(It's quicker by Biscuit!)

Today began at 7:45, rolling off into some yucky weather and heading northwards in the direction of chez-Ms.Arell! The intention was to leave around 5am but was up late the night before and just needed the sleep, so it wasn't too late a start all things considered.

Because it's January and wintery, little Biscuit was staying home and the sensible thing may have been to take the train, however we were hoping to visit some places where a motor vehicle may be handy so I decided to take the Leaf on an adventure.

Earlier in its life I drove to London in it twice, just about managing the trip with 2 charge stops and was hoping to manage Edinburgh in 3, but given the extra cold weather upon reaching Forton (see blip) for charge no.1, got to thinking that 4 would be a safer bet. This was confirmed when climbing up towards Shap...the planned 2nd stop at Penrith was cut short and the single charger with the right connector being used at Tebay instead...and it was empty so "Yay!" I didn't have to queue.

Stop 3 was just over the border into beautiful bonny Scotland at Gretna Green. It took over 20 minutes of muttering swearwords to get the charger working at the Famous Blacksmiths Shop. A nice sandwich in the cafe & a Lavazza coffee made up for it though, as did the by now bright blue sky which was lovely & should be available on prescription at this time of year :-)

For the last stop, Abington services & the A702 sounded like a safe choice but as I couldn't find any warnings about the scenic A701 being closed, decided at the last minute to stop early for a lesser top up at Allendale Water Services and climb up through Moffat.

By the time of reaching the viewing point at Devils Beeftub there was a stunning white vista all around along with some patches of freezing slush on the tarmac, not that some of the other drivers were exercising much caution. I pulled over for a few to let them past...much preferable to having them up close in tricky conditions and in any case, the downhill towards Edinburgh was very enjoyable and past quickly even at my sensible pace.

Reaching chez Ms.Arell, we shared a long hug, lots of cups of tea, a good natter, and a nice evening meal before zonking out fast asleep.

It took over 8 hours to get there. Yes, little Biscuit is much quicker :-)