Armin's World Tour of Scotland

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Facts of the Day:
Date: 01/July/2002
From: Swindon
Via: M5, M6
To: Penrith Travelodge
Miles: 269
Midges: none (I think)
Weather: Showers and sunshine
Mood: Excited

View of my corridor with my luggageFinally the day had arrived: 1st of July 2002, my departure date. After a long wait and quite a bit of preparation I was ready to go. A last lunch with my team from work, attempts to dry some still wet clothes, a final clean of the house and it was Monday afternoon. A huge pile of various bags, packpacks, shoes etc in my corridor. Would it all fit into the car?Some of the luggage in my carThe answer was yes. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get it all in. OK, some of it had to find a place somewhere behind my seat, but at least it found a place.Picture of my hiking boots behind my seatAnd I even have some space left for souvenirs, should I buy any (I think I probably will...). The weather was a mixture of everything: Some sunshine, some torrential rain, blue skys, black clouds, everything. A last stop at Tesco to fill up the tank with petrol and off I was. Via the A419 to Gloucester and then on to the M5 to head north. Traffic wasn't too bad until I approached Birmingham.Heavy traffic near BirminghamI think it probably took me more than an hour just to get past Birmingham.Picture of the Travelodge in PenrithIf you look at the picture on the left you will notice the 40 miles per hour speed restrictions. Well, I would have been glad if I had been able to reach 20 miles an hour. But even that passed and after a while traffic was moving again. During a break I decided it was time to think about where I was going to stay for the night. I wanted to stay somewhere close to the motorway and be fairly close to the border to Scotland, somewhere in the English Lake district probably.Picture of the landscape near Penrith I booked a room at the Travelodge in Penrith. After just under five hours of driving I arrived just before 21:00 hours. Check-in was quick and efficient, the room nothing special but sufficient for one night. I took my luggage into the room and went for a short walk in the area. On the left a view of the landscape near Penrith. And with that the day was over, time to prepare the page for the day (while listening to The White Stripes live on BBC Radio 1) and get some sleep to be fit for the next day.

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