Hotel to Motel

Yesterday I started my journey back to Aberdeen. I would have liked to stop overnight at Tebay Services which feels like a hotel despite being on a motorway. It was fully booked, and despite calling to check for a cancellation there were no rooms available.

Instead I ended up in a hotel just off the motorway at Carlisle. A huge come down after Winnersh except in price which was about the same. This motel was maybe built in the 60s and feels quite dated and in some areas in need of refurbishment.

The service is also in a different class and the quality of the food not great. Nonetheless I suppose it does what it has to. I managed a meal, a beer and breakfast.

Yesterday I did about 300 miles at an average speed of 42 mph. What a long and tiresome day. I set off promptly after breakfast today hoping to miss at least some of the traffic and made much better progress.

Stopped at Cairn Lodge to see how it looks under the ownership of the Tebay services family. It has been totally transformed and looks much better, and much busier. Bought a few things in the farmshop, then non stop to Aberdeen. Despite a couple of hold ups the average speed today was something in excess of 60 mph, much better.