Category Archives: Glencaple

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 11 – an ‘off’ day

#SEWES2016

Sept 11 – Bankend to Gretna to Glencaple and back to Bankend

Things didn’t quite go to plan today. Because we booked in to Hutton Lodge for two nights, I wanted to use today to visit the Devil’s Porridge Museum in Eastriggs. It didn’t happen.

Driving around on an inflate-a-spare, limited to 50 miles and 50 mph, didn’t allow much leeway. We’d already driven the day before and would be again later to go for supper, although we hoped for a resolution long before then.

We didn’t dare leave the B&B either because that would be the time the tyre fitter would arrive.

The phone calls started again about 10:00 am. Phone the rental company, they say phone roadside assistance. Call roadside assistance, they say call the rental company. Send an email to the girl who rented us the car. Out of office message.

Things continued this way. The last words the recovery guy said the previous day “tyre fitter will be out by noon”. According to their computer system, he made the repair on the side of the road near Shawhead. Nope. Didn’t happen.

Finally, the ‘ace in the hole’ was played. American Express says no resolution – no payment. That got things moving. They were sending someone out with a new car.

About 4:30, I heard the rumble of a diesel lorry outside the B&B. Sure enough it was the ‘real’ recovery vehicle. He shook his head over the entire situation, but loaded Iain Insignia onto the rollback ready to drive us to Glasgow Airport to get us a replacement vehicle.

While all this happened, a phone call came in from an associate with the rental company branch in Carlisle. He was bringing us a new car and would an automatic be all right.

Recovery driver took the call and the two agreed that rather than float the car all the way back to the airport, we’d rendezvous at the Gretna Gateway Outlet Village.

Resolution closer but not there yet. When we rendezvoused, guy from Carlisle wanted a credit card# to pay for the full tank of fuel in the replacement vehicle. Nope. We paid for a full tank on the first car and only drove it 130 miles. He, too, shook his head over replacing the car over a flat tyre.

Once all the paperwork was completed, and I signed on the dotted line(s), we took possession of a black Ford Mondeo, which in North America is a Ford Fusion. I drove the exact same car to my book launch for A Shadow in the Past in Kansas back in 2012, but that’s another story.

Iain Insignia – starting mileage 3490 miles (almost brand spanking new!)
Iain Insignia – ending mileage 3620 miles

The Ford Mondeo – starting mileage 51403 miles (been around the block a few times)

It was late and we were hungry, so we drove straight to the Nith Hotel for supper. Rather than risk setting off another car alarm, we drove in the same direction the car faced and drove past Caerlaverock Castle and through the hamlet of Shearington on our way back to Hutton Lodge.

The day wasn’t a total waste. I had haggis (award winning no less) with my bacon and eggs at breakfast, got some blog work completed, and some manuscript formatting done, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to spend the second day in Scotland.

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 10 – Glasgow to Bankend

#SEWES2016

Sept 10 – Glasgow to Bankend

The wait to clear customs hasn’t changed. It still takes forever. And that’s because of the queue to talk to a person. Through there and on to the car rental desk. Another long wait but that was the paperwork. Pre-pay for the tank of fuel because it’s cheaper, roadside assistance, etc. Our little car wasn’t quite so little. We took possession of a Vauxhall Insignia, 6-speed turbo diesel. We headed off to the ASDA store in The Phoenix Retail Park for at least one bottle of distilled/demineralized water for hubby’s CPAP machine.

When in the UK and driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, whilst sitting on the ‘wrong’ side of the car, and shifting gears with the ‘wrong’ hand, I am the designated driver. So no drinkies for me if we have to drive to a place for a meal. Besides, my husband hates driving over there. Did it once and that was enough.

I had brought my unlocked Samsung phone with me so I picked up a pay as you go SIM card. Figured, I could use it if we needed a second phone (purchased a plan through Rogers for hubby’s BlackBerry before we left home). After last year’s paying £10 for a SIM card that wouldn’t work, I wasn’t going to spend that much again. So this time I opted for ASDA’s own SIM card which only set me back 50p.

When we were over in 2000 we had seen Dunure Castle from the main A77 road. I had pretty much forgotten about it until seeing one of the BBC Scotland photo galleries in the weeks leading up to the trip. So, we put the location into Satnav Sally and off we went.

Dunure Castle is free but you have to pay to park in their car park because it’s all part of a larger complex with playing fields, playground equipment and public toilets. It cost us £2.50 to be able to wander in the remains of the castle and use the toilets before moving on.

Here’s our pretty blue car, that I named Iain. He’s the same size as a Buick Regal, which is bigger than my Chevy Cobalt that I drive every day.

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Our first rental car “Iain Insignia”
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Dunure Castle and doocot (dovecote)
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Dunure Castle
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Firth of Clyde with Ailsa Craig in the background
Dunure Castle
Dunure Castle
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Doocot (dovecote)

Despite the beautiful blue sky, the wind blowing in off the water made it cool. Not quite jacket weather but I had a long-sleeved, black (soak in the sun’s rays) top on and even with that, I felt the chill a few times.

Not quite the way we drove from Dunure Castle but you get the idea. We went across the A719, the B7023, B741, A713, A712 to meet up with the A75 near Crocketford. Got my fix of narrow roads with passing places the first day. Add some cattle grids and narrow gates and it made for quite the adventure.

I mentioned earlier our ‘first’ rental car… well, there was a reason for that. Whilst driving across the aforementioned series of roads, we had a flat tyre. Meeting a car on a narrower road and getting over to make room for both of us to pass, some mud  sucked me off the edge and into a cleverly disguised pothole. And pothole is being kind. It was a bloody crater! It made for a bump but didn’t give it much thought at the time.

A bit further along the road, the tyre pressure indicator light came on. I pulled off the road but we couldn’t see anything amiss. At least now we were on the main A75. I limped into a lay-by, thanking our lucky stars that we decided to add the roadside assistance package (fix your car or bring you a new one) to our rental package.

I made the first of many phone calls at 3:00 pm. We were still stuck on the side of the road waiting at 6:00 pm! Eventually, the guy came and put the spare tyre on. They wouldn’t authorize us to do that (my husband is a recently retired mechanic) because we could jack the car up in the wrong place, damage the car, it could fall off the jack… yadda, yadda, yadda. They farted around long enough that the tyre company the rental and roadside assistance people use had closed for the day.

Two of the many phone calls were to the B&B where we were staying. The first call, I left a message on the answering machine explaining the situation. Then when 6:00 came and we were still sat there, I called back and spoke to them. At least we had one less worry… our room would be waiting for us no matter the hour we arrived.

See Shawhead on the map above? That’s how close to Dumfries we were. We sat there for 3 hours while the guy sent out to find us and get us mobile again looked for us on the other side of Dumfries!

He assured us that a tyre fitter would be at our B&B before noon to finish the job. He took down the address of where we were staying, and sent us off on our not-so-merry way.

After checking in at Hutton Lodge, getting the same room as we had last year, and our membership material from Historic Scotland waiting for us, we drove over to the Nith Hotel in Glencaple for a late supper. By then, I could have used a stiff drink but since I was driving (and limping around with a wounded car), I couldn’t.

After leaving the restaurant, while turning the car around on one of the narrow streets, I set off someone’s car alarm. I didn’t touch the car but there wasn’t any more than an inch of space on either side of the wing mirrors between the cars parked on both sides of this wee lane.

Not the nicest way to start a trip but with any luck, everything will get fixed in the morning.

 

#Scotland 2015 Day 16 – Barnsley to Bankend

#Scotland 2015 – Sept 26, 2015

Since my leg gave me grief yesterday and wouldn’t allow me to walk all the way to the Barnsley Cemetery and back to the hotel, we headed straight here after breakfast. The weather cooperated and although the sun was in the wrong place for some of the photos, the architecture here was beautiful.

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Barnsley Cemetery
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Barnsley Cemetery
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Barnsley Cemetery

I could have spent a lot more time prowling around through here but I do have plenty of photos to be able to draw from (only a sample are here on the blog) when it comes time to sit down and write. We were booked in at Hutton Lodge near Dumfries that night so we had to get a move on.

The going was slow for a time because of the roadworks on the M1 (construction season here, too) but traffic still flowed smoothly. The motorways are great when you need to get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time, but we much prefer the slower pace of the secondary roads.

The further away from Barnsley we got, the more overcast it became.

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The Pennines along the A66

As we approached the junction with the M6 motorway at Penrith, the police were at the scene of an accident. A guy had dumped his motorcycle and slid under the guardrail – his bike still wedged there. He was on a stretcher and two of the emergency responders held a blanket up blocking the view of the passersby. I figured he was dead and if not then, very soon.

Onto the M6 we went stopping at the Gretna Gateway Outlet Village – not to shop but to find a cashpoint because we needed cash and to use the toilets (what else is new?).

Before we got back on the road, hubby put the postcode for Hutton Lodge into Satnav Sally. The directions brought us in the back way (less traffic – yay!) but at an impossible angle to pull in the driveway to Hutton Lodge. At least we knew where it was so we could come back from the opposite direction and be able to pull in easily.

Now that we knew where our B&B was located, we could set out to explore. I had heard of Morton Castle from a friend who used to live in the area. It’s a Historic Scotland property so it was easy to find in the HS maps on our satnav. Driving there was a different story.

It would be really easy to miss the castle as it’s down below the hill. But we found it. Unfortunately, the ground was wet and muddy from previous rains.

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near Morton Castle
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Morton Castle
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Door in Morton Castle

The ‘club’ shaped window in the door was too high for me to be able to look out it to get my picture so I just held the camera up in the opening and clicked, having no idea what I would get. The photo below is the result of my efforts. Not bad, eh?

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Scene shot from the door in Morton Castle
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Location of the door from the outside of Morton Castle
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The Great Hall at Morton Castle

It was late enough now that we could return to Hutton Lodge and check in. The only traffic we saw on this road was a family with their dog, and a young girl on a horse. The horse was skittish so rather than spook it, I pulled over as far as I could and shut the car off until after they passed.

When we arrived at Hutton Lodge, our host helped us bring our luggage in and made us a reservation for supper at the Nith Hotel in Glencaple.

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Our room at Hutton Lodge
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Our room at Hutton Lodge
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Our room at Hutton Lodge

Once we were settled and I had wi-fi (had to purchase a BT Wi-Fi pass), I googled the accident we had seen earlier. The guy wasn’t dead after all, but had been airlifted to hospital in serious condition.

Our dinner reservations were for 7:30 but we knew if we stayed in our room much longer, we’d fall asleep so we took the chance that we could eat sooner than later and drove to the Nith Hotel.

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replica stones in the garden at Hutton Lodge
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Hutton Lodge

The only problem with leaving at this time of day, the sun was directly in my eyes all the way across the Glencaple Road. Thinking that our table wouldn’t be ready yet as we were about an hour early and the hotel was busy, after parking the car we took in the view and I got a few photos.

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Sun setting at Glencaple

It was busy in the restaurant but our table was ready. We were in the corner by the windows so we could look out over the Solway Firth. The meal was excellent and great value. Hubby had the gammon steak and I had seafood spaghetti.

Although not completely dark when we came out of the restaurant, the light was changing rapidly. This photo turned out brighter than it actually was.

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Sunset at Glencaple

By the time we got into the car and turned around to go back to the B&B it was pitch black – and even worse out on the narrow with passing places and no street lights. Some numptie behind me rode my back bumper making it almost impossible for me to see because of the shadow cast by our car in his headlights. First passing place I came to, I pulled in and let him go.

Even on high beams, the headlights weren’t that great. When we got back to Hutton Lodge, I snapped a quick photo of the moon before we rent up to our room and I had a couple of glasses of wine leftover from when we were in Kennethmont.

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Moon over Bankend