Cairn Lodge

Continuing my journey northwards. When I left the Westmorland Hotel the gale was much the same as when I arrived last night, but with the addition of rain. As soon as I opened the car door the interior was soaked. I wiped down the steering wheel and inside of the front windscreen, but as far as the seat was concerned I basically spent the next two hours sitting in a puddle. My scarf had been snatched by the wind from around my neck, I thought it was gone forever but I managed to collect the soaked relic from the tarmac.

After I had gone three miles the traffic came to a halt, no indication what was causing the delay. I assumed it was a problem with a truck, this turned out to be correct, a truck had hit the central reservation and shed part of its load right across the carriageway. We were able to proceed when a way forward was cleared for one line of traffic. In the next couple of miles I passed another two overturned tracks. This weather certainly keeps the emergency services busy.

I stopped for coffee and petrol at Cairn Lodge again. It was lunch time so service area was not quite as deserted as when I stopped here on the way south.The Cairn Lodge services was acquired by Westmorland in late 2014. So far the new ownership does not seem to have done much to resurrect this service area from the doldrums in which it rests. I would think it must be a worry for the management.

Apparently the gate lodge shown here is the entrance to the castle that used to stand nearby.

When I got to Aberdeen the weather was a lot calmer, no wind and though it was raining it was nothing like the storm further south.