Monday 23 March 2009

A Mothering Sunday drive

An early(ish) start to the day saw us up and about, cards from the boy opened and hugs all round, then completion of packing and Suzie & I hit the road for Fort William. The route we chose was A50 (J2) from Derby west to the A500, up to the M6 then all the way up to the M74 to the M80 towards Stirling before cutting off across country on the A84, A85 & A82 through Callander and Tyndrum to Fort William. All told it was (according to the on board computer) 403 miles, taking 6hrs 39mins, averaging 61mph at an average of 45.1mpg.

On the way we stopped at Tebay West services – described as the best in Britain. Now I’m no connoisseur of motorway services, but, if that’s our best then “Lord help us!”. Somewhere between Glasgow and Stirling we stopped again (at 4hrs into journey) at The Silk House, a Chinese buffet restaurant which was (for us a toilet break and a cuppa stop). Just wish we’d waited to eat there too. It was (from observation) fabulous, and busy, and very reasonably priced. Highly recommended if you’re travelling that way.

The only traffic jam we encountered was just after leaving The Silk House, near J9 of the M80 for some road works that cost us about 10-15minutes. Otherwise a straightforward trip.

We checked into the hotel and deposited our stuff in our room, then went down and had a “bar meal” which includes waitress service. We both had baked trout and it was superb. Retired to bed fairly early as we were quite tired and wanted an early start to Monday.

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