Well it's that time of the year again when annual leave has to be used up with no real plans to do anything.
Since we have not had any snow this year (due to me buying a 4x4), me and the missus decided to just get in the car and drive till we saw snow today!
So we headed straight up the A9 to Aviemore and then up to the Cairngorms ski centre and we saw lots of snow although sadly all the roads were cleared! After a picnic in the car and a walk through the snow we then headed over the A86 through Spean Bridge to Fort William, and then down the A82 through Glencoe. Had passed the road for Glen Etive before it clicked with me that this was where some of Skyfall's scenes were filmed so will head back there another time.
Arrived home 340 miles later, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive, the scenery, the break from work and was also impressed with my car since this was the first long journey I had taken in it since I got it in October.
Sometime the best days out are the impromptu, unplanned ones!
Some photos
s1112.photobucket.com/user/Bobbyg69/library/Cairngorm%20etc
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Surely you could have taken a wrong turn and ended up on some snow somehow?
Glad you had fun.
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At the other end of the scale, and the country, I got my convertible out, put the roof down and went for a drive. I visited a country house with a garden full of snowdrops and aconites, saw wild flowers in the roadside verges, beautiful cloud formations, small lambs running around the fields and visited an owl and hawk sanctuary and all within 10 miles radius of my house. A real feeling that Spring is here.
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I've been driving a Panda around Northern Italy for the last week. Work stuff. First time I've driven one of the 'new' Pandas.
For a couple of days I hated it. I hated the lack of power, the cramped cabin and especially the hideous shade of blue it was painted.
However, as often happens with cars, after a while it just became 'the car'. Goodness knows what size of engine it had but it was definitely a 4 cylinder petrol. Eventually I remembered how to drive a small Italian car. You just have to wring its neck in all gears and it rewards you with at least enthusiasm if not outright performance.
Handling is less bouncy than the old model but somehow it has lost some of that eager daft terrier feel of the previous version. Sanitised maybe.
Fuel consumption was very frugal. Didn't measure it but I tooled around for 5 days on less than a tank when previously on a similar trip I've had to top up.
The boot is bigger I'd say, although it still couldn't be called huge.
The hire company apologised for the fact that they only had one with a noticeable ding/scrape on one front wing but in some ways it added to blending in with the locals.
It had winter tyres fitted but the weather didn't test their effectiveness. Rained a fair bit and last Saturday it rained really properly with lots of standing water on the autostrada. Fair few aquaplane induced accidents in evidence.
A public transport strike on Tuesday and Wednesday made for interesting traffic conditions in Milan when the advantages of a tiny car with a big heart and a warning scrape on the wing were a distinct plus point.
Attended petrol stations are still the norm which for some inexplicable reason I quite like although one feels obliged to tip.
By the end of the trip I'd become almost fond of the little roller skate but on returning to my car in the airport car park here I fairly quickly reverted to preferring a big roomy and comfy automatic .
A colleague who had returned to the uk a day earlier had found it amusing to write 'Glad to be Gay' in large capitals in the dust on the tailgate of my Merc while it was in the airport car park. I didn't actually discover this piece of stunning wit until the following morning when one of my neighbours inclined his head in its direction in the passing.
I did wonder why I'd had the odd toot from trucks on the way back up the M1/M6. Perhaps they were just trying to be helpful...
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Well a year later, using up annual leave again, another lovely drive this time with a stay over outside Aviemore.
Weather was fantastic, drove all the way home from Aviemore today, via Fort William, Glen Coe et with the sunroof open all the way.
And this time, remembered to stop off in Glen Etive to try and find the correct passing place!
Think I found it
s1112.photobucket.com/user/Bobbyg69/media/Glen%20Etive/car%20edit_zps1nkwqlgz.jpg.html
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-18143800
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Your wife looks a lot older than I'd have imagined...
;-)
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Not much snow in evidence
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>> Your wife looks a lot older than I'd have imagined...
>>
>> ;-)
and you think your missus has trouble with door mirrors?
s1112.photobucket.com/user/Bobbyg69/library/Benji?sort=3&page=1
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>>Your wife looks a lot older than I'd have imagined...
Did you notice Humph how I hid my shoes from your view???
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A nice day for a drive - No FM2R
