We left Rosslyn with the idea that we would drive halfway home . We had a place in mind to stop for the night . Not your usual motorway stop off mind. We crossed the border from Scotland into England. The landscape was gently sloping dotted with pine trees and dry stone walls dividing the fields . Gabby ate up the miles as we climbed up Shap and started to see the signs for the Lakes to one side of us and the Yorkshire Dales to the other. The roads were fairly empty which meant that Gabby had a good drive homewards.
We always feel sad to be heading home but we had one more stop in mind . A motorway service station . Go on say it - you never stop at a motorway services. Most services only allow you to stop for two hours. Certainly no overnighter stops for motorhomes unless you want to cough up an extortionate amount of money. The food is generally awful and the car parks packed . So what on earth were we thinking about stopping at Tebay Services .
us that we needed fuel . We decided to fill up tomorrow . Or at least give our girl a splash and a dash to get home . We were not paying 20p a litre over the odds for diesel . One of the disadvantages of motorway service stations is the high price of diesel . We just needed enough to get us home . But that was a job for tomorrow morning .
We parked up above the car park on an area designated motorhomes only . There were a couple of cars there already and two vans . Even caravans could park up here for the night . Tebay services is situated on the both sides of the M6 motorway. The motorway had ploughed a furrow all the way through acres of one families land. Instead of bemoaning the situation they took the bull by the horns and bought the franchise for the motorway services . Beating the big boys they got both sides over the years and went on to provide the only family fun service area in the whole of the UK . They quickly realised what people wanted was not the stewed overcooked breakfasts , the fast food but wholesome good home cooking . So here instead of a Costa Coffee or a Starbucks they sell real Italian coffee served by a barista . They produce all the food they sell and cook and everything is fresh . No sign of a McDonalds or a Kentucky Fried Chicken . They even sold their own beef and lamb and provided wonderful views from their restaurant .
I paid the £18 for our overnight stay . £18 was slightly excessive but for that we had access to free showers , electric hook ups for cars and a pizza oven where we could buy our tea - a Margarita Pizza freshly made in front of me. £3 was given back to us to use for buying food. So the cost of the overnight was £15 and perfectly acceptable . The Pizza was good too.
The grounds had been left to grow wild . Orchids bloomed in the long grass and Pink Ragged Robin showed that the area was both damp and diverse . We slept well . No sound from the nearby motorway . What a great place to spend our last night in Gabby.
