Our (Mud) Island Adventure: Scotland....the roadtrip! Part One

Its always the case. Back in the office today after a wonderful trip to Scotland and its hot and sunny outside. Luckily we were prepared for the Scottish weather, but not for its beauty! Someone in Scotland (or was it England) told me there are two kinds of weather in Scotland. Its either raining, or it is about to rain. And dear friends it rains a LOT in wee bonnie Scotland. Sammy and I didn't really notice though, because it is a fabulous place!

We left on Tuesday morning as it is at least a 7 hour drive up from Southampton to our first port of call in Glasgow. Now I am used to the driving by now, and most familiar with the scenery and roadways until just north of Manchester. Sammy has not been up so much so it was going to be mostly new to her. I didn't really have a chance to ask her for the first two hours, as I spent them on three seperate conference calls whilst Sammy disappeared into her own world and her iPod. She was very patient with me, the conference calls can be a real bore, but it kept me occupied at least. The scenery on the way up the A34 is really very very pretty. I can't wait to show all of you when you visit. (yes you, don't look behind you, I am talking to you!) You pass Shrewsbury and Oxford, past rolling green hills, with lots of fields of Oil Seed Rape, and cows and sheep. I happily refer to sheep as sheeples now. Its become a habit. Sammy thinks its very funny and cute, but most would find me annoying as I shout out SHEEPLES! every time I see any sheep. And there are a lot of sheep in those hills.... Anyway, once the A34 bit is done, we had to travel along the mercilessly boring M40 and then M42. These are four lane motorways with wooded board fencing on each side so you can't take in the scenery. SO much of boring. The M42 links into the M6 which took us past Birmingham. We did not go into the city but it took a while to drive past, probably because the city is the second biggest in England. That's it. Nothing else to see there I don't think. We stopped for some lunch somewhere around the Manchester area on the M6, the scenery from Birmingham had been more of the same, a few hills, more than a few grey houses and generally not the best looking part of England. But dear friends once you pass Manchester on the M6, the motorway opens up to some achingly beautiful scenery. We had patches of rain, but lots of sunshine, groups of cars travelling together over the miles like the Hobbit and his friends heading towards the Misty Mountain. You pass the outskirts of the lake district, and Sammy and I have made a mental note to visit soon. The afternoon sun through the rain clouds lights up patches of the hillsides like a stage, and the countryside gets steeper and more beautiful by the minute. The lake district in that part looks like Dullstroom with a few more trees, and a lot more ~~sheeples~~ sheep. You cross the border between England and Scotland at Carlisle and it is not immediately obvious, other than the great big St Andrews cross on the side of the road. But as you start to near Carlisle you see the stone walls separating fields instead of hedgerows, and the cows start to get woolier. Yes that's not a typo, the Cows (pronounced Coo's in Scotland) are hairier than most sheep. The run into Glasgow reminds me of the natal midlands around Pietermartizburg with man made forests of pine and other trees, and makes for an awesome drive. We arrived in Motherwell, near Glasgow late afternoon and checked into our hotel The Dakota. Click here to see. Its a funny kind of hotel really, in the middle of a business park, a large black rectangle of a building. Very dark inside but very nice rooms and a great restaurant and bar. As the purpose of going to Scotland was partly to work, I met with my colleagues and introduced Sammy to them and we had a great evening together rounded off trying some Scottish single malts. There are worse things to do on a Tuesday night. Strangely we were so mesmerised by the scenery in the way in that we didn't take any pictures of the drive! (I know bad form, but can't change it now!). Instead below some pictures of my colleagues. In part two Sammy goes to Glasgow for the day whilst I work at the Seminar and we transfer to Glenrothes for the night for some more work meetings.