Bowland you ask? Yes, it looked intriguing on the map, an area to the south of the lake district with very few towns & some wriggly roads.
But the day started with a surprise for one of our No. who had ordered a vegetarian breakfast & it arrived with a slice of black pudding. This wasn't to be the last of the hotel strangeness.
This was obviously the first proper route & the SatNavs never know which way to go until they start moving & work out which way is forward, so we got to the courtyard exit & I made a quick calculation, decided we were going west & headed out over the medieval bridge. the SatVavv seemed to be OK with this until it directed us round the block, past the hotel & along the road to the south.
The Sevens were desperately short of petrol, so we stopped at the first fuelling stop - Scotch Corner on the A1 where it was an eye watering 20p / litre more than most places.
We headed south initially through quite heavy traffic, some of which was caused by folk cycling three abreast with no consideration for the queue forming behind them. There were also large numbers of motorcycles heading the other way as the roads became better. After a while we found ourselves on the sweeping moorland roads we'd come to find, a couple of us pulled over in a cut-out layby at the top of a hill & took some photos of the other cars, but getting out of this foxhole reversed the running order, so when we arrived in Kettlewell, some were already parked up & wrestling with the parking machine.
The problem was it would either accept cash or contactless card. Except that it wouldn't accept cash & the process of button pushing to persuade it to take a card was beyond most of us.
Eventually we each had a ticket & went for an ice cream - "apple crumble" - excellent.
More excellent roads followed & we ended up on a strange loop which I don't remember planning, but it was good never the less, we did at one point pass a sizable Gypsy encampment complete with horses, it looked like there was a horsey event on maybe?
By this point it was hot & I was thirsty, fortunately we arrived at the appointed cake stop "Puddleducks" for a break, parking was limited & a few drove past, but those of us that braved the queue (which diminished behind us) were rewarded with a treat & a few chats with other car people, bike people & even sidecar people
By this time we were meandering back & I drove an excellent moorland road with newbie Mark in his Alpine - exactly the kind of road it was designed for, but time was pressing & we decided not to stop at the Brough Castle ice cream parlour, Mark was doing the short route, I the long, so I went back to see who else was about & found Linda & Richard, we were all doing the long route, so we set off - & I immediately took the wrong road. However the SatNav took me back to where I should've been & after another excellent wide, empty road, I caught up with the others & we cruised back to the hotel.
Brilliant day.
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