19 October 2019

We were sad to say goodbye to Ellie, but even sadder to say goodbye to John and Jude. We have had a fabulous two weeks. The “Four Counties Ring” was absolutely stunning and every day was so much fun.

John and Jude were heading off on new adventures and we were off to Scotland to begin the final leg of our adventure.

We had a bit of time to kill before picking up our hire car. We headed off for a walk and stumbled upon the Spode Pottery place. The major draw card was the attached cafe with the possibility of a decent coffee. And it was!!

I congratulated the young barista on the nicest coffee I’ve had in almost 7 weeks, and she was so chuffed, she teared up!! So sweet!!

We had time for a quick peak at the pottery in the Spode Museum. It was pretty pretty indeed.

Time to go! Bye bye Stoke on Trent.

Before we knew it we were cruising along the M6 heading for Edinburgh.

True to our unplanned form, we made a last minute decision to take a little detour through the Lakes District. Good decision!

We arrived at Bowness-on-Windermere, a real tourist mecca, in time for lunch and a bit of a wander around.

The countryside was truly stunning. Many years ago I cycled this road and I have a vague memory of just how beautiful it was. So pleased I got to update those memories.

It was time to get back on the M6 and cross that border at Gretna.

Grahame spotted a sign pointing in the direction of Edinburgh. It was a “scenic route” rather than the motorway. Of course we took it and once again it was a great decision. If you ever get a chance try the A701!!

I was so busy gawking at the scenery, I forgot to take photos. I know you’ll find that hard to believe, but it’s true.

I was delighted to find that we were actually travelling along the Tweed Valley. The Scottish one, not the one I grew up in. The River Tweed , at its source, was a small fast flowing stream wending its way past lots and lots of sheep. At times the hills were bare and other times heavily wooded. Gorgeous!

We arrived at our hotel, booked by Grahame back in early August, only to discover we had no booking. The receptionist was as confused as we were when we showed her our booking confirmation. She searched her computer and found nothing!!

It wasn’t til much later that she found a record of the booking being cancelled in mid September!! Apparently the company we booked it through closed down! Fortunately the hotel still had a spare room and we rebooked for two nights!

The receptionist was so upset for us and kept apologising even though it wasn’t hers or the hotels fault. We assured her it was all ok.

Later, whilst having dinner, the manager approached us and said he had heard about our earlier plight and gave us a bottle of Processo “on the house”. Winners!!