A very bad photo . . .

. . .  taken with the last bit of light through a rainy windscreen - the castle at Barnard Castle. Only thing is that Barnard Castle is not on our way home from the South. Neither should we have been at Middleton-in Teesdale. In fact we shouldn't have been in Teesdale at all.

 
Why?
 
Trucks!!
 
The A66 was closed to high-sided vehicles for much of the day, because of high winds. However, as usual, the drivers of some high-sided vehicles thought it didn't apply to them, so they went along it and . . . of course, as usual, they were blown over. As a result the A66, the main East West road, was closed to all vehicles. We only realised this as we got to Scotch Corner.
 
So it was a long and tortuous route through Teesdale, along narrow, twisty, semi-flooded roads - in the dark! No fun! And coming the other way along the same route was a stream of traffic, diverted off the A66 and trying to find their way onto the A1 - a long way ahead of them. And all because a few drivers cannot obey signs.
 
I did have a much better picture (see extra) - Heron at Bluewater, where we had breakfast. But the castle through the rain is a reminder of how pleased we are to be home.