It was a short trip. Drive up on 23rd, drive back on Christmas day.
We were worried about Meg travelling but, once again, she amazed us. She had been drooling on short trips over less than a nile, so a round trip of 720 miles was a bit worrying. But after a little nursing from Linda, she then found here own space in a little area behind the passenger seat - and she slept. As the trip progressed she moved out and finally was happy to sleep in her bed, on the floor, or on a sofa. No drooling, and full of beans when we stopped. She is an amazing dog.
Once in Ribchester we paid no attention to social distancing within the family but avoided other people like the plague (rather apt?). We had filled up in Cornwall (tier 1) at a card only pump, before we left. We can do the 360 miles on 3/4 of a tank so we had to fill up again in Lancashire (Tier 3), in order to get home again but this involved going into the garage to pay. Mask was worn, hands were washed and cards disinfected.
We let the family know we had arrived and, lo and behold, beer was delivered by Linda's grandson. Then we all sat in the van eating pizza and drinking coffee, beer and some weird Aloe vera drink.
It was cold on the first night. Outside temperature below zero and there was ice on the puddles in the morning. We were a bit cold in bed because we were to lazy to get up and sort out the extra bed coverings.
On Christmas Eve morning we skyped with my son who lives in Melbourne, but was spending time with his in-laws (wonderful folk) in Batemans Bay NSW. We compared the difference of how Australia has dealt with Covid and the UK shambles.
We spend a great Christmas Eve with the Linda's daughter and the grand kids. And our dog Meg met Rhona for the first time. Meg is a 5 month old Border Collie, Rhona is a three year old Spaniel and quite assertive. Although Meg never backed down, a hierarchy was established with Rhona higher up than Meg. Then they got on well and played and ran about together on a walk, so that at the end of the day they were both knackered. The next time they meet, Meg will be fully grown so it will be interesting to see if the relationship changes.
We put extra covers on the bed at night and left the heater on low, so we we nice and warm that night.
On Christmas day morning we went to the house to open Christmas presents and we stayed till around 12:30 then we headed back to the van, got it ready and set off on the 360 miles back home. An easy drive. The roads were very quiet, and there was no rain. We stopped twice on the way for an hour each time making coffee and having snacks in the van each time. On the first stop we talked with my daughter in Scotland by phone. We wanted to visit but Scotland is in lockdown and the boarder is closed.
The journey took 8.5 hours including stops.
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