A summer Friday afternoon is not the quietest time on the motorway, as everyone seems to be heading for the Lake District or Scotland in their caravan, campervan or over-loaded car. Today we were treated to lengthy traffic jams, reports of even more ahead on the radio and very slow nose-to-tail driving. There are still major road works near Lancaster and at one point we even lost a lane as the central reservation was being mowed. I appreciate the worker needs protection from the traffic but surely a better time to mow the grass could have been chosen. Inevitably driver frustration led to some extremely bad driving but no accidents, thankfully. I felt sorry for HGV drivers and others who had a much longer drive ahead of them.
The first of August tomorrow is a reminder that most of the summer is behind us. Despite a warm April, the next few weeks were quite cool and a lot of the fruit and veg in the garden are further behind than usual. I had thrown the waterproofs in the car as we left as I have given up persuading myself that it will stay dry. By the time we got to Beattock there was a torrential downpour and Scotland is having it’s wettest July since records began. As it dried off, we continued through Midlothian under a grey sky and I had to smile when Chris Rea’s ‘Looking for the summer’ came on the car radio.
On a more positive note, I am forging ahead with planning the Lincoln Highway drive for next summer. I have figured out all the stops and possible diversions so as soon as I have enough air miles, I will get the flights booked and the car and hotels. The open road beckons….