Saturday 28th June 2014 (part 3)

Thursday.

The long way home. But at least its all downhill from Kielder!

and as is usual, on the day we head home, the weather was glorious, bright sunshine and light winds. So, Jools and I head out to the squirrel hide to get our last shots of the red buggers. We were rewarded with two of the youngs heading right up to the feeder in front of the hide and feasting on the bird seed there. There were just a few feet away. The camera was set on ISO 10,000 and the shots came out fine, unblurry. Perfect.

Lets go home.

Back to the cabin to pack, have breakfast and one last coffee, load the bags into the car and hope there is room for us inside. There is, and so after dropping the key at the site office, we head out onto the open road, with several hundred miles to go. At least up here on the moors, the roads were empty, and driving was fun, heading dwon the rollercoaster that is the A68, heading over blind summits at 60mph. Great fun, just hoping there was nothing waiting on the other side, or we would be in big trouble.



Onto the A69 to Newcastle, which we had timed so to miss rush hour heading into the Toon or into Gateshead, and so we headed south into Durham. We were to call back to look at the Dark Red Helleborines, as they were not open on the way up, so a return trip was agreed upon, especially as the site was just off the main road, and we knew where to look.



So, we arrived at the old quarry, parked up and went inside. At first it looked as it we were to be unlucky again, as every plant I went to was yet to open, or had even grown to be fully erect. But at last, one plant had open flowers. Many of them in fact, so I was able to get shots, and say I had at least seen one open.



Happy with that we headed south. On and on the road went, it becomes mind-numbing after a while, heading past Sunderland, Durham, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Newark, Grantham. The miles piled up, we carried on hour after hour. It got to two, and we stopped at a Burger King just shy of Peterborough. It did what we wanted, we also stretched our legs.

I always felt that in reaching Newark, you are almost on the home stretch, but it isn't. The road just seems to take ages to pass Stamford, Peterborough before we head off onto the A14 to Cambridge and then down the M11 towards London. The plan had been to get here for seven, but we made good time and it was just half four. We headed down the M11 expecting to hit traffic at any minute, although it was heavy, it wasn't bad.

And onto the M25, traffic heavy, but we make good time. Until we get to within three and a half miles of Dartford, and then we hit the traffic. But, the traffic moved fairly quickly, and by five we were crossing the bridge and heading into Kent. This was the final stretch.

Just after six, and after 1422 miles we arrived home, after dropping Bradey off at his house, and we could pop the kettle on and chill out. In fact we had to call in at tesco on the way from Dover, so we had milk and something for dinner. Jeez, we were shattered, but home. Whilst we were away, the builders had repaired our chimneys, so they should not now let the water in. That looks good, and news came that our new porch is to be done on Monday, or started.

All that was missing, was the cats, and we would collect them in the morning. Until then, time for bed.