sleeping, we may be in for a
disturbed night’s sleep. (As new
parents we were still in denial that
undisturbed sleep with children was
possible.)
went back to the hotel and
managed to get access to the room
to collect what I had forgotten. It’s
always your fault, Dad, just accept it,
it’s easier that way!
After fighting through the rain in
Manchester we finally arrived at
Carlisle at 21:45 - time to settle down
for the night. Overnight bags out of
the car and the travel cot out to
check in for the evening. The room
was exactly what we ordered, what
was needed, and, after a wrestling
match between myself and the
travel cot, which I won on points, it
was time to put sleepy baby to bed
and get some shut eye for the final
journey up north in the morning.
Sleepy baby? Did I say sleepy baby?
Never have I seen our son so awake.
Eyes wide and taking everything in.
Luckily he wasn’t a baby that cried
too much but it seemed that he had
decided that he was going to be
nocturnal tonight.
Back on the road now bound for the
Highlands of Scotland - the Lake
District is really nice!
We managed to sleep in 2 hour
blocks through the night so, whilst we
were tired in the morning, it wasn’t
too bad. Nothing that some caffeine
couldn’t fix.
After breakfast we headed for
Scotland on the M6 but, after about
10 minutes, I got a sinking feeling we
had left something at the hotel.
Nope it wasn’t the child; we left his
bedding.
We turned back at the next junction,
NCT Newbury & District
Fuel stop and nappy change done
then over the border. Just outside of
Glasgow we reached more road
works and, by this time, I had
decided that any timetable was out
the window so we would just aim to
arrive safely. After all, it was
December and we had to cross over
the Cairngorm mountain range in
what was being reported as a snow
blizzard.
Eventually we hit the end of the
motorway in Stirling and we were
struck by the most amazing view of
Stirling Castle and the Wallace
Monument. I thought to myself,
“Either they are fertilising the fields or
we may need to stop in the layby up
here to change a nappy”. We
pulled in to a snowy layby and
discovered that it was indeed a
nappy change required. Two
thoughts went through my head at
this stage – 1. “Wow that nappy
stinks”, and 2. “I hope that I don’t
get stranded in the snow”. Our luck
was in, there was a bin in the layby
so that was problem one solved.
Now to move off in the snow - I
remembered the rule for driving in
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