Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6
Ok, so now we're back, it's time for the trip report to start. I've changed the title, as it reflects what we experienced over the last two weeks.
There has been a whole pre-trip report, which you may or may not have been following. Essentially, we headed up north of the border with our friends Mari and Raleigh from California, but it started off with us heading up to visit my parents for their golden wedding anniversary, and that's where you join us...
Friday 9 June – part one: “well you need to get away early then”
Well, what a fascinating start to the day. Once again, politics never fail to disappoint, and we woke up to the news that we have a hung Parliament following our general election. Essentially no one party passed the magic mark to have a majority in Parliament, so it will be fascinating to see where we go now. As I write this, I have no idea, and as a former politics student, I can usually work it out. I think we’re all clear though that calling an election was perhaps not the greatest call, as it’s certainly not given the country the stability we were all hoping for. Anyway, that’s enough of politics for today – I just felt it merited a mention, and heck, by the time you read this, goodness knows what will have happened. They say a week is a long time in politics after all…
My day at work went really well… considering. We had our senior management meeting today. It was supposed to be earlier in the week, but it got moved quite late in the day. Originally I was planning on working from home, so we could leave a bit earlier to drive up to my parents, as it’s about 200 miles and a good three and a half hours and that’s with no traffic at all. The management meeting was first put at 10:30am – 3:00pm, so that was Ok, but then it got moved to 12:00pm – 4:30pm. Ugh.
I had a meeting with our most senior manager first thing, and I did happen to mention we were due to drive up to Cheshire that night, and she was pretty stunned, and said to me “well you need to get away early then”. That worked for me. Apparently another person had to leave early as well, which kind of helped.
I eventually got on the road just before 4:00pm, and called Mark to surprise him with the news. I tried the house. No answer. I tried his mobile. As soon as it connected, I had the feeling he was still at work, and he was. Ok… that’s not going to work so well then.
I got home, and immediately set about loading the car up. It wasn’t looking good. Even with all the water stashed in all the secret places I’d managed to find in the car, there was still a lot to go in the boot/trunk. Ok…
I next managed to sandwich the patio rose and the freesia into the back seat of the car. I could only put them behind Mark, and the rose was a little close to the driver’s head, shall we say? Hmm… that could mean a bit of a thorny drive for him. What to do? Well, let’s think. I have a solution, which involved a large Disneyland carrier bag. I spent some time managing to get it over the patio rose, although it did try fighting back a couple of times. It lost and I won… eventually. I figured at least it would add a bit of drama to when we presented it to them as well.
We eventually got going just before 6:00pm, and I have to say it was a beautiful summer’s evening..
I was a bit worried about leaving at this time, as I figured we’d run into lots of traffic, but as we set off on our local motorways, they were surprisingly clear. Where was everybody? The traffic reports had very little to say on the radio as well, which was very unusual for a Friday night. I guess luck is with us.
We hit some traffic around the Dartford Tunnel, which is one of very few ways to cross the Thames this side of London, so that wasn’t a surprise.
We crawled along a little way after that, and finally we started to move again, although we did keep slowing down for various things. Our favourite had to be the car that obviously had something wrong with it. It had its emergency indicators going, and over here, if you’re driving on those, that’s an indication of a serious problem. However, he passed a turning off the motorway, and just kept going. Sorry, not what you’re supposed to do. He should’ve turned off, as he was going so slowly, the traffic was bunching up around him, and he was in danger of causing an accident.
Finally, we started to move again, and a little bit further along, we stopped for some food. We’d been on the road for almost two hours before, and both needed a break. I’d looked up all the motorway services and found one that had a McDonald’s. Others had Burger King and KFC, but I’m never sure there’s much for me to eat there, whereas at least I can get a Fillet of Fish at McDonald’s.
We got out of the car, and immediately noticed the cold wind. By the time we’d grabbed another layer, a coach had shown up with a massive group of school kids, and we were following them into the services. Ugh. I power walked past most of them, and was about to get in line, when Mark summonsed me over to something I’d missed – automated ordering points. I hadn’t seen one of these since France in 2010 on the infamous night we’d had to have a McDonald’s, because every other place to eat in the town we were staying in (near Mont St Michel) was closed. I didn’t even know we had them yet in this country, but Mark who visits a lot more motorway service stations than I do, said they’re quite common at them now.
We put our order in, waited for our food, and grabbed a table, all while the kids were still queuing in the line. At one point, I went to use the restrooms, as I thought they’d be mobbed, but I was the only person in there.
As we headed back to the car, the sun was casting a very odd glow, one I’d more expect to see in the winter or spring, not in June, and that continued for pretty much the whole way back.
We had just under another two hours ahead of us, and thankfully there was good music on the radio to keep us entertained during that time, and lots of cows to admire along the way, including some fields right by the motorway which literally had hundreds of them!
We stopped off in the village I used to live in, so Mark could get some money out, and I took the opportunity to get a few photos. Although the shops change all the time, and there’s been a lot of housing development, really the centre of village hasn’t changed that much from when we first moved in all the way back in 1982.
We then headed over to my parents and presented them with their gifts, and chatted a while before heading to bed. How we made to 11:00pm, I will never know.
The weather today was warm and sunny with temperatures in the low 70s. The best thing today was setting off on our trip. The worst thing today was the traffic along the way. The funniest thing today was me attempting to squeeze the patio rose into a carrier bag! Today we tried stopping off at a different motorway service station And the result was it was nice and the ordering screens at McDonald’s were a great idea. The most magical moment today was seeing my parents’ faces when we presented them with their anniversary presents.
Saturday 10 June – part one: Spider-Man is promoting Domino’s Pizza!
I woke up and wasn’t sure what time it was. I knew it was light, but given it’s June, that didn’t mean much. It could still be before 6:00am. For a while, I couldn’t hear anyone else moving around, so I thought it might be really early, but eventually when I grabbed my glasses, I discovered it wasn’t long before 8:00am, so at least we’d all slept well.
I listened carefully, as they’d been predicting almost non-stop rain today but I couldn’t hear anything. Sadly I did eventually hear the tap-tap-tap sound outside, and concluded the forecasters hadn’t been wrong after all.
We heard my parents get up, so got going ourselves, and headed downstairs. My goodness, I just about died when I saw what was waiting for us – two croissants and one pain au chocolat each. How on earth I ate it, I do not know. It was way too much for me. My dad had offered, but I’d assumed it would be one of each, not two croissants! I have to confess that the croissants were also a bit dry, and chewy.
I’d only just about finished breakfast, when my dad spotted the cows outside, so I shot out to see them. This field is where my love of cows started, as there were always cows in the field growing up, and I used to photograph them, and name them. My dad would feed the grass cuttings to them, and trust me, these animals are intelligent. Really intelligent. It started off with we’d get to the back gate, and they’d be lined up, waiting to be fed. Then they’d heard the lawn mower start, and line up waiting to be fed. Then they’d work out the lawn mower came from the back garage. If anyone went near it, they lined up to be fed. Finally, they fathomed out to get to the back garage, you had to go out of the house through the back door, and… if you guessed that they lined up to be fed, you’d be right. Going out there to see brought back some great memories…
I also got a few shots of the garden. As you can see, it was a fairly dull and miserable day, although fortunately not raining.
I wandered into the vegetable patch, and here are the flowers my dad hasn’t planted out yet. Yes, he literally has thousands. It puts our tiny garden to real shame.
I went into the greenhouse to photograph the patio rose…
We then got ready to head out. We were going to go on the Churnet Valley Railway, although my dad really wanted to ride the steam train, which I can understand. A diesel train just isn’t the same. There was no information on line about which trains were running today, and he tried calling, and just got the automated service, saying they were open from 10:00am. As he’d called after that time, that didn’t help much…
We figured we’d set off and hope for the best. The closer we got to our destination, the further away the arrival time seemed to get. We ended up stopping for traffic in Leek, and look who was promoting Domino’s Pizza… Spider-Man! It was very surreal.
There was a point where we weren’t convinced that the car GPS was taking us the right way. It was saying something like we were six miles away, but I checked on Google Maps, and it said we were more like 20 miles away. Ok, not promising… Thankfully, Google was obviously directing us to another station, because after going down a winding country lane for some time, we finally found the place and parked up.
Luck was with you at the motorway stop, getting to order on the automated machine while the kids all waited in line!
Spider-Man seems to have let himself go a bit, hasn't he? Not sure those webs would hold his current weight if he needed to swing across somewhere!
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You've got to love GPS's.
they seem to have minds of their own. Mine likes to tell me to drive off bridges to get to the road I'm passing over on the highway.
You father's garden is beautiful. It really puts mine to shame. My favorite rose is finally blooming.
Great pictures of the cows and I love the story about your father and them.
Liz
You've got to love GPS's.
they seem to have minds of their own. Mine likes to tell me to drive off bridges to get to the road I'm passing over on the highway.
Nice!
Quote:
You father's garden is beautiful. It really puts mine to shame.
Nice start to your trip but too bad with that one car with its' flashers on backing up all the traffic! Luck was certainly with you in McDonald's and worked out for you with the ordering. Love your parents' grounds with so many beautiful plants and flowers! Too funny with Spiderman as not something you were expecting to see!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Great start to this trip! Your parents put a lot of our gardens to shame. I can't imagine getting all those flowers planted. Love the story about the cows lining up to be fed.
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he was. Ok… that’s not going to work so well then. 
Hmm… that could mean a bit of a thorny drive for him. 
What to do? Well, let’s think. I have a solution, which involved a large Disneyland carrier bag. I spent some time managing to get it over the patio rose, although it did try fighting back a couple of times. It lost and I won… eventually. I figured at least it would add a bit of drama to when we presented it to them as well. 
The traffic reports had very little to say on the radio as well, which was very unusual for a Friday night. I guess luck is with us. 
Sorry, not what you’re supposed to do. 
He should’ve turned off, as he was going so slowly, the traffic was bunching up around him, and he was in danger of causing an accident. 
I power walked past most of them, and was about to get in line, when Mark summonsed me over to something I’d missed – automated ordering points. I hadn’t seen one of these since France in 2010 on the infamous night we’d had to have a McDonald’s, because every other place to eat in the town we were staying in (near Mont St Michel) was closed. I didn’t even know we had them yet in this country, but Mark who visits a lot more motorway service stations than I do, said they’re quite common at them now. 
At one point, I went to use the restrooms, as I thought they’d be mobbed, but I was the only person in there. 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
but I couldn’t hear anything. Sadly I did eventually hear the tap-tap-tap sound outside, and concluded the forecasters hadn’t been wrong after all. 
Luck was certainly with you in McDonald's and worked out for you with the ordering. Love your parents' grounds with so many beautiful plants and flowers! 
Too funny with Spiderman as not something you were expecting to see! 
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