Road travel

There are two main roads between Eccles and Edinburgh, the A7 and the A68. Both are only two lanes wide, and occasionally another lane appears up and down a hill. Soutra Hill is amazing for the view over Edinburgh and the Firth of Firth, the coast and the hills of Fife, but there is nowhere to stop to take a photo.

This is my experience so far, so many vistas, so few places to stop. Often there are hedges right up to the road side. Every now and then they have a P sign, meaning parking, which are not so much for photo opportunities, but places slow cars can pull over. Sometimes a photo is possible, but really I’d be stopping every half mile if I could.

Now miles and kilometers. I am still getting used to that. 25 miles, not far, but really more like 40 kilometres. Quite far though winding through several villages all requiring you to drive at 20 miles per hour, which is quite slow. Drivers are very polite. They slow down behind cyclists, often a line of 10 cars or more, until a very long overtaking option occurs, they give cyclists the full width of a lane. Same goes for people who travel about 35mph when the maximum is 60mph. I started at about 35, got up to low 40s, and only with time got up into the low 50s. 

Red Lollypop, as christened by Piper and Mimi, is a manual. That was odd. On day one I stalled twice. Each time the satnav went off. That WAS SCARY. I was somewhere near Dalkeith, a major town, which I had stayed in last year. It was about 5.30pm on a Saturday. I wondered if the USB was dodgy, as the car company had lent me it and it was a bit frayed. I thought "I’ll buy a new one". Morrisons didn’t sell them, but a two-dollar shop did. The lovely young man opened three boxes before we found one to fit my iPhone 11. His father is holidaying in Canberra, yes really, and he loves visiting Perth (ours). Natsav worked! Then I stalled it again after stopping to take a picture of a RARE ruin, among about 200 wind turbines. Natsav gone again, and I was still 45 minutes from Kelso. What to do? 

Red Lollypop parked beside the path to Vogrie, Newlandrig just to the right

Haha! I remembered google maps on my phone, not through the car. So with the phone balanced on my knee, I made it back to Eccles well before sunset. I prayed that all problems would be gone in the morning, as I was planning to go to Ancrum and the Abbey Trail on the Sunday. I turned on the car, phone opened up, and behold, it worked again. It did take me a while to realize it was the stalling that did it. Also leaving the car in neutral while I closed Helen’s gate destroyed the satnav. By now I know most of the tricks, but I am taking it back (Friday) tonight.

So with learning when to change the gears up and done, following the twists and turns of the road on the satnav display, being overtaken, very safely, by people wanting to get somewhere, it has been very easy driving in Scotland. 

Red Lollypop is a red Vauxhall Corsa, a small car. With the phone plugged in I get the speed rules, times and distances, and also whether to change up or down a gear displayed on the dashboard. There are regular signs on the streets reporting your current speed, with green smiley faces and a thankyou, or a red slow down and a very cross face. So many new  things to manage, but as I say, very easy driving.

Occasionally a tractor but not for long, and really the big lorries travelling these narrow roads are pretty polite. A happy dog has just joined the train.

It is another sunny day, with no rain forecast for the next few days including my Inverness tour!