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Published: December 15th 2017
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I’m not sure where the time has gone but after weeks of sitting and enjoying the sunshine and catching up with friends our bags are ready, and the maps and guide books safely stored for the start of our biggest adventure yet. The warm up weeks, so to speak, would give us a chance to get used to being back in full travel mode again and to make sure we have everything we need. Woolly says – Warm it will not be and everything we need!!!!! There’s a car full of stuff to root through, how the women are going to get it all into two backpacks is beyond me! First though was the highlight of Alayna’s Christmas fun, the Christmas Market, now in it’s eight year it would be my fifth time of going and this year promised to be the biggest and best yet. The rain didn’t bode well but having donned our wet weather jackets we ventured towards the harbour and the lovely tea garden to meet our friend Kath. Woolly says – As the storm clouds passed the three of us went through the security checks and entered the market area, hundreds of stalls to feast off, representing so many countries from Russia and Iran through Sweden and Denmark and for the first time a stall for the Brits. With the crowds building and to many feet for me to navigate round I made the sensible decision to stay in Jo’s coat where she could feed me samples from all the different cultures food delights. The huge tree stood proudly in the centre and having indulged in borek (which were lovely), mince pies (which were terrible) we stood enjoying the British take to the stage for their performance of some good old rocking Christmas songs, it was wonderful.
With so much to look at I felt very proud of our adopted country who happily set this festive treat up for us each year, with the last of the music playing and hot chestnuts warming our hands and paws we gave Kath our love and wandered home for our last night in our own beds. Woolly says - The first part of the journey was to meet up with daughter Zoe who had headed back to the UK a couple of weeks before us to give her a rest from Jo, unfortunately I wasn’t afforded that luxury and had to suffer her in silence. Silence however didn’t happen on the flight and as we sat waiting for the plane to take off having already been delayed by nearly an hour I chuckled to myself when the steward told the screaming child to fasten up for the fifth time to be met with another round of caterwauling, all of the rows surrounding us were by now glaring at the offending noise maker and at the sixth attempt of asking the lovely cabin crew made no bones about it by saying ‘Put your belt on, the flight is already late and if you don’t the other passengers won’t like you’, this was met with a stunned silence from the offending source and huge grins from the rest of us.
We spent the rest of the flight ignoring the child running up and down the aisle and standing on the tables that are attached to the back of the seats, although as we were coming into land it made us all chuckle when the same issue arose with the seatbelt and the Mother of the menace was bitten whilst trying to strap her in, at least when your ears are full to bursting due to the pressure it’s harder to hear the screams from them both!
Woolly says – Manchester was cold, dark and gloomy having retrieved the car and found our accommodation we set about repacking the vehicle and delving for all the jumpers we have available to keep us going for the next couple of weeks, when Jo says a warm up I think she must be delusional. Finally, the car appeared to be ready even if there was most of our life possessions to transport our driver had decided on the scenic route to Scotland. Zoe and I had raised our eyebrows slightly at this announcement but given Jo’s dislike of driving on motorways and being the only one with a valid licence and insurance it appeared there we had no choice. You could walk! Woolly says – But then who would look after you both! Having acquired oil, air pressure in the tyres and windscreen wipers it appeared that we were ready to face the elements, as we climbed into the Pendle Hills and the thick sleet started to cover the car I huddled down inside my coat and kept my eyes closed as stray sheep appeared as if from nowhere. Zoe held two sat navs as well as the door handle and tried not to look as petrified as she obviously was. Two hours passed, and the weather was getting worse with winds pushing the car towards ditches and sharp intakes of breath when the poor visibility meant careering around a corner which hadn’t quite been seen, Jo finally slowed to a standstill and we waited……
My bright idea of provindg some lovely countryside to pass our journey was a disaster and with nothing for it Zoe reprogrammed the sat navs and aimed us towards the motorway. Woolly says - ….. sense at last and as we sped onto the M6 the weather conditions might not have improved but at least there were not random sheep to knock over. The hours passed and as we saw the first signs for Scotland the dark started to descend, still we battled on, although by this point I would have been happy to stop somewhere for the night and carry on in daylight, this didn’t appear to be on the list of options. Finally, the bright lights of Edinburgh appeared and having narrowly avoided a badly lit cyclist we pulled into a small cul de sac and our residence for the next few nights we all heaved a sigh of relief, tomorrow as they say will be any day and luckily for all road users and sheep not one where Jo is behind the wheel!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Eating your way through Scotland
Nice.