Scotland Holiday - Day 1

The day started with some disappointing cloud and I very nearly forgot some of the stuff I needed with me. We were under way early and ate well at Sutton Scotney. The services there are verging on the inadequate but the Little Chef seems consistently good with service fairly attentive and prompt. Our second stop at Norton Canes generated the money for the M6 toll and rather more as we both won on the machines. Next time we go there should be more £500 machines there. Much less satisfactory in most respects was our last motorway stop at Lancaster (formerly Forton). It is certainly very ugly and was not enhanced today by the onset of heavy rain. The toilets were overcrowded and overheated to a level which might have been welcome in January but was inappropriate for today. In fact the whole of the very dated service area seemed cramped as though designed for smaller people. The ladies toilet had a huge queue and that is something you rarely see today. The saving grace was the excellent food from M & S food.

Several sets of roadworks north of Preston became tedious. A combination of the usual thoughtlessness of the Highways Agency and the apparent lethargy of a sparse workforce seemed to involve the destruction of a lot of the verge – at sites just far enough apart for one to be able to speed up between them in an essentially futile manner. The work evidently involved a bonanza for shareholders in whatever firm makes that ubiquitous purple piping.

Carlisle Cameo

With the rain continuing, I was not sure about the wisdom of stopping in Carlisle but we did. It seemed that the station was difficult to access by road and we parked a little way away. I was beginning to tense up when I discovered that they no longer do platform tickets. With revenue protection staff having a day out at this station and the coffee bar I wanted for Greg on the platform, I wondered what to do. Fortunately the ticket office lady was very helpful and had a solution. I simply bought a cheap ticket – a ‘Duo’ ticket in fact – and was free to move around. There were several photographers at this classic railway location and with both police and staff much in evidence, not a hint of hassle for any of us. Once again I was very pleased with my pictures. The Friday traffic on our departure was nightmarish but no more, I suppose, than many towns or cities.



The weather remained poor for much of the journey and our evening in Glasgow was one of protracted dusk. Dark cloud removed many photographic opportunities but we went anyway to Glasgow Central where I got more good results by using timer and handy surfaces.