Neil Hopcroft

Given that its gone rainy, its time to head home now. Just one final castle. Blackness.

Uhoh. I think i ate too much breakfast again. Yesterday it took me through to 5pm, when i needed a snack to last the rest of the day.

And the radio has just had someone advertising rocks, nice comfortable rocks for christmas. They’re a strange bunch these scots.

Guess what i would have done if i were designing this tissue box?

… Except i’m not sure i can remember what snow smells like. Aviemore. There’s a chill in the air and its got the right mix of cloudy and clear to drop the temperature for snow. Will it happen? Doubt it. And if it does it won’t be serious, just enough of a dusting to make everything pretty for a couple of hours.

Today i went to the hollow mountain where, after a ride like slartibartfasts, they allowed us to look down upon Dr Evils underground lair from the safety of a plexiglass viewing chamber. One day i want to own one of these places, but i suspect they haven’t started decommissioning them yet.

Then i stopped briefly at Fort William, a grim coastal town without any apparent means of support, except for being the only town for miles. There is something quite, i don’t know how to explain it, i feel at home in places like this, the people are real, they’re not trying to pretend, like everyone in london is, that they’re richer than everyone else, or more well travelled, or more cultured, or less cultured, or whatever is this weeks fashion in the gossip rags. Here, its cold so everyone wears warm clothes and doesn’t much care about anything else.

Gratuitous post from the middle of nowhere. I’m only posting this because i shouldn’t have coverage here but i’ve got 7 bars.

Eta: of course the cell, for all its bars, didn’t support gprs, did it?

I’ve just driven past Renton. It was dark so i’ve no idea if its as grim as my imagination makes it seem. Glasgow has rather more traffic than i was expecting. Now, stopped for the night at Luss on the shore of Loch Lomond.

This morning was a visit to the pencil museum and the ‘cars of the stars’ in Keswick. Then on to Cockermouth, where they don’t any longer have a toy museum. Despite what the signs say. Oh well.

I’d forgotten how much fun some of the lake district roads can be, drop it a cog or two, give it a bootfull and suddenly you’re staring at the exhaust of a porsche wishing he’d get out your way.

And i feel bad about seeing a hitcher and not picking him up. It’s dropped so far off my consciousness that he took a while to register.

Why are you warning me about something you’ve done for my safety?

I awoke this morning to realise that the motorway is as far from the travellodge as the m25 is from my house. There’s more green here though.

I stop for the night at lancaster services and discover i’m already north of a significant portion of the places i had been intending to visit. Oh well the lawnmowers can wait, maybe i pop in on the way back. Next stop the pencil museum.

… Deciding just who deserves to die.

I’m not a very good consumer at the best of times, but doubly so at this time of year.

Still, enough of that. I’m heading north on a tour of museums.

No plan. But you know that story already. More later.

The strongest kitty-room on the face of the earth! Let:s look with Feng Shui!

Online encyclopedia of UK motorway heritage