Day Eleven: Bassenthwaite to Home!

WE MADE IT! After 11 days 7 hours 38 minutes and having driven 1,802 miles and sailed a further 71 miles, making 1,873 miles in total, we are safely back home.

It was an uneventful journey. We sauntered through Ambleside and Windermere admiring the scenery, finally encountering the processional driving I was expecting in Scotland, before picking up the motorway just outside Kendal, from there a straight blast to get home early afternoon.

The weather was, as forecast, hot and sunny so we had the roof down for most of the journey. However, parked in Honeybourne we encountered a short, sharp shower! All that way and we get wet just a couple of miles from home (well, I didn’t get wet, I was in the Co-Op buying some provisions. Angela was in the car so had to get the roof up quickly!)

Does the NC500 live up to the hype of being one of the greatest driving routes in the world, our “Route 500”? Compared to our experiences of driving through Europe I would say so. While it doesn’t have the ‘majesty’ of the snow-covered alps, the scenery is spectacular, especially along the coast, and, as a driver, some of the roads are simply driving heaven! I don’t know if we were lucky but I was very surprised at the overall lack of traffic so we could drive at our own pace, fast or slow. Will we return? You bet! Only this time we’ll go the other way round (and look out for those ‘short’ walks!).

Home Sweet Home!

We will return ….