another one of our friends, Michelle, said, there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
Nikki was googling the weather thing, and found that a lot of Scotland has the ‘Oceanic’ climate which features cool summers, mild winters and year round rainfall, with May and June being the driest months. Ummmmm.
The good thing about implementing our Plan B was that we had a more balanced drive back home. Our original plan of a stop in Kendal would have meant a long 4+ hour drive on Sunday, but our stop was now more equidistant, and an easy run back into the homestead.
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Appleby
Easy drive today, heading down the A75, around Gretna Green, and just after joining the M6 we crossed the Anglo & Scottish Border back into England and the sunshine, literally almost on the border LOL. The temperature continued to rise the further south we drove, and as we headed towards the English heatwave the AirCon went back on.
From the M6 we then joined the infamous A66 though the Pennines, which was not closed today due to snow. However, this was a journey that changed from blazing sunshine, to driving through thick couds on the top of the Penines and back into blazing sunshine.
We made our lunch stop at Appleby-in-Westmoreland, a fantastic find, and we were very lucky to find a place to park up the Beast.
Appleby was great. We strolled down the high street, browsing in a few shops, and visited their Church, St Lawrences, although Steve didn’t stay long muttering something about ‘leaving before I burst into flames’.
We also took a walk down the river, finding something most odd – everywhere there were stuffed mannequins, placed on benches and in other places, including Snow White and the seven dwarf’s and Woody out of Toy Story. We stopped a local to ask why, and apparently they are made by a group of ladies in the town, and it’s just what they ‘do’. Appleby is most famous for its 4 day Horse Fair, which is an annual gathering of Romani people and travellers, with around 10,000 of them descending on the area in the first weekend of June.
As we have done many times, we stopped for a drink before we departed. This time it was the Hare and Hounds, and like so many other places we have been to, it served a decent pint.
Our last night
After lunch, we continued along the A66 before re-joining the A1 south, backtracking our route ‘up north’ when we set off on the 3rd of June, which seems SO long ago now.
Our ‘Plan B’ hotel was the Wentbridge House Hotel, which Steve had found the evening before after much googling, and it was AMAZING.
Basking in warm sunshine as we arrived (Nikki changed into shorts for we think only the 3rd time) it was simply stunning. They had also upgraded us, and the room and everything about it was just what we needed and was a perfect ending to the tour.
Nikki did her nails and got her ‘posh frock’ out, the only one she had packed, so far un-worn, and we had a fantastic evening, starting with cocktails in the evening sun before a relaxing dinner with port, liqueurs and coffee in their lounge afterwards before heading to bed. A bed so big we could have slept in any direction, and with others, but of course we don’t do that.
