And so to the start of the tour. As we are based in Northampton we decided to break up the journey north by staying overnight in Carlisle. Borise, the pink Mini driven by Nick & Cheryl and the MG TF driven by Graham & Chris also decided this was a good idea so we agreed to meet up at the Premier Inn at Carlisle.That was the plan anyway! As it turns out Carlisle has two Premier Inns and Graham & Chris had book the other one to us. Borise was a little late arriving so we didn’t get to meet them until breakfast the following morning.
At 10am on Wednesday we headed north again with a quick stop at the first services on the M6 to meet up with Dave & his son, James. Dave & James are both massive car nuts so it was a bit of a surprise to see them turn up in a Skoda Yeti! Apparently the rally car was having starting issues.
We made our way up the M6/A74/M74 to Glasgow and then over the Erskine Bridge towards Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. Just as we got to the scenic part of the route, the heavens opened and trouble started for Borise. Luckily Nick had bought a selection of towels with him and was able to bale out the Mini whenever we stopped.
After a few stops to take in the view we progressed to Glencoe and up to the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre. Thankfully the rain eased up and by the time we got to our destination for the night it had stopped altogether. Somehow we managed to arrive at our hotel and the exact same time as Andrew & Ged who had decided to do the tour in the luxury of an Audi A8.
A few beers and dinner at a local restaurant followed with Gavin kindly volunteering to taxi everyone back and forward.
More to follow soon….
