Left and Right, Up and Down
Of all the roads in England, few are as notorious for a good burn-up as the A68, that runs from the Scottish Border to Darlington. It’s up and over a blind summit, then fast left, fast right or possibly both. In places you can see the road stretching several kilometres in the distance.
Yesterday, as I returned from Scotland, the road was pretty empty except for a couple of wagons and a few cars, so it was great fun. And safe too, as if you drive the road properly in good visibility and fairly dry conditions, you have no problems unless you take some of the blind summits too fast.
As I said in the related post on Taking the High Road, it’s the sort of road for which Elans were built!
I have rather an affection for the A68 as several times I drove it on the way to see the first Metier customer, Ferranti, in Edinburgh. In those days though, it wasn’t in an Elan. But there weren’t any speed cameras!
An Unnecessary Sign?
This sign is displayed both ways at the English-Scottish border on the A68.
Keep Left - Unnecessary Sign
Do we really need it?
There are three reasons it might be there.
- It could be that it’s an EU regulation if you pass between countries. But then I pass between Belgium, France and Holland regularly and they don’t have the sign.
- Someone had a budget and needed to spent it.
- There was a commission from the sign manufacturers.
But the sign is still unnecessary.
Peebles Hydro
On Sunday, I went for lunch with my friends at Peebles Hydro.
Everything on the menu that was gluten-free was marked as such. All restaurants should follow their example. about half the menu was gluten-free, so I had a lot of choice.
In the end I had melon followed by pork medallions. It was delicious and if you need to a gluten-free meal, then it is definitely a place to try.
They are part of McMillan Hotels. I don’t know if the same policy applies across their five hotels.
Taking the High Road
I got up early on Sunday morning and by half-past-seven, I was on the road to see an old friend near Peebles in the Scottish Borders.
First stop was Wetherby Services on the A1(M), just north of York and Leeds. So the petrol was it’s usual expensive price, but the service area seemed better than most. Perhaps it was just a mirage as service areas in the UK, tend to be very poor, tired, of bad design and serving the same crap food. At least Wetherby had a Marks and Spencer, so if I had wanted to buy some decent food, then I could have done.
I should say here, that I never stop unless I absolutely have to in a motorway service area, that does not have either an M&S or a Waitrose.
I took the A1 or A1(M) all the way to Newcastle and past the Angel of the North before taking the A696 through Ponteland and towards Scotland. Things must be getting more civilised up in the North East, as I noticed that Ponteland has a Waitrose, which until a few years ago was restricted very much to the South.
The A696 and A68 route from Newcastle to Edinburgh is one of those roads that needs driving. It also needs a nimble car with lots of acceleration. In other words it’s a road fit for a Lotus.
I didn’t hang about on a road that was almost free of traffic with snow to both sides and a good bit of mist. But the smooth trip to Peebles was interrupted by bridge works at Jedburgh, which meant that I had to take a detour via Hawick and Selkirk.
The latter did slow the Lotus, but I still arrived in time for lunch in Peebles.
Wedding Boom at Gretna Green
According to the BBC, the number of weddings today in Gretna Green is more than double the normal level today.
There are rumours that many are members of the emergency services.
Kenny MacAskill
Kenny MacAskill is the Scottish Justice Minister at the centre of the Megrahi case.
I didn’t know much about him until I read this profile of him on the BBC web site.
He is an interesting character and judging by his anti-English views, he is not the sort of person, I would get on with. It may have been to a appreciative audience, but his views on the England football team as “The Great Satan”, was a bit much.
Haggis Scottish? No! It’s English
This story from England, that claims that haggis was an English dish, won’t go down well with the Scots.
Historian Catherine Brown said she found references to the dish inside a 1615 book called The English Hus-Wife. The title would pre-date Robert Burns’ poem To A Haggis, which brought fame to the delicacy, by at least 171 years.
But it does seem feasible.
Scotland and East Anglia
Radio Five Live was in Scotland today, as it is the tenth anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.
No problem there, but this government has widened the divide in public support between Scotland and many of the English regions. Here in East Anglia, we have the same GDP as Scotland, but have many fewer government jobs, export a lot more, have better health etc.
So we’re doing a lot better except in one respect.
Various projects such as the dualling of the A11 are never completed. We get everybody else’s cast off trains. The government doesn’t want to protect us from the sea. And we now have the farce of the downgrading of Ipswich Hospital with respect to heart patients.
The latter doesn’t actually bother me, as my nearest hospital is Addenbrookes in Cambridge, but the distance from say where I used to live at Felixstowe to Norwich is about two hours. It’s just too far!
The Anonymous Widower 