Day 12 – Carlisle

Today London is forecasted to be the hottest day on record for October, 30 deg, but we are not in London we are in Oban and we are in for rain, rain and more rain.
Today we are off to Carlisle in Cumbria, it is going to be a bit of a meandering journey and a long drive but it should be fun.
The first attraction on the trip is Loch Lomond unfortunately it is rainy with low hanging cloud which obscures the lovely views over the Loch, it would be a great drive on a sunny day, next we are off to Stirling, the castle is covered in low cloud, we take a drive up the steep road to the castle unfortunately I had forgotten there is a pay point before the car park so a 3 point turn is done and down the steep hill we go.
Back to the motorway and Glasgow bound we head, the motorway is pretty clear and good time is made.
As we approach the Scottish border the heavens open and the heaviest rain of the trip descends on us.
At this point a re think is required, the next stop was to be Hadrian’s wall but with the weather as it is it is decided to head to the hotel and then out to the wall in the morning, hopefully with better weather.
We find the hotel okay but the car park is another story, lots of one way streets in Carlisle, oh well it gave us a good chance to see the castle and cathedral lots of times.