Rain,rain,rain all the way to Whitehaven

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Today turned out to be the worst weather we have encountered on the BBA V2 as we drove south from Linlithgow in Scotland to Whitehaven,Cumbria,England.

The day in Scotland actually dawned OK with scattered high cloud and some breaks of sun as we had another leisurely breakfast.Alan is conducting a service at an affiliate church of St Michaels so he was up early getting himself prepared and Alison joined us as he was about to leave.

People were out and about in Linlithgow as we headed away after filling the petrol tank and getting ourselves lunch and a few much needed groceries at the local Morrison's store. We must say that we enjoy the shopping experience more at Morrison's as everything seems that just better presented and the shops tend to have wider aisles making getting about the supermarket easier.

For the first part of the journey we deliberately set the GPS onto the shortest route so that the line we took would be more direct than what the fastest route would have suggested .And as it turned out the distance was about 30km shorter going the shortest but only a few minutes different in time.

The road initially as we drove through the hills on the A70 was a bit curvy but with the sparse Sunday morning traffic we kept up a good consistent speed.

Just as we were settling in enjoying the ride and the rolling,green countryside the rain started to fall. At first it was light misty stuff but as we joined the A74,the main road from Glasgow to Carlisle,it became heavier and more persistent.

This took away the idea of stopping here and there to take photographs or video as we would just have become soaked and there is no fun travelling in a car when your clothes are wet.

Thankfully there were very few trucks on the three lane highway(in each direction)and so all we had to encounter was the road spray from the cars whizzing by us willing to test the 70mph speed limit while we felt more comfortable at 60mph.

There are virtually no towns adjacent to this motorway for about 50km as it carves its way through the Border hills so going off to do any sightseeing,had the rain eased,wasn't an option.The lack of towns also seemed to mean there were few laybys so we took the opportunity as we neared Lockerbie to stop in a rest area to have lunch in the car listening to BBC2 radio.

We had planned to stop in Carlisle to take a walk and get some exercise but the rain had intensified even more so we gave that idea away too.The day was not working out at all how we planned it except for the need to get to Whitehaven.

As we turned towards the Cumbrian coast the sky towards the west appeared to be lighter and our spirits were raised that perhaps the rain was clearing and we would get to take a walk at some point before the day ended.

Our hotel for the night is a Premier Inn at GBP29 for the night it was a real bargain as Premier usually charge a bit more than Travelodge but by securing one of their autumn specials a few weeks back we got this great deal.

The hotel was on the outskirts of the town of Whitehaven and as we unpacked the car,still in the rain,we could just make out the edge of the cliffs surrounding the harbour town.

However,the rain didn't let up and so we did what anyone would do on a wet afternoon in a hotel..........sit back and watch television!!

Let's hope that the weather improves tomorrow as today certainly will go down as the wettest of the BBA V2.And no photos or video to record what we saw during the day.

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