We woke this morning to a view of Loch Lomond which was all very pretty :). After showers, breakfast and packing up we headed off, bang on time at 10am. Having driven alongside Lomond for a while and been unable to answer curious questions from the back I did some googling and we all learnt about Britain’s largest freshwater lake, it’s length (27 miles at longest), width (5 miles at widest) and depth (190metres at deepest). We also checked what a female otter is called – we knew a male was a dog, were not sure if a female was a bitch – it is. Hurrah for smartphones, curious kids and interesting things outside our windows 🙂
The drive was long, tedious and once we’d left Loch Lomond behind it all got a lot less pretty, although we did enjoy the Erksin Bridge which we’d not crossed before. Travelling at 50mph is not nearly so enjoyable once you are focussing on the destination rather than the journey again. Particularly on unpretty motorways. However the traffic was kind, thanks to being in a campervan the kids were able to use our loo and I was able to clamber back and make sandwiches for lunch all while we carried on driving, so the only stop was a brief petrol stop.
We arrived at Lynda and Stuart’s just about 5pm, having hit the only traffic once we reached the M60. We drove past our old house, always bittersweet as Tarly was born there, nearly nine (how the heck did that happen?!) years ago. As always L&S welcommed us with open arms, tea and coffee and a quick fire round of questions along the lines of ‘are you totally mad?’ having been google-earthing Rum and reading all the things online the rest of you have also been looking at.
The kids played, Ady and I walked to the fish and chip shop round the corner to get dinner for everyone and we spent a couple of hours going over everything we have seen and learnt the last few days and outlining our possible plans. Lynda asked all the questions I was expecting, challenged lots of what I was saying and concluded that it does sound like the right thing to do next. I’m hugely relieved as she is not a pushover and whilst she loves us all lots tends to be quite matter of fact about her opinions. She never thought we should go in with my mum and dad and said so, so certainly wouldn’t tell us she thought this was a good idea unless she really thought it was.
Hopefully a good barometer for tomorrow when we tell my parents although I am prepared for more resistance and challenges from them. So more driving tomorrow, emotional homecommings and potentially sleeping in our own bed albeit in squished into a corner in my parents house.
Putting good luck here too. I guess if you get the croft it’s meant to be and if not, it’s not. You’ll make the best of any opportunity I know xx
Comment by Michelle — 12 November 2011 @ 7:59 pm