Meanwhile, at the motorway service station...

...a heron is wading in the lake! No, not Tebay, nor Annandale Water, but Stafford North. Things are certainly looking up on the environmental front at service stations.

GG and I are on a short break. We met at Stroud bus station at 9am and got to our hotel in Preston just after 5pm. Even allowing for four further pickups and two meal/rest stops, that's a lot of time to spend on a coach! Fortunately we had wonderful seats just behind the driver's seat, and we weren't too hot, as we might have been in the higher temperatures of Monday or Tuesday this week.

Our destination for tomorrow is the Lake District. A steam train ride and a boat trip on Lake Windermere are on the itinerary. Earlier this evening we had a sudden heavy shower of rain, which was blissful. If I hadn't been standing next to a door fitted with an alarm, I would have run out and danced in it!

The hotel is comfortable, and we have our own rooms. I find this wonderful, because I really enjoy having a bit of space. We are well catered for, and dinner went down well, though I don't get the whole underground-restaurant-without-windows vibe. Light does matter!