We knew there would be a change in the weather today and the plan was to leave MOH early so as to hopefully beat it home.
There were two bands of rain running parallel down the country, we would hit one of them around 11am and the other around 2pm.
We had thought of doing a detour to see my Mum again on the way back, but MOH was still buggy and I didn’t want to run the risk of passing it on when she is already extremely frail. It would also delay our arrival home by a few hours and have us driving the worst part of the journey in the dark.
As it turned out, Hubby checked the roads on our normal route and there were accidents, roadworks and closures on the M32, M4 and M5, so he looked up alternatives.
We left shortly after 8am, avoiding the narrow winding lanes, Bristol City centre and the motorways completely by setting off in the opposite direction.
Who would have thought it would turn out to be a much better route for us, even if we did hit a little snag and ended up going towards Swindon on the A419 instead of Stow on the A429. Once past Warwick, it was familiar territory. Being on the road early helped, as did it being a Sunday and the shops didn’t open until 10am anyway.
The rain caught up with us around 10.30, and it rained all the way thereafter, some of it quite heavy. Mid country, there was still evidence of some pretty heavy snowfall, but the roads themselves were clear.
We stopped a few times for Maggie who was playing us up and would not oblige us with a wee or poo when we did, and changed drivers a couple of times.
We managed to find somewhere for a cuppa and sandwich (she did perform here, and we gave her a drink too) and arrived home shortly before 3pm.
First thing after unlocking the door was to put the kettle on while Hubby was unloading the car.
The house wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm either as we’d left the heating on miser while we were away to keep the chill off. Hubby turned it up and within half an hour, we were toasty warm. I am so glad we opted for that new boiler!
We had a mountain of post, one of which was another debt letter for the previous occupants. Back in the post it goes RTS.
It didn’t take long to unpack and put things away, then settle down with our second cuppa! We are such teapots!
We’ve had a bite to eat, and it stopped raining shortly after 5 so we were able to take Maggie for a walk round the park. She sniffed every blade of grass before settling on The One as if to say ‘I’m back!’ then elected another and another for the deed, ending up doing 4 wees in about twenty minutes. She can be such a minx!
It’s been a nice couple of days though, and we were glad to be able to relax after our long journey, but we’re looking forward to an early night in our own bed with our own pillows.
The jury is out whether or not we’ll get MOH’s flu bug. I’m dosing myself up with lemsips and Hubby is attacking the vitamin C and multivits.
Next year we are bringing Christmas forward and will celebrate in July as to travel this kind of distance in December is not exactly one of our brightest ideas!
Photos: Christmas dinners 2016 at MOH.
pensitivity101 