Long day

The alarm was set for 6:15 - there was was much to do before vacating the cottage at 10:00. Urban-Cub was already up with Ellie so we tag-teamed her for a while so that we could both get things done. The Silver Vixen emerged and Pistol Pete came down. The cottage became a have of activity, clearing, packing, cleaning and loading the cars.

Pistol Pete and Urban-Cub set off first. Ellie was due for a bottle within the hour, so the idea was to get on the way and stop for breakfast and to feed Ellie at the first sensible service station.

The Gorse Fox and the Silver Vixen left at about nine o'clock and headed out northwards. The idea was to fill up with diesel near Penrith and pick up the motorway at junction 40. It probably added a few miles to the journey, but the motorway was virtually empty and with cruise control set, the drive was quite relaxing.

The first hold up came as we entered the roadworks down near junction 19 through to 16. Traffic slowed right down, but it did keep moving (unlike the northbound journey last week). We stopped at Sandbach for a comfort break and some coffee then merged back into the traffic, slipped onto the M6 Toll road and and continued on home. M42, M40, A34, M3, M27...

We got home just before four o'clock - the 360 miles had taken just under 7 hours, including the fuel stop and the comfort break. This was really better than we could have hoped for on a Friday. The latter part of the journey was through several cloudbursts - but even still, the traffic behaved. As we approached the M3 we heard that the M6 had been closed behind us in both directions up in the roadworks by J18. An hour later it was still closed. We had been so lucky to get through without incident or delay.

It didn't take long to unload the car and unpack. Jasper was clearly delighted to see us as he hovered around our feet as we sorted things out.

It had been a good week and was so nice to spend time with Pistol Pete, Urban-Cub, and Ellie.

Addendum: The Gorse Fox has just read that the M6 remained closed for 8 hours. Two lorries had collided and one had leaked 18000 litres of liquid onto the carriageways. Fire service had declared a major incident.