Monday 27 September 2021.

(Cumbria – Crubenbeg)

A leisurely start, breakfast, shower and eventually a departure from Auntie’s just after 11am. It had been raining, but once again the skies were blue as we set off for Carlisle and onward to the Scottish border. It was slightly odd to enter Scotland so quickly, as it’s usually a long way from home.

The A74 was fine, the weather a mix of sunshine and showers, and we stopped briefly at services and topped up on fuel (there were queues, but it only took a few minutes, and they did have fuel, so we’ll call that a win despite the price). The traffic moved along nicely until we neared some roadworks just south of Glasgow. The delay was fortunately brief and we were soon heading for Stirling. After that it was just a case of onward… We detoured off the A9 into Auchterader, for a pit stop. We might have had lunch there too, but there were no parking spaces in the car park. Instead, we stopped at a Subway near Perth, which made it feel even more like our usual USA road trips, as that’s generally where we use Subway for sandwiches.

The scenery got progressively more imposing, and the frequent showers created rainbows over the mountains.

Soon enough, at around 4.15pm, we arrived at Highland Holiday Cottages, Crubenbeg, and found our way down the narrow private road. At the end was a collection of cottages, with the back left hand one being ‘Cedar’. We soon had our copious belongings unloaded and stored inside, and then we settled in for a cup of tea and a good read of the visitor guide.

We eventually decided that we ought to go and seek out dinner, which we did by visiting the local truck stop/diner. Good food, served quickly, no need to dress up and it’s located reasonably nearby. I envisage we’ll be back before the week is out!

And that was it for our road trip day. Tomorrow will be something slightly more active and (hopefully) with scenery…