Ramrod On Tour

[eddyramrod]

Another month, another trip to Bonnie Scotland.  This time we will be at the Premier Inn at Edinburgh Airport from Monday night, to have Christmas with family.  We're heading home on Boxing Day.  If nothing else it'll give the Jazz Club a run out!

[danthecapriman]

Enjoy yourself Eddy! And have a safe trip up.

[eddyramrod]

Well I'm back.  And I brought you all a few photos.  Let's start on Monday morning, with a quick stop at my nearest little Tesco, oh look!

Who would have expected that?  MrsR loves an old Golf Cabbie.

Here we are at Tebay Northbound.  Cramped, poorly laid out, criminally overpriced, with inadequate seating.  But you know: Tradition, Old Charter, etc.  Just a pity I didn't have an old Volvo around me because I was heading into their turf.

Erm... heading nowhere.  North of Tebay there was some sort of crash, which closed the motorway for a bit.  Overall it probably set us back an hour or so, could have been worse.

The rest of the pics are family, so I won't be troubling you with those.  We spent the rest of Monday, and the bulk of Tuesday and Wednesday with them.  Came back Thursday, taking about four hours including two stops: Gretna Services for a cuppa, and, when I realised we would be in time, the Lakeland Motor Museum where there was a Boxing Day meet.  There always is but this is the first one I've been able to show up at.  Many of the cars had gone, in fact we'd already seen some on the road.  But hey, it was still good to see those that were left.  And no, I didn't shoot any snaps. 

Jazz Club proved mostly adequate.

There's more to tell, over in the Open Forum side.  It's not pretty.

[doug]

I was at Lakeland on boxing day as well.

[Dobloseven]

32 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

 

Jazz Club proved mostly adequate

  Nice!

[eddyramrod]

Aaaand we're away again, just for one night.  We're at the Ramada at Charnock Richard Northbound, M6, with Jazz Club again.  

More holidays than Thomas Cook, this bloke....

[FakeConcern]

[eddyramrod]

We haven't just randomly come away.  This is my Christmas present; not the hotel but what I've been doing this afternoon, which was another driving-experience day at Wigan.

No, not the General...

Not the Mustang...

That's MrsR's finger creeping in, and my car is in this pic too.

Police Interceptors, season 578, ep2!

And on the way down there was a car boot sale, so I picked up a souvenir...

50p!

[lesapandre]

Looks fun.

Is that part of a community outreach project ( I see it's BTP) or a decommissioned vehicle? You you get to use the blue lights?

 

[eddyramrod]

I didn't find that out, I'm afraid.  Some Shiter I am, I didn't even ask the spec!  It was a petrol auto though, I suspect probably a 330 or thereabouts.  And no, I wasn't let use the blues.  When I drive the DB5 in August I don't expect I'll be allowed to use the gadgets then either.

[danthecapriman]

Looks like you had a fantastic day! It’d be interesting to know the spec’s on the BMW. Certainly looks the part.

Omega looks a bargain too👍

[eddyramrod]

Omegas ARE a bargain!

1/1, if you can find one; 1/43 is more a case of when than if.  Many, many more were made than the real thing, and they were sold as toys, so can be found in played-with condition.  But it's an under-used casting; I've only ever seen it as a police car.

1/1, well I've had mine three months already, and still not seen another in the flesh.

[eddyramrod]

I'm home now, having found a boot sale on the way back.  Diecasts were bought, and will be viewable on my Sale thread in a bit.

[eddyramrod]

It's that time again!  We're on a road trip dahn sarf, starting next Tuesday, so if anyone would like to meet up, the first overnight stop will be the Premier Inn at Oldbury.  That's quite far enough for me to drive in one day, and we will be enjoying a decent meal in the restaurant.

[eddyramrod]

And here is "Next Tuesday!"  We'll be on the road before midday and should get to Oldbury by 4 or so, M6 permitting.

[eddyramrod]

Arrived at Oldbury  

[eddyramrod]

Oldbury abandoned this morning; Dartmouth now attained.  We're here two nights.

[eddyramrod]

Well Oldbury Premier Inn was nice enough, but unremarkable...

Three hours on the M5 then a few* miles of pretty lanes brought us to Dartmouth, our home for two nights.  Have some random views...

And the same building with MrsR...

A car-park twin spot, and neither is ours!

[Bren]

1 minute ago, eddyramrod said:

Well Oldbury Premier Inn was nice enough, but unremarkable...

Three hours on the M5 then a few* miles of pretty lanes brought us to Dartmouth, our home for two nights.  Have some random views...

And the same building with MrsR...

A car-park twin spot, and neither is ours!

Dartmouth is beautiful. When ever we visit I hear the theme to the onedin line.

[eddyramrod]

We are back home now; arrived Tuesday.  For several days on the trip we didn't have any worthwhile wifi access, which is why the updates kind of stalled.

So, Dartmouth Naval College was the venue for the Commissioning Parade.  Lovely place...

Entertainment by The Band Of The Royal Marines, no less...

The new officers did a march around the viewing area...

View from in front of the building, looking out...

Our Paul with his mother...

Our hotel was right across the road from the College!  Quite comfy too, and very nice breakfasts.

We had two nights there, before moving on to Coleford for two nights to see @danthecapriman.  Hotel here seemed to have been built from half a dozen cottages knocked together. 

Wifi was very poor indeed.  However, spending Saturday with Dan more than made up for that, and fish and chips from the chippy by the hotel was very nice.  When we left, Lynne managed to leave behind the charging lead for her tablet.  I messaged the hotel and they had found it, so posted it back to us.  Service!  Incidentally the A38/M5 was bloody horrible on Friday as we made our way up.

Sunday, following a detour to Coleford's boot sale, we were on the road again, to Chester, where I'd booked us into the Super8 By Wyndham, on the M56 services.  This would have been, on paper, an excellent stopover on our way home.  However!  First, the wifi was crap; all I could get was Facebook, nothing else worked.  Second, at 2210 a middle-aged woman of Indian descent opened our door with her keycard and walked in... good thing I wasn't getting changed for bed!  She was most apologetic.  By the time I'd gathered myself enough to go to Reception, she was on her way back from the same trip, to get the card reprogrammed.  The duty receptionist (male, my age group) apologised, but seemed to want to prove that I'd somehow fucked up.  I haven't quite calmed down enough to start the email exchange that will follow...

We were sharp out of there on Monday morning, not, as originally planned, heading home, but instead shooting across to Leicester because I'd been sent a Classic Car Driving Experience Day for my birthday, and this was the best combination of date and venue that I could arrange.  On the way we stopped for a coffee here...

I can't even remember where it was now but I'm sure someone will recognise it.  Fairly sure it was after we came off the A500...

Anyway: we got to the track, a few hours ahead of my booking, and I thought I'd chance my arm and see if they could fit me in early.  Which is when I got the news.  They'd emailed first thing, but of course I hadn't been able to pick that up: one of "my" cars, the Aston Martin DB5, had broken down that very day and wasn't available.  Marvellous!  So after some discussion I chose to rebook.  They've emailed again, I just have to work out the details.  And then we moved on to the final stop, a Premier Inn at Macclesfield, which totally lived up to expectation.  At any such establishment, the staff can make all the difference, and after our Super8 experience, the PI staff really restored my faith in the industry.  And then Tuesday saw us back on the M6 heading for home, via Asda because we'd practically emptied the fridge before we left home!

Next On Tour episode will be Chumley.

[danthecapriman]

Great to see you again Eddy!

What on earth happened at that Hotel to let someone else into your room!? That’s really bizarre. Not very good from a security perspective either. If you were out somewhere they could have let themselves in and taken anything they wanted out of your room. 
Id go mad at them if I were you!

[High Jetter]

26 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

 First, the wifi was crap; all I could get was Facebook, nothing else worked.  Second, at 2210 a middle-aged woman of Indian descent opened our door with her keycard and walked in...

Security breach is horrendous. Hope your stay is gratis

[eddyramrod]

Well now... as mentioned in the Chumley thread, my stay there was "not without incident."  Premier Inn have sent me a refund, well done chaps.  Not a word from Roadchef, to whom I complained about Chester.  And for those who think pensioners have too much money: you might be right, lol.  We've just had another weekend away, to Skipton for MrsR's birthday (she's 70).

Afternoon tea on a canal cruise, on this...

And then ice creams from this...

I mean, you just have to, don't you?  What a little charmer!

So on Sunday we had a run over to Bradford, where we rode the Shipley Glen Tramway...

Which took us to the edge of Saltaire...

And back on the Tramway to our car.

Now we're home...

[danthecapriman]

Looks a great little getaway Eddy. Weather has held out well for you too.

Happy birthday to Mrs R by the way🥳

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Well now... as mentioned in the Chumley thread, my stay there was "not without incident."  Premier Inn have sent me a refund, well done chaps.  Not a word from Roadchef, to whom I complained about Chester.  And for those who think pensioners have too much money: you might be right, lol.  We've just had another weekend away, to Skipton for MrsR's birthday (she's 70).

Afternoon tea on a canal cruise, on this...

And then ice creams from this...

I mean, you just have to, don't you?  What a little charmer!

So on Sunday we had a run over to Bradford, where we rode the Shipley Glen Tramway...

Which took us to the edge of Saltaire...

And back on the Tramway to our car.

Now we're home...

Brilliant, you seem to have slipped her an empty sandwich, winner. Canal cruises are kool, innit 😀

[eddyramrod]

We are now preparing for Christmas, which this year means Benalmadena, in a nice hotel.  I am, of course, hoping to fit in some diecast shopping and I suppose I'd better try and find something the wife likes as well.  She's discovered there's a cablecar, which she fancies.  Er, yeah... I fancy that about as much as I fancy a motorbike, or beer.  

[eddyramrod]

Spain looms, it's less than a week away now!  Didn't someone say he might have some insider info for me?

[danthecapriman]

A bit of winter sun, or at least getting away from the pissing rain over here Eddy! Enjoy yourselves👍

[Mally]

43 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Spain looms, it's less than a week away now!  Didn't someone say he might have some insider info for me?

Could have been me.

But by a quirk of fate. my top informant is in Benidorm without me. It's bounced down there all day.  I had to no show due to my last minute Hospital complications.

She's not back till Saturday but if you have any particular questions I'll enquire.

I can tell you its hilly, well spread out, Prom/Marina area is good.

Malaga Xmas lights are good, but very busy and a lot of walking/standing involved.

  Maybe try the train or bus to Los Boliches/Fuengirola. That's where we stay, it's all flat round there.

 

[eddyramrod]

Thanks Mally.  We have a rental car, so hilly doesn't matter too much, and I doubt we will be going out at night.  We've actually been to Benalmadena before, but that was 20 years ago.  I can imagine a lot's changed in that time.

One thing I am keen to find is local markets/boot sales, we do like those.  Oh and model shops, if I can stand the earache...