On the Road Again!

Tuesday As expected the weather was terrible from the moment we set off. Our mood was one of optimism that no matter what, we'd enjoy the trip. Even a prang that broke the left mirror couldn't ruin the "midweekend" entirely. It looks as though we will need to splash the cash... How about a Just Giving appeal? The Ohrex (the satnav) decided to avoid the Dartford Crossing and go what I always think is the long way around the M25 via Gatwick and Heathrow airports. It saves us the £2.50 toll and maybe a lot of sitting in traffic. We were on the road early, for us 9am is early. I had set a departure time of 8.30am but that was simply to get us moving. After the heavy rain there was a lane near Ashford and another near Maidstone that had the hard shoulder (emergency lane) flooded. later I read on Google that the flood near Ashford had spread across the entire three lane highway.  We were making good time at our regular 55mph on the GPS driven HUD (Heads Up Display) and stop...

We had a bit of a broken night. Firstly it was freezing. It was raining when we got back from across the street at the Druids Inn. As a side note I can thoroughly recommend the pub for its food, friendly welcome to us and Reggie. For half the night we shared the bed with him. Then he went and either slept on the sofa or the floor in the lounge. Back again about 6.30am. So as we were up we had breakfast and set off for our first port of call, Bakewell.  We parked on an island in the river Derwent. It's a big island.  The river was a raging torrent and earlier in the week had burst its banks. The flood barriers in evidence all along the walkways. Of course, with no great sense of direction we walked the opposite direction to the town. As I had forgotten gloves on the trip we saw a Farm and Country shop - Torne Valley Limited, Haddon Road, Bakewell. A real Alladin's Cave. Anything you might want they seemed to stock. Plenty of gloves. I bought a pair. They are really...