The end of the journey

We had breakfast at the Premier Inn hotel as the holiday drew to an end as ever this was a lovely selection of food. So we tucked in well before I get back to my normal diet tomorrow. Drew even treated himself to a post-breakfast dessert with three flapjacks after his dried breakfast. 

On leaving the hotel it was an easy drive through Birmingham along the Harbourne Road to the M5, M50 then along the A449 back into Wales on to the M4 and back to home. Having had a lovely relaxing holiday.

Summary

So here we are at the end of the holiday. As ever it is time to look back and reflect before signing off from this blog for the last time.

During the last few weeks we have travelled 2,118 miles. This is quite a small amount compared to our US holidays which are normally 3,000 to 4,000 miles. Mind you driving around narrow Scottish and Yorkshire roads are quite a different experience from driving in the USA. This is reflected in the travel time: which was 61 hours and 26 minutes compared with 67 hours on our last US trip.

Of the distance I drove 1,055 of the miles and Drew did 1,063. In time terms Drew did 27 hours 31 minutes and I did 33 hours and 55 minutes. 

With the exception of the week on Lewis and Harris when we went back and fore along the same roads (because there aren't a lot of them on the island) we only crossed over our own tracks for 11 miles in Scotland and one junction in Yorkshire. It helps to plan the route in advance.

One of the distinctive feature of this holiday has been the impact of social media on us. We re-routed ourselves five times based on messages on Facebook, Twitter or the blog. Gwyn Smith, Elaine Huntley and Robin Croft recommended we visit Glenfinnan with its famous viaduct and we found the place really eerie and emotive. Robin also advised the visit to Culloden which had its own air of mystery and memory. Sue House prompted us to one of the best meals of the holiday at Scarista House. Den McIntyre led us to some great finds on the east coast of Lewis by prompting us to visit the site of the Oil Rig that had run into Dalmore Beach. Paula Keys led us to visit Queen's View, such an impressive set of views. It is great to have people react to our trip as we do it, and even more to benefit from their experience and expertise to improve the holiday.

We have eaten a lot of lovely food. Overall I think the Northcote remains my favorite. But Frances Atkins, Andrew Fairlie, Tom Kitchin, Aktar Islam and Richard Nair all impressed a great deal. If I was to think of my favorite single dish of the holiday it would be the lobster at Scarista House. 

We have taken 2,290 photos all of which are now on Flickr, this is the 31st blog post of the holiday. We have also sung many songs about the places we passed through, most of which are reported in the blog.

So overall, a wonderful trip to a lovely country with exceptional views and wonderful food.

Our trip next year will be back to the USA - I look forward to welcoming all of you to join us again then.