The weather wasn't looking so great beforehand, but Wayne, Julie, Jean and I met up at John & Sue's house for coffee and some early banter before we set out on the first leg to Scotland. One party's loo visit, which must have been particularly rewarding or necessary, set off the house alarm, and she knows who she is!
It was a bit gloomy, but dry, as we went round Birmingham on the M5 to find the M6 moving pretty well and made good progress to our first fuel and coffee stop at Sandbach. The dry conditions continued until north of Manchester when, leading our pack of 4 of Harley-Davidson's finest, we seemed to be just getting away with it as we kept skirting dark clouds and rain. Finally, our luck looked like it would run out and I made a last minute decision to leave the motorway at services near Preston. Good call! It was time for a spot of lunch anyway and, just as we sat down, the heavens opened and torrential rain fell. The motorway and other roads remained wet for the rest of the journey, but we didn't encounter too much more rain. My TomTom took us in the back road to our hotel, although I wasn't to know this at the time, narrow with a poor surface and via a farm, to an isolated Best Western at Shap Wells, near Penrith. The place itself was pretty good although there were a couple of buses full of 'wrinklies' on tour staying as well. John & Wayne noted that their sat nav route via the front entrance looked much better and I had to agree when we left that way the next day. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and an early dinner, but decided we couldn't bear the entertainment laid on for the 'wrinklies', so had an early night, earlier than most of us were used to so not entirely successful. The place had been used to house captured German Navy & Army officers during WWII, and is set in very pleasant surroundings by a small stream and moorland.
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