Long journey

I’m at Lanark in good time. Early enough to get fifteen minutes on a chargers at the service station. Amélie’s train is on time, and we’re off.

First charge is at Carlisle. The charger at the Toby Carvery is in use, so we head through heavy traffic for St Nicholas Gate where there are two chargers waiting. Wandering around, we’re unable to find a decent coffee. First world problems.

Next stop is Garstang at EH Booths. Again, there’s a charger free. The cafe is out of soup, so we head for the Royal Oak where Amélie has some lunch and I quaff a fresh orange and lemonade. This is a strange wee town - which has its very own blue cheese. I duly but a lump.

As evening approaches, we arrive at a bank of IONITY chargers at Stafford. After some initial failures paying by card, I download the app and everything works fine. We head to the Brewers Fayre next door. The Sunday carvery is over, but all the veg are still laid out on the hotplate. I get to load my plate for the cost of a child’s roast dinner - roast tatties, roast parsnips, cauliflower cheese, carrots, swede mash, peas, mac and cheese and horseradish sauce.

Then heavy rain sets in, which makes for heavy going and eats through the kilowatts in the battery. So, we stop for a final charge at the services just north of Bristol. I let it sit there until it gets to 75% charged, so I’ll have enough to get to Swindon.

I drop Amélie at the Novotel in Bristol and start the final leg of the journey. I arrive in Swindon around 11pm and after some initial confusion regarding the one way system, I find Megan and she lets me into her parking space.

We take one load of her stuff to the flat and then I until my sleeping bag and pass out on her sofa.