Southern Scotland & Northeast England

Just completed a 1,200 mile round trip taking in Southern Scotland and the Northeast England – Howwwaaaayy! This will probably be one of the last trips of the year – as things slow down a little for everyday greeting card salesman.

The best route north from Sunny Sussex must be the M40, M42 and M6. My overriding impression while driving at night was the onslaught of other chaps like me, either heading home or travelling to their patch for business the next day. Whereas the Blue Machine, my beaten up old Passat with seats moulded to hours of driving, is my frontline sales vehicle. Most sales car seem to take on the form of BMW 3 series or 5 series if the sales person is extremely talented or Vauxhall Vectras. The night drivers do seem to be predominantly BMW drivers and these drivers seem only happy when three inches from your back bumper. On my route north, sure enough if I was trapped in the outside lane with a maniac on full beam attached to my boot, at least a quarter of the time it turned out to be a BMW – is this the case – more research required into the worst tailgating vehicles?!

Supper – Tebay farm shop – a Beef Growler – like a pork pie, but with beef and horseradish. I was tempted to try there other pie selections – Pork pie with chutney, Ham and Asparagus who would have believed that in Cumbria, Chicken and Ham and Pork and Apple – the agony of choice, probably chose badly, but all looked delicious. What are the best flavours for pies?

On Tuesday morning a beautiful layer of snow covered the hills from Carlisle to Glasgow, smoked snaked up from a few cottages tucked under the folds of the hills. The thought of escaping to a cottage in the middle of nowhere, where your prized asset is a full, dry log shed and the snow shovel is essential everyday seemed highly desirable, especially while sitting for an hour trying to get through the roadworks round Glasgow – they’re there for a year. Why doesn’t the whole city spend one night working on them, in a massive Challenge Anneka and save thousands - millions from, including themselves from at least a year of misery?

Tullibardine Distillery was my first stop on Tuesday. A fabulous new visitor centre has been built just off the A74 – blink and you miss the turn. The distillery produced excellent whisky, well worth trying. The village is called Blackford and is named after an ancient King of Scotland lost his wife, drowned in the ford after falling off her horse. A lawyer worth his salt might question this as the stream is little more than 10 yards across and no more than 2 feet deep, even after all the rain we’ve just had. Could the king have wanted to swap wives?

I also visited Edinburgh on Tuesday – what a city this is, so ordered and beautiful. Everything is pristine, no litter or un-emptied bins, folk – as everyone is referred - seem very happy, plenty of joggers at lunchtime and mothers with buggies and even one combining both jogging and pushing a buggy – what’s this bogging or juggies, I think jugging is quite appropriate – anymore thoughts?

I stayed on Tuesday night in a pub in Melrose. Melrose is a fantastic town surrounded by hills and boasting a ruined abbey where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried. The pub recently been refurbished and the whole town looked well set up for tourists, with plenty of smart pubs and hotels in the high street – tourism is so valuable to rural areas and is a brilliant employer in the regions – we must do more to promote these areas, especially to foreign tourists.

I visited a super garden centre called Milestone in Newton St Boswells – really friendly and family run. A new business, employing at least 15 local folk and yet the local planning authority don’t think so and it’s very difficult for them to expand and advertise their business locally with brown signs. Progress cannot be to the detriment of the surrounding area, but you cannot make progress without change.

After this I headed to Harry Potter country – Alnwick Castle. The countryside from Melrose to Alnwick is unbelievable, a real treasure. As I passed over the River Tweed near Dryburgh Abbey, a fisherman below was battling with a salmon. I stopped and watched him net it and after a quick photograph, he held it in the water a few minutes to let it go – cold hands no doubt! Is it lucky to pass over bridges when fishermen are catching fish?

Alnwick Castle is quite intimidating – the sheer size is breathtaking, and it feels ancient. The castle and gardens are closed to the public in the winter months, but I can’t wait to get back there and have a look around come the spring and summer. Apparently in the garden a canopy is being created with cherry trees, and so the blossom this April should be spectacular. Pink Tulips are being planted as well to contrast the white canopy – sounds a bit Barbara Cartland?

Just South of Morpeth near the village of Stannington, Milkhope Centre is well worth a stop. A rural retail park has sprung up with Farm Shop, gallery, cafe and a cane and pine furniture store all run independently from the lovely old farm buildings.

My last stop was Durham and I got spectacularly lost here in rush hour trying to navigate through the City – definitely one for local knowledge.

Home for tea, cakes and medals for the Blue Machine. Only local trips planned next week – my wife Alice is heading for a charity trek to India to raise money for Wellbeing of Women (WOW). I’ve got the school run and homework for the week – at least the Blue Machine will get out onto the highway!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 19th, 2010 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Diary of a Travelling Salesman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.