Travelling home day today, a long hop from Balmacara where I was staying to Tyneside, which in a moment of madness I decided to take the scenic route from Skye via Fort William, Loch Lomond, Stirling and Edinburgh. An interesting choice given that I left the Balmacara Hotel at 10 am and arrived at the Ingram Valley in Northumberland at 6.30pm. By 3pm I'd only reached Stirling as I had completely underestimated the up hill, down dale way of the roads along the west side of Scotland. One HGV and everything slows to a crawl plus today many a roadwork added to the feeling of will I ever get there. The scenery however is absolutely stunning and that made it worth while, but this is still very much slow driving, not for the driver in a hurry. I had a whole day to travel the 318 miles which AA Routemaster estimated at 7 hours and 30 minutes; quite accurate as I had two stops on the way, Glen Coe and Dobbies Garden Centre in Stirling. At around 6pm with the weather perfect, and as I was passing the sign for the Ingram Valley I had to stop. I spent an hour here reflecting on the week just gone and the remarkable thing is that up until this point for 10 days I had been almost continually in vast rural landscapes, either in Orkney, Caithness or Skye. Now I was in Northumberland which is home for me, nowhere else on the Planet says home like north Northumberland does.
By 8pm I was back on Tyneside which was lovely to be back chatting to my now ageing parents. They miss me, I miss them and the pull of their own Tempest Fugit is making each departing for the south quite difficult these days. I miss Skye too, so I wonder if someone is using the Isle of Ornsay phone box again tonight to ring home?
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