Day 24 Kirkby Stephens to Westward Ho

Kirkby Stephens Railway Station

The Mango meal was great with good vindaloo heat.

A bloated belly was taken to bed.

Slept well, however and early start was obligated by an early train to Carlisle to get the car.

Kirkby Stephens Railway Station is a quaint countryside station, recently restored.

The train arrived right on time, however the expected rural views along the way to Carlisle were spoilt by quite dense fog.

Carlisle Castle

At Carlisle, we had a short wait until the expected arrival of the car, however the expected arrival did not occur, and a phone call to the Hertz local office elicited “I will get someone there to pick you up ASAP”. I think we were forgotten.

This meant a late start for a long drive to Barnstable, in Devon.

We got lost getting to the M6, the main motorway south, however, once on it we cruised at about 130 kph, being passed by lots of cars.

You see bugger all as you drive along, and the haze precluded from seeing anything in the distance.

Again a wrong choice onto the M6 Tollway caused some issues as we appeared to lose the connection to the M5, our next Motorway.

We passed lots major cities, including Birmingham, without seeing them at all.

A Motorway sign went up to say there was an accident between Junction 21 and 22 and soon after our Sat Nav suggested a faster route, that took us through Weston super Mare, with innumerable roundabouts and narrow roads.

We were cursing until it lead us once more onto the M5 to see the north-bound lane (we were going south remember) jam-packed with cars. Maybe our Sat Nav wasn’t so stupid after all.

We finally made Barnstable, however the drop-off point was about 8 km out of town near the Royal Marine Army base, so it was onto a local bus, that took us back to Barnstable and finally onto Westward Ho, over 12 hours later.

Westward Ho main street

Next time we’ll catch the train!

Throw our things into our B and B and down to the town for a Thai meal and the best Australian Cab shiraz we have had hear so far.

Tomorrow the South West Coast Path (SWCP).