We’re on a road trip … yeah! A bit like Easy Rider but without the motorbikes … and everything else come to think of it. It’s the M6 and we’re on our way to Poole to see our daughter’s new house …. exciting. Everyone has a favourite motorway services … don’t they? Is it just us? Anyway, if you are going to have a favourite, Tebay Services in Westmorland does it for us! 

Bladder stops

Tebay Services was established in 1972 by the local farmer when the motorway was driven straight through the middle of his farm. A case of, if you can’t beat them join them. The farmshop features much of their home grown meat and veg and the whole place specialises in locally sourced produce. It’s just a bit different from the normal soulless motorway services. They even have a duck pond.

It’s about two hours drive from home and that’s roughly how long we can go these days without a bladder stop. Too much information we know but unfortunately that is just the harsh reality.

We’ve never had a scone here before so there was a degree of nervous anticipation. It’s all self service , of course, so we had to help ourselves from a box of scones and then fill a wee tub with jam from one of the large pots available. Not exactly the Ritz but the scones looked good and we soon had ourselves sorted out with everything we required.

Road trips

As scones go this one was above average but, what with it being self service and all that, even with it’s nice little pat of Cumberland butter, it was never going be rated as a topscone. Maybe a top motorway services scone but since we are very seldom on motorways that is not one of our categories. It’s a long time since we were last here and somehow it didn’t seem as good as we remembered but that might just be our memories playing tricks. This was a southbound scone, we may do a northbound one on the way home? Or maybe not. After an hour or so we felt suitably refreshed and ready to take on the next 350 miles. We’re sure our Australian correspondents would not bat an eyelid at such a journey but it seems like a long way to us.

Voting for anyone but the Tories

Over the past few days there’s been local council elections held over the whole of the UK. Although not all results are in, it seems that the Conservatives have taken a bit of a drubbing … surprise, surprise! They now seem to be trying to portray Boris as a great wartime leader. Are we at war … news to us! Labour and the Lib Dems are saying that the political tectonic plates have shifted without realising that folk simply could not bring themselves to vote for scandal ridden Conservatives.

Scotland continues to see the SNP still riding high after fifteen years in power. Scotland uses the STV (single transferrable vote) system otherwise known as the “vote ’till you boak” system. You order the candidates in order of preference until you cannot vote without feeling sick. But perhaps the biggest change is being seen in N. Ireland where Sinn Féin has become the largest party at Stormont. Could this herald the ‘anomaly’ that is N. Ireland being solved democratically without resorting to violence … let’s hope!

On the road again, wind in our hair, Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf on the radio … this is the life!

CA10 3SB     tel: 015396 24511       Tebay Services

///atlas.flaking.take