Inverness to Lancaster

July 27

We drove from Inverness to Lancaster today, taking the less scenic “fast route”, at around 6 hours.  We wanted to go all the way to Bath, but we estimated it at 9 or 10 hours on the road, so figured we’d do an overnight on the way.  We chose an inexpensive AirBnB, which turned out to be not the best choice we’ve made on the trip.  We found it relatively easily, as it was on a fairly main road. First red flag.  We had let the hosts know that we would arrive between 4 and 5 pm, and we rang the bell at 4:30 pm.  A man answered after some delay, and gave us a blank stare.  We asked for “Janet”, and he said “oh, you’re here for the room - come in and I’ll show it to you”.  Didn’t introduce himself, or say welcome or any of the usual stuff we’ve experienced.  Then he says “Janet’s in the shower - she’ll talk to you later”.  He then proceeds to take us into a house with an odd odour, that is dark and has splotches of plaster filler all over the walls.  We walked up the stairs and to our room . . . which, in fairness, was very nice, clean and roomy enough.  Only problem was that the windows opened onto the semi-highway outside.  No big deal, we’re only here for a night.

200 year old home in Lancaster - our room was top right.

They are re-decorating.  The design you see on the wall
was hand painted well over a hundred years ago and
was hiding behind a lot of wallpaper.  

A very dark hallway - upstairs landing.  4 bedrooms
two at the front and two at the back.

Our room was quite nice.  It looked better the day we arrived - I didn't
make the bed quite so nicely!

The front sitting room - very tiny Victorian room.

Fergus - a lovely old dog.  

So we organized ourselves in the room, and decided to go out for a walk.  Down the stairs we go, and bump into “Janet” who is elegantly wrapped in a bathroom towel and nothing else.  She was not particularly chatty or welcoming, but we managed to get some information out of them on a couple of places to walk to, so we made a quick exit and walked on down the road to a community pathway, This was the weirdest place we experienced in all of England.  No-one smiled, people gave short, terse answers when we asked questions, and the pathway was dark with a lot of overhanging plants.  Basically, it gave us the creeps.  So we decided to head back to the house, and get a recommendation on a place to have dinner as we sure didn’t want to use the kitchen there.  It appeared to double as a laundry room - the family clothing was hanging from all the rafters, and there’s something about sitting under other people’s underwear while I’m eating dinner that doesn’t appeal. 

 

Nice view of the fields from our room.  Too bad the
road was so noisy.

The back garden - there was a chicken pen at the back.  The yard was
actually very nice, and large by English standards.  There was an old
coach house on the left and a big room where the servants did the laundry
at the right.  Now they are big storage areas!

We drove to the next town called Caton, and had a little walk around that was cut short by a heavy downpour of rain.  We did see a couple of interesting things - a 700 year old oak and the Fish Stones.  The oak is really on its last legs, but the town is very proud of it, and is doing everything possible to keep it going.  They have started a new oak tree from it about 7 years ago (we didn’t see it anywhere, but we’re told it’s so), so I suppose that will replace this one eventually.  The fish stones were quite interesting- see the sign picture here.  

The Fish Stones.  The old oak is curved behind Glen
and the town has put up the metal pole for it to
rest against.

Why re-type it all - a little info on the fish stones and the tree!

Nice that they love their tree so much!

Walking through town in one of the many little narrow
alleyways, and the rain started pouring down!

Close up of the old oak - not much of it left now.

Typical little old stone cottage in the town - it was quite a picturesque little village.

In keeping with the weirdness of the town down the road, we noticed this old dresser mirror duct-taped to a tree so people exiting a driveway could see what’s coming on the road.  I get the idea, but really, this is all the town can do for them?

A little traffic helper - mirror duct-taped to the power pole.  Very elegant

We went into the local pub for dinner - Glen is about 1” shorter than the ceiling.  It was one of those “gastro” pubs, so prices were ridiculous.  We had a couple of appetizers and called it a night.  Tomorrow we’ll leave here asap!

Glen barely shorter than the ceiling!