A year on and I decided that driving to and from work daily and occasionaly to the supermarket or shopping mall was not really stretching my driving skills - and since it's always been a dream of mine to drive across the desert in the USA, I needed to do more.
When I first started driving I used to get strange and disturbing dreams every night after I'd been driving. I'd be re-running the journey and making ALL the mistakes and suffering all the mishaps I did *not* on the real journey (going through traffic lights, running off the road, brakes failing, etc). Once I started driving daily to and from work these stopped - but if I perhaps took a trip at the weekends a bit further afield (say, to Glasgow for the day, or when I took my friend to Stirling for her mother's funeral) they came back. So I knew I wasn't yet a *driver*. I needed the trip, just to prove to myself I could do it.
Saturday 3rd of May 2003 - drove from Edinburgh to Anthorn in Cumbria (wee tiny village right on the coast, past Carlisle) via the A7. I wanted to avoid as many motorways as possible - the A roads are more challenging, but less stressful for me personally. So the roads wind and twist, climb and descend and are fairly narrow in places - at least you stay awake! Managed to make my way through Carlisle and onto the right road with no real problems. Had a few qualms as I turned onto the road marked "Anthorn"....... wasn't wider than a farm track, covered in cow-sh*t and the road sign that read "Road Liable to Tidal Flooding" had me slightly worried. The "Restricted Bridge" had me even more worried (it was exactly as wide as my car), then the "When Water Reaches This Point It Is Two Foot Deep" sign rather clinched it for me - little brother lives WAY out in the country!
Survived that ok - spent Sunday catching up with brother and his wife. We did the "National IQ Test" on Sunday night on BBC. Rather surprised myself to get a score of 140 - little brother the scientist (he has a PhD with Honours) came a close second with 139. (heh heh - still beating little brother in that score - even if he was the one who got to go to university).
Monday 5th May headed south through Cumbria for Blackpool where my friend John and his family live. John and I have been "drinking buddies" for about 21 years. I decided to take the back roads through Cumbria south, visiting the little village we used to spend our summers in (Caldbeck) and the town my gran's family came from (Penrith). Discovered something about my father that day - he used to drive these roads towing a caravan (trailer home?) behind the car. After the second "1 in 4" descent (that means for every four foot you go forward, you also descend one foot in height - it's STEEP) (I think 1 in 3 is actually the steepest a normal car can manage). Yes, I discovered my father is a lunatic! (I guess I take after him, huh?)
Crossed "Shap Fell Summit" on the A road south - another really long, winding steep descent - and when I saw the sign for the M6 motorway I decided that maybe I'd take the easy route from there (the town of Kendal) to Blackpool. It was a breeze after those little roads!
Arrived in Blackpool in time for tea. We went out for an Italian meal that night and then watched "Kate and Leopold" on the DVD (my disc - I had promised to let John see it) while we caught up on the last 7 years. (some friendships are like that - you don't see them for years but you take up where you left off).
Tuesday 6th May did the grockle thing in Blackpool, taking photos to prove to the alt.tv.highlander fans that there really IS something tackier than Vegas and Tuesday night took John and the two kids (one aged 13, one aged 9) to see X-Men 2.
Wednesday - shopped and relaxed in Blackpool.
Thursday 8th May drove from Blackpool to Leeds. The recommended route is via the motorway M6 south and east to Manchester then north and east back up to Leeds. I decided that this was kind of out of the way - I took the straighter route through and over the Pennines (hilly *spine* of England) and I'm glad I did. Saw some gorgeous scenery (including a wind farm) and stopped for lunch at a "clog factory" and craft warehouse where I got a terrific lunch of freshly baked bap (Yorkshire bread roll) with home cured ham and salad, plus large mug of great coffee for under two pounds - same would have cost me three times that on the motorway cafes and not been as fresh.
Two and a half hours after arriving IN Leeds I finally found my friend Sue's house - eek! Have these people never heard of street signs? I discovered when I finally got to her house that I'd actually been within a few streets of it several times - but because I couldn't identify the streets I didn't know this!
Friday drove to a small town called "Castleford" just to the south of Leeds to visit another old friend........ and got caught up in the Leeds city motorways and ring routes again. I decided that I hate the roads in Leeds!
Saturday 10th May 2003 - drove home, using the A1/M1. The road runs from London to Edinburgh and changes from A road to Motorway, single carriageway to dual carriageway many times over its length. One minute you're on a wide, two lanes in each direction, divided highway - a mile or so later it's a narrow single lane in each direction, winding road. I stopped a couple of times for lunch, coffee, loo breaks and a couple more short stretch-my-leg breaks, and five hours later reached home. TIRED, but happy to have done it. No more "driving dreams" to disturb my sleep (they stopped on Monday and never returned during the trip)
