Cloughton Day 1 - Saturday 25/10/25 - Off to the wily, windy moors

View from outside the 'cottage'.

We set out about 9:35, slightly earlier, for once, than planned.  The traffic was acceptable.  The recorded miles on the car was 21599.

The first stop, planned for 90 minutes of journey time, was Brampton services.  It's an unremarkable services, but the parking is difficult, as it's laid out like a shopping centre, with parking for each shop.  The shops have signs on the door, that the toilets are only for customers - surely this can't be right for a place that thinks it's a Motorway Services! We stopped for about 30 minutes at around 11am.

Our second stop, at Markham Moor, lasted a little longer and was rather sooner than planned, at 12:30.  We stayed about an hour, as we ate our lunch. 

Shortly after resuming our journey, we encountered a traffic jam.  Google Maps took us on a diversion, back down the A1, then up the M18 and the M62.  These two motorways I had not travelled on before.  The journey remained uneventful.

We arrived 16:15, the mileage now on 21855, and were met by Anna and shown to the cottage, which is attached to the back main house.  She helped us with some of our bags, the one which I found heavy was easy for her.

The cottage door was stiff, I hate being locked in.  So we checked with Anna, and her technique was to unlock and remove the key.  This worked well for the rest of our stay.  All of our comings and goings to the car were carefully monitored by one of her cats, who would become our daily escort.

Anna had recommended the Falcon Inn as a good place for dinner.  So, at 5:30 we drove the short distance and had a lovely meal.  Our table provided a view over the coast, as the sun was going down, a passing ship was lit up, and shone brightly - quite a sight.  This strated a conversation with some other diners. They had overheard us talking about England's highest pub - The Tan Hill Inn.  We were discussing visiting it, but at 95 miles from Cloughton, it was a bit too far.  However, we learnt a little about the falls at Hayburn Wycke that was one of the local places we intended to visit.

After eating, we went to get supplies - Milk and things that were not easy to bring.  So, first stop, LIDL.  We got most things there, but not the Gaviscon, that I need for my acid reflux.

We then went a little further on to Morrisons, where I got what I needed and we also bought some petrol.

Our bedroom is in the roof, there is one small 'velux' type window with an integrated blind to close at night.  We each bumped our head only once during the week.  It was a windy night, the wind blowing around the house and across the roof meant we got very little sleep until the early hours.