Newbury & District NCT Newsletter - Autumn 2016 Newsletter - Newbury & Disctrict Branch | Page 24

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 24