We packed up our little Clio and took off around 10 in the morning on August 16. 3 hours and 50 round-abouts later, I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable about driving. This was supported by the drop in Rachelle-gasp frequency. I pulled over so Rachelle could practice driving from the right side of the car on the left side of the road. She did well on the motorway (highway) and as we approached her first round-about, the tension rose. She managed it with only 1 short and 1 long honk from angry Brits! With Emily guiding us, we went into a town called Stoke-on-Trent (home of some china-making factories, such as Wedgewood), and had lunch.
Refreshed and back on the road, myself back at the wheel, we wound our way into Scotland. The views were beautiful and pulled off for these pictures on the side of a road. After winding and twisting through gorgeous countryside – hills and mountains with white rocks jutting out of the rich varied greens and purple heather, cows and sheep grazing on the slopes, blue and purple rivers and lochs (lakes) – we entered the town of Minnigaff on the Cree river. We found our 100+ year-old hostel (picture), and the kids ran out on the grass and through a gap in a stone wall and found a small playground (picture).
After the kids selected their bunks and we through our belongings in our room (picture), we walked down the road to the pub for dinner. The kids experimented with potato and leek soup and lime juice, but stuck with the familiar pasta with tomato sauce. The local Scottish salmon was wonderful as was the apple pie with custard.
Exhausted and satiated, we walked back to our hostel and barely noticed the first rain of the day. As Rachelle and the kids sleep and I write this, a long-haired springer spaniel (like Sebo) just came wondering up into the lounge to meet me. Liv will be thrilled to play with this pup in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment