Final catch up with family and a rush up to Scotland

Cheers! Us with Jackies mum, Pauline

We had a lovely Sunday dinner cooked by James at his and Fiona’s. We did think portion control had improved at theirs, but no! It was however a delicious piece of beef, the Yorkshire puddings were very impressive and the seven veg (unless I’ve forgotten any) a real treat.

We didn’t rush off on Monday morning, we’d booked a space in a pub carpark in Lymm in Cheshire (campsite location: 53°22'44.4"N 2°29'15.8"W). A good journey allowed for a walk to the dam and round the lake before an early pint. The pub WiFi was good enough we could even join Monday Club for a chat, to save Tim from the wing and windsurfing conversation that Mark and Bill gravitate towards.

Our spot for the night in the Crown pub car park in Lymm 

With a very pleasant walk round Lymm dam

With impending announcements from Boris for England and Nicola for Scotland we decided to only have one further stop on our way back to Nicky and Tony. A lovely little site, for three mobilehomes near Lanark (campsite location: 55°42'00.6"N 3°48'58.1"W). We’d rung to book, and were pleasantly surprised to find he had space. He’d then gone out and mown the walking path round the fields and through the woods.

Second night in our rush north at Lee Garden Farm. Motorhome parking with three spaces with all services (including wifi)...

...And a great walk through the woods

A lazy start got us to N&T’s by about 3.00pm, Nicky was at work, and so was Tony, but lecturing to students online. All part of the ‘new normal’. He soon finished and we had a walk around of what had happened since we’d been away. I think we managed two and a half hours before changing into working clothes to do some work on the drive. Manu and Crystal had helped to finish the lockblock and Tony had worked hard to put new stone chippings down where we park Ted. This left the rest of the drive, some sub base, then weed suppressing membrane before tons of chippings. Many trips to the quarry to get about three tons a go on the trailer and we’ve nearly finished. Will one more load do it?

Driving on the M90 motorway over the new Queensferry crossing bridge over the Firth of Forth WNW of Edinburgh. This bridge was opened to traffic in August 2017, cost £1.35 billion to build and runs alongside the Forth Road Bridge, carrying the A9000 and the Forth Railway Bridge. You can just see one of the suspension towers of the road bridge on the left and, on the right, a bit of the ironwork of the iconic railway bridge built in 1890 and now a UNESCO world heritage site. Location: 56°00'00.2"N 3°24'55.9"W

We’ve also moved on to the path from the front door, so lockblock has been Tony’s mission between lecturing and preparing for his students, some of whom only became his students, in a subject that isn’t his, about two days before the beginning of term!

Double rainbow at Tony and Nickys 

We spent the first four days sleeping in Ted as Nicky had Airbnb guests in. Ghengis joined us the first night, but as it was the coldest September night in 23 years he didn’t fancy the next one, even though it was much warmer! Last night however he’d made himself at home in the bedroom, curled up very neatly on my pillow, not shifting till after I’d gone to bed, read my book and turned the light off! Cookie cat was delighted we were back in, apparently she is another cat we’ve ruined! She has always been referred to by Nicky (who’s cat she is) as ‘the spoilt brat child’, she hates all the others, they might look at her, or heaven forbid touch her! This has always resulted in caterwauling. Since we left however she has been shouting at the closed door and the unsuspecting guests behind it....!

She waited for Genghis to leave and staked her claim on the bed!

Genghis stakes his claim on the bed and kicks teddy out

The other animals we wanted to check on were our hatchlings. We had been given the bad news by Manu and Crystal, so at least we were expecting it, but....of the 10 chicks successfully reared and put out in the big outdoors, it turns out 7 of them were male, what are the chances? So we came back to only 4 of our babies, Number 10, two black and white with a slight copper tinge around the neck and the handsome cockerel that was the perfect yellow chick has been kept, as long as he behaves and doesn’t become aggressive. At the moment this is looking fine as he is a big wuss, running away from the teenagers and not exerting any authority at all!

All in all it’s wonderful to be back, and just like we haven’t been away.

Like we've never been away. Jackie helping Tony lay the lockblock path 

She's not sleeping on the job, she's stopping the wind blowing away the terram (weed suppressing membrane) before we covered it with the stone chippings on the front drive