A trip oop north...

An early start

We were all awake at 3.30am this morning and ready to go by 4.30am. I'd packed a flask of coffee and some biscuits and Keith had even put a spade in the boot of the car in case we did encounter snow! We put the cats in the conservatory with plenty of food and water and drew the curtains so they couldn't see Johnny! They were a bit wary of him and we wouldn't be around to reassure them, poor mites!

I'm glad it wasn't raining or snowing and we took the A14 and then the M1. After about twenty minutes, a notice flashed up on the instrument panel saying that there'd been a loss of tyre pressure and to carry out a check. The front two tyres were brand new, so we couldn't understand why, but we pulled into the next services we came to and found the air machine. Luckily, we could pay by card, and Keith checked all the tyres which were fine. We were mystified! We didn't really need this at 5am on a cold, wet morning, but we carried on, relieved that the tyres seemed to be OK!

Apart from that little scare, we had a good journey north, passing Sheffield and skirting Leeds to stay on the M1 until we reached the A1. The traffic had grown increasingly busier as we headed into the heavily-populated north. We weren't on the A1 long before we reached Wetherby, and Sophie used her phone to direct us to HMP Wealstun, a category C prison, where she was hosting an employability event.

We arrived at 7am and Sophie had arranged to meet a colleague before she went into the prison so she could leave her phone in his car. We took the opportunity to have a coffee and a biscuit while we waited and watched as the visitor car park gradually filled up. Amazingly, quite a few of the local residents used the grounds next to the prison to walk their dogs! Opposite was a modern housing estate, and I wondered what it was like to live so close to a prison!

Sophie's colleague still hadn't arrived by 8am but she spotted someone else she knew and went to talk to them. We waited until they were walking in and then decided to drive to Harrogate in search of more coffee and breakfast.

A wasted journey

We set Trish to take us on the twenty-minute journey and passed some interesting countryside on the way, with steep crags jutting out of farmland. It was clear we were driving along with commuter traffic and as we neared Harrogate, we encountered a line of cars all heading into the town. 

We crawled along and it began to sleet. The people walking past, taking their children to school, looked thoroughly miserable, and I could sympathise! It took us about half an hour to make the rest of the journey into a busy Harrogate. We looked out for a car park, but neither of us really fancied getting out of the warm car and venturing into the town in the truly awful weather.

I suggested going back towards Wetherby and stopping at a Sainsbury's supermarket we'd seen. We'd be able to use the loos and have something to eat there. Keith readily agreed so we turned around and went back, this time against the heavy line of traffic!

It wasn't exactly the kind of breakfast I'd envisaged - I wanted to go to Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate - but the sausage sandwich and coffee we had were adequate. After we'd eaten we had a look around the store and I bought some Fevertree Ginger Ale and Lemonade. I had a feeling I would need a drink tonight when we got home!

We've lost a castle!

By now, it was snowing, so we made the decision to head back to the prison. There was no point in walking around Wetherby, so we resigned ourselves to sitting in the car and reading the newspaper we'd bought in Sainsbury's.

On the way, we passed through the village of Spofforth and saw signs for a castle. Keith was intrigued, so we came off the main road and headed into the village, vainly looking out for Spofforth Castle. It became apparent that we'd missed it, so we had to turn around and retrace our route again! We finally spotted the "castle" which was a ruin on a hillside overlooking the village! The castle was built by Henry de Percy in the 14th century but was reduced to ruins in the English Civil War. It's an English Heritage Site, but we certainly didn't fancy walking around the ruins on such a horrible day!

Back at the prison, the car park was full so we parked along a residential street not far away. The snow was coming down properly now, and I was glad we were back at the prison and not far away. We had spoken about going to see Keith's brother but it was a further 60 miles north and we'd seen weather warnings out for the North-East, so it would have been foolhardy to attempt it!

We contented ourselves with reading the paper, listening to Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits radio (we missed Popmaster) and chatting. The layer of snow on the front of the car set the sensors off, and the vehicle must have thought we were too close to something as the alarms kept going off! Periodically, we drove down to the car park, and on our third visit, we managed to park.

A late lunch

Sophie emerged from the prison at about 12.30pm and was covered in snow! We'd noticed people coming out carrying loaves of bread, and she had one with her! They'd been made in the prison bakery, and each visitor was given one, which we thought was a lovely touch!

We headed back to the A1 and I asked Sophie to look for a pub off the motorway. The driving was hazardous, and it was still snowing, the third lane covered in slush. I took it carefully, but I wasn't happy to be driving in such nasty conditions!

Sophie found two pubs - one in Monk Fryston and one in the neighbouring village of Hillam, near the town of Selby. We passed the Monk Fryston pub and decided to carry on to The Cross Keys at Hillam. The pub looked inviting and they were doing food all day. Hooray!

We took a seat by an unlit fire and I wished fervently that it was roaring away! Sophie was delighted to see lasagne on the menu, I chose the steak and ale pie and Keith opted for steak and chips. The staff were friendly and we sat and chatted about our respective mornings!

The food was good and Sophie and I managed to share a bread and butter pudding between us. The snow continued to fall outside and I was dreading the return journey. According to the traffic reports the snow was bad around Sheffield and Derbyshire so we made the decision to carry on down the A1 until Stamford, rather than take the M1 home.

Homeward bound

After paying the bill, we drove back onto the A1 and soon became caught up in a traffic jam because of roadworks. This held us up for about forty minutes, but once we were on our way, the weather improved a bit and the snow turned to rain. 

The rest of the journey was fine but it did rain heavily all the way to Stamford. We turned off and drove towards Kettering on the saturated A43 where luckily the traffic was light. I had hoped to get home before it got dark but we arrived back at about 5.30pm to find that Johnny still wasn't finished and was coming back tomorrow to complete the windowsill in the living room.

It was heaven to relax with a drink and we watched the third episode of True Detective, which made both Sophie and I jump out of our skins! A scary end to a challenging day!