A cow on the M5!

 Sunday 21^st May

 

We were all up early and packing. I kept quiet as I was sad to leave, put I made sure that all my books and toys were packed in the car within arm-reach. Mum and Dad had hoped that the car would have been a lot lighter considering that we had been eating food which grandma had brough with her. Sadly, that was not the case therefore, the whole car faced an eight hour drive in little comfort. Uncle wanted to see a British motorway services. This made my dad go a little white as most motorway stops are, let’s face it, architecturally not Britain’s fines hour. Dad did however strike gold when he remembered Glouchester’s services, which were not a million miles away. When we pulled into the services we were greeted by, what can only be described as, a giant Hobbit hole. The services were built into the hillside and were stunning. Dad even managed to pull off the quite impossible feat of making them think that these services were standard in the UK. Both my dad and I just hoped that another stop at a motorway service would not be required.

 

We were now heading north along the M6. All was going well until all traffic stopped due to a cow being in the road. This made my grandparents laugh. So far, we had been travelling in the countryside and they were starting to wonder if all UK civilians were farmers. Once the cow had decided that his grassy filed was much more comfortable than tarmac we were on our way again. Just before Birmingham we left the M6 and proceeded north; running close to the Welsh border. Our destination was Hoylake; a small town to the west of Liverpool across the Mersey. This town was holding some sort of Golf bat tournament thing later this year. It mattered not to me however, golf was Koz’s dad’s ultimate passion therefore, I had never seen him so awake. Before getting there, we stopped at a biker’s café called The Raven. Here we sat down at quite a dodgy table and ordered five English breakfasts from some hairy looking biker chefs. Credit where it’s due though; this was my Japanese grandparents first English Breakfast and it was delicious. Dad was happy too as it was cheap.

 

We made it finally to Hoylake. Koz’s dad jumped out the car followed by his wife, Koz and uncle. Dad and I sat in the car as we new that they could only go into the golf shop … and I hate shopping. Later my mum told me that they had met a very nice gentleman who told them all about the club and, my grandad had spent a fortune. After the shop dad and I met the rest of the family and the obligatory photo was taken. We got photos of the stands which were all setup for this golf bat tournament.

 

Back in the car and grandad was well happy. My dad on the other hand, wasn’t. It had become apparent that, due to the time, we really had to take the tunnel under the Mersey and into Liverpool. My dad did not want to drive in a big city, especially with the tank-sized car he had. Mum acted as navigator and fortunately, downtown Liverpool was avoided. We therefore got back on the M6 and completed the spectacular journey to Ambleside.

 

My grandparents were in awe of the Lake district. The views were amazing and the weather perfect. Once unpacked mum, dad, grandad and I went for a long walk around the small town of Ambleside before heading back to the flat. Mum picked up a cinema brochure for dad; which he looked very happy about as he chose which film he would go and see. Finally, we picked up a Chinese takeaway which we then rushed to get back to the flat still hot.

 

So today had been a long day but a great one. We were now in the Lake District and I was so excited I was bobbing up and down in my buggy! Can’t wait for tomorrow.

 

Toodle Pip!