Travelling...the weekend so far...

 

Saturday's sunrise....looked rather ominous, but it was dry and not so chilly as the days previous.

I took to the road just before 9 and had an easy ride...stops vaguely every hour to start with...the Co-op to shop at Thornhill, north of Dumfries, Gretna shopping outlet for another leg stretch and Marks for a couple of bras...of course the pretty blue and green reduced ones weren't in my size...just the ghastly bright pink ones!! I draw the line at pink...

Another hour to Tebay and Westmorland Services.

A  veggie hot lunch....they always have two choices!! I wandered around the shop....but no, I'm not buying chocolate at £5+ a bar... however good!

And going back to the car....this made me think of Steve and his blog....

Then two more hours to the travelodge at Crewe Barthomley, where the road to Stoke on Trent goes under the motorway .

I saw where a crash had been on the other, northbound side, police and ambulances still there..and the traffic backed up for miles, I must have travelled for well over half an hour until I turned off...and it was still nearly at a standstill.

Getting in tinternet was....a problem....I had to set up my account ( instead of Pirate) ...but to do that you needed internet to get a code they send you....and when I managed that their payment system said that my postcode isn't valid....

Read the newspaper, do the puzzles, watch TV instead....and use the 30 minutes free ( every 24 hours) in the morning...

So that was 240 miles...

I filled up the petrol tank this morning...30p a litre more than I usually pay !!!! ...and next time I come this way I'll use the service station 15 miles down the road....only 10p more than usual!!

I headed across country through Stoke on Trent, seeing all the familiar place names! 

Mainly on A roads as I didn't fancy motorways and the M25 around London!

Still mainly dual carriageway driving, with a stretch of motorway...and the further South I got, the more aggressive and unpleasant the driving!!

Another 9-3 day, with just two decent stops.just 200 miles..and now I'm west of Colchester in another small travelodge..I choose them as they are more personal and friendly and generally have easy and free parking!!