29C in Taunton

Yesterday we travelled from Edinburgh to Derbyshire and it took forever. The temperatures were in the mid 20Cs but at least I had a really nice play on 'Spittal Beach' en-route. OMG! There were roadworks EVERYWHERE. Actually, there weren't roadworks..................... There were just miles and miles and miles of orange cones, with not a workman in sight???!!!

After staying overnight, with Ann's sister, Sue (and Alfie, the Beardie), we got up at 6.30am so that I could have a nice early morning walk. Ann wanted to leave by 8am. Her plan was to arrive in St Ives about 2pm, take me for a little walk, unpack the car.......................... and then go for a swim in the sea.

Best laid plans and all that?!!!.......................... I went for a very nice 45 min walk along Carsington Reservoir, with Alfie the Beardie, and when we came back, we had breakfast, and we left Sue's at 8am on the dot.

It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Gloucester Services, which have a lovely little dog walking route. So far, so good.

….............It all went a bit downhill after that....................................
Roadworks, roadworks and even more roadworks...................... The temps were in the late 20Cs and it's very exhausting for a human to be driving in 1st/2nd gear for a long time. It wouldnt even have been so bad if people had been working on the roads, but they weren't. There were just miles and miles and miles of orange cones......................................

Between Gloucester & Taunton services there were even more roadworks and more orange cones. It took us more than an hour than it normally would and by the time we got there, the car park was rammed. It was like everyone in the world was heading down to the South West to have a little holiday in the sunshine at the seaside do working from home.
Oh and it was 29C in Taunton and Ann wanted to go to the toilet.......................

And the question is?............................. If a human is travelling hundreds of miles, alone, with a dog.................... and she needs to go to the toilet....................... and the temps are hitting 30C (so she can't leave the dog in the car)....................what does she do???................................
I'll tell you what she does................. she looks at everyone sitting on the picnic tables and chooses the couple (nearest to the toilets) who have two dogs, and the wife has a stick and a hearing aid in and doesn't look like she can move very fast', so if she is a kidnapper, Ann's pretty sure by the time she comes out of the toilet, she'd be able to track me on my 'airtag' before 'woman with stick made it to her car 'lol'..................... and she says, 'Would you mind if I just tie my dog up here (to the picnic table) in the shade, while I nip to the loo'. Obviously by this time I am being super friendly, so 'woman with walking stick and hearing aids', says, ' shall I just hold her for you?'

Long story short..................... Ann didn't tie me up, but after trying to make friends with the woman, the minute I realised Ann had abandoned me, I just sat in 'good dog' mode just staring at the door waiting for Ann to come back..............

…..........And then we continued on our walk around Taunton Services and I had the most massive drink out of this bowl. I was soooooo, sooooo thirsty. By the time I'd finished drinking there was hardly any water left.

…..........And then we continued on our travels.........................

Drove for about an hour and a half and then hit all the A30 problems........................... They're dual carriaging a very short section of road, which will probably save drivers about 5 mins. They've been at it for months and it didn't look any different from when we were last here in mid July. Took us half an hour to get through all the roadworks.

A six hour journey took us more than 8 hours today. That's a lot of driving time.

…..............BUT................. we're here................. we're back in our very lovely St Ives home and life is good.

Toodles xxxx