Rambling Russells

Thur 25th It was our turn to do the driving this visit so we picked up our passengers at Gretna and set off down the M6. A short pause for refreshments and a leg stretch, before reaching Warrington. We were pausing here for lunch and a visit to QVC outlet shop. It has been several years since we visited and although the shop has moved it was still there - full of "returns" There was nothing in particular we were looking for but it is one of those shops that you need to keep visiting as you never know what they will have in! Unfortunately there were no bargains for us today but it is quite an eye opener to look around. Moving on we experienced thunder and lightning as we travelled across the M62 and the sky was black, but eventually reached Bradford. The volume of traffic here was more than we are used to (!) although some of it was due to an accident! Considering the weather we decided to eat before going to the hotel and the traffic queues told us we had made the right dec...

Fri 5th Our chauffeur picked us up in Gretna at the beginning of our journey to Northumberland! We were going with 2 friends and one of them was doing all the driving on this trip. We set off in lovely sunshine but the wind was rather chilly. We headed across country, travelling on the military road rather than the busier A69 and stopping briefly at The Sill for refreshments. On reaching Northumberland we headed for the coast at Blyth. Our chauffeur was also our personal tour guide, having lived in this area for several years. A commentary on the area was therefore forthcoming and very informative, although we did get "that never used to be there! a few times too. Travelling down the coast, via Whitley Bay, we saw a variety of sights - ships and boats of all sizes, impressive buildings - and although the sea was a mass of choppy white waves - there were plenty of people walking - or flying above - the beaches. Reaching Tynemouth we were ready for another br...