A new plan, reducing the journey by 6 days but still keeping the two night booking in a campsite near Alloa before heading off to Aberdeen for next Wednesday's ferry.
So a long run planned for today, dependant on the ever mercurial motorway traffic of course, but it works be good to make the 250 miles to Preston before we stop for the night.
The first slog up to Warwick Services is flow through Oxford, and surprisingly the first few miles of the M40. It's just a couple of minutes over the 2 hour mark when we unfold ourselves into the car park. So a slow 45 minute amble, accompanied by a coffee and Waitrose's best Pain Au Raisin and it's on the road again.
After the inevitable slow M42 we opted for the speed and relaxation of the M6 Toll, wanting to test the pricing being based on vehicle height at the first axle meaning we would only be changed as a car. We were, but that 'only' was still £9.70! Still it was a pleasant 27 miles.
This time it's just under 2 hours before we pull into Waitrose car park (2 hours free parking) in Sandbach, a lovely old sandstone building coaching town
Nice day for September isn't it! The fair's in town in Sandbach, and the most promising coffee shop is just across the road, far too much noise so we settle for a nice little tea shop. Coffee and cake was good.
Onwards! A quick sanity check of my first choice pub stop for the night, just on the N edge of Preston suggested a recent change of owners meant that it had gone downhill and was up for sale again. Oh dear, 15 minutes spent in Waitrose car park formulating plan B!
A new stop - The Patten Arms, Wimarleigh, just on the S edge of Lancaster is only a little further (just under an hour and a half from Sandbach). What a great choice, it's in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, and had 4 beers, 3 standard national fare but the fourth was a real gem Flat Cap from Bolton's Bank Top brewery. Excellent session bitter in superb condition. And the food was something special too. Steak and Kidney is a favourite of mine but hard to find so their S&K pud just had to be tried. It's rare a pub meal defeats need but this very generous portion of suet pastry bursting with meat was just too much, and a couple of mouthfuls were, sadly, left. Liz noticed that one of the other diners didn't even manage that much so I didn't feel quite so bad. 5 star TripAdvisor reviews has already been penned!
It was good!
Anyway here's today's 260 miles
Hopefully a slightly shorter day tomorrow.
