Weather is looking OK for next week, I’ll be an hour into my journey at this time. Hope you’re all well and see you soon….

Just to add, my wife and I are attending the village OAP party today in the hall all free food and drink

I'm looking forward to it Jim

3'45" from Upton, 4'30" from Jim's, you should buy each other a drink to honour the effort you both make

<cough> sixteen hundred km from Berlin... call it a thousand miles, fifteen and a half hours (or three hundred if we decide to walk!) not including the tunnel. They should both buy me one but I'm not drinking at the moment

I'll buy you a coke

Coke zero please!

Safe travels today

I can bring parts with me should anyone need some, in stock front and rear eiffel towers, tank straps and radiator support bars, 3D-printed cup holders (free coffee included )

Updated this for you Joe

Any boot seals joe?

I'm still working on being able to supply the correct profile seal, there is a seal on the market which does the job but it doesn't cover the boot frame profile matching OE.

Typical! Flat battery

Luckily Mrs Ed's Seat was parked in front so just had to commandeer a friendly neighbour to give that the beans while I jump started it...

Got here eventually not helped by a diversion only 5 miles from Edinburgh which itself was diverted

Ended up joining the M74 at Moffat, pretty snowy on on the hill route...

A huge thank you to everyone for braving the weather and making the arduous journey for our annual pilgrimage Xmas get together, it’s always an honour and a privilege to serve you and the staff always look forward to you all coming.

I hope you all have a safe journey home and hope to meet up soon at a coupé meeting in the new year.

Big shout to Brian for noticing Neil’s laptop in the bar this morning, hope you didn’t have to backtrack too much to pick it up.

All the very best for Xmas and the new year

And thanks to you and your lovely staff for making us welcome and looking after us well as ever Rob

Much better journey back, sunshine over Beattock

I wondered why Pauline was waving a laptop at us when we left!

Thanks to Rob and his staff again for our lovely welcome and meal, etc and also for my left over bolognese which myself and the middle grandson will very much enjoy

Lovely to see everyone and hope everyone has got back safely.

The sunshine going back was horrible for me, right in my eyes or reflecting off the wet roads most of the way and usual crap journey up there - snow, fog, etc.

Need to start doing this trip in the summer

Well I don't see why we shouldn't..

The inevitable did happen of course Gretna for shopping....then a charging stop at Gretna services although there was a bit of a queue. So a quick bite to eat whilst that was going on. The chargers are really fast but just not enough of them if its as busy as it was.

In fact I would be surprised if Neil and Anita didn't reach Skye quicker.

Tremendous night as ever Rob, outstanding food and company... Only one fault we don't get enough time to say hello to everybody. So up for a summer meet.

Yes indeed a great night, the food the company the drink the craic all made a very enjoyable time. My car was frozen solid on Sunday morning and I spent over half an hour trying to get in, Brian had the magic touch when he passed by he opened the car first time. Arrived home at 5pm stopped at Bankfoot for something to eat and a coffee. Driving for long periods nowadays doesn’t suit both my hip joints which i had changed over the years. Car is now safely tucked away in my garage, it needs a good wash now but that will have to wait.
Once again thanks to all, Joe and Jackie and the cocktail bar was a hoot……..

We made it to Skye at about half six - it wasn't any great problem apart from an encounter with some mobile green catseyes on Kintail (aka bloody great deer).

Thanks for picking up the laptop; we bumped into Brian and Pauline at the hotel!

Our trip down looks like it could be interesting, though...

I did used to try and make an annual pilgrimage to Carlisle every summer, and always popped in to see Rob. Attending in December has always been difficult, unless we booked holidays, that's why we didn't get there this year

Finally back in Berlin; 4800km.It's been, um, interesting.

Great effort in all respects, Skye included

Sorry not to get to chat to you both more - one thing we should try and improve on future occasions...mingling.

Expand on the "interesting"..?

Oh, the usual; sub zero temperatures, roads with an inch of solid ice on them, six hours of traffic jams, hotel not opening their breakfast until six when they promised half-five (but we grabbed a couple of bacon sarnies and made the ten to six train instead of the seven twenty we'd booked!) and a stinky cold most of the way back... just the usual vicissitudes of life.

Do you take the Skye-Folkestone leg in one go?

I would just like to add my thanks to Rob and his staff for a really great evening. The food was fantastic and so was the company. Now looking forward to the next time, either summer or winter. Our trip back to Crewe on the train was totally uneventful, unlike some of the travails other have suffered. I would recommend this method of transport as long as it's not beset by strikes!

Nah, we visited Anita's cousin in Manchester... who have just reported they've all got covid. I've just checked out clean, though, just a stinky cold.

Belated thanks Rob for yet another great evening in Carlisle Rather interesting journey back through the Borders in some very wintery weather which reminded me of our chat about winter tyres

Hope you and the staff have a great Christmas and all the best for 2023