Monday 16 January 2023

Menu Plan Monday ... and Photos from Our Journey Home from Scotland

 


This is my menu plan from last week and as you can see by the first three ticks it went perfectly to plan for the first three days, and then just like I expected with a trip to Scotland planned at the last minute, the end of the week tailed off.

Alan invited me over to his house for my evening meal on Thursday as he had something that really needed using up before we left.  As it was a Higgidy pie and a big bowl of mashed potatoes I wasn't going to say no.  The on Friday I had a minimal breakfast and then we packed and hit the road for Scotland and a weekend away staying at Alan's sister and her fiancé's house.  

The dogs love going there as they have a lovely elderly German Shepherd dog called Tia and our little dogs hero worship big dogs ... much to Tia's annoyance.  Imagine it, suddenly your house isn't your own anymore and you have an annoying little Pug following you everywhere you go ... no wonder she is always relieved when they settle down a bit after the first day.


This week's menu took shape very quickly as I first transferred the meals that hadn't been used over from last week with little change.  Hopefully this week will go more to plan as we have nowhere that takes us out of the house for longer than a few hours.

Did I hear someone say 'What are bonus peas?' ... maybe not, but I'll tell you anyway.  They are the peas that you have left over when you tip out all the peas from the bag on Wednesday night's fish and chip meal, thinking that there will be just enough for the one meal and actually there are way too many.  So, in the interests of being able to add them to another meal I spooned some of them back into the bag ready for this week.

Now just because I got snap happy on the way back from Scotland on Sunday afternoon here are some of the lovely snowy scenes.











And there's the snap happy snow photographer in the wing mirror. 😄

As soon as we dropped lower down the hills onto the roads leading into Moffat the snow vanished, there was literally a line across a hillside field, snow on one side and then grass on the other and then the town and the roads leading to it were completely clear.


We stopped on the way home for a very late lunch at Tebay Services on the M6, and while Alan was picking up our order from the counter I snapped a photo of the view from our table.  This is one of our favourite services and if we pass we usually stop either just for a coffee and a dog walk or, like in this instance, for a dog walk and a meal.  We usually have a look around the beautiful farm shop too, but this time we were both tired and there was nothing we needed ... and I especially did not need any temptation to spend any of my money!!

And with two tired and happy snoring dogs on the back seat we set off for the final forty minutes of our journey back home.  Of course the best bit of having had our meal on the way home was that neither of us needed to cook or wash up, so it was just a case of a cup of coffee and the latest episode of Vera on the television ... a very good end to a brilliant weekend.


Sue xx




35 comments:

  1. What gorgeous photos, Sue. Yes we like Tebay services and farm shop too - not that we get the opportunity to go, now that husband's health means we don't go on long journeys anymore.

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    1. Sadly life changes so much with health and age related problems doesn't it. :-(

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  2. I'm a nervous driver on snowy roads! Glad you made it safely there and back and you had a great time!

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    1. Alan drives so many miles and in so many differing weather conditions he's quite used to it. I am very alert to things to point out for him though ... just in case. ;-)

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  3. I loved all the snowy pics. I've never called in at Tebay services , looks amazing, what a view!
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. It's one of the best and one of only a couple of family owned and run services on the motorways, the other one, owned by the same family is in Gloucester.

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  4. What beautiful scenery! Sounds like a great weekend :)

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    1. I just had to get my camera out to photograph it. :-)

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  5. Tebay is our favourite services too. We can never resist a stop and a ‘home cooked’ meal and mooch round the farm shop … Carol😀

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    1. I did miss having a mooch around the shop, but in the past I have nearly always been tempted to get something, I was determined not to spend though.

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  6. When we visited the UK about 10 years ago (perhaps not quite as long ago) I told Harvey that I could very easily live in the Highlands. Loved what the weather was like at that time, so much like our Canadian weather (bit milder) and my Scots Highland blood was calling me home.

    God bless.

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    1. It's a lovely part of the world isn't it. Alan is from Peebles and loves to go back regularly and to visit his sister who now lives in Innerleithen.

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  7. A cuppa and Vera is my favourite way to end the week also

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    1. It's a great end to the week isn't it, and as usual I didn't manage to solve the crime at all.

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    2. The plot was very complicated, wasn't it? For me, it involved several rewinds of my recorded version before I understood what had occurred!

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    3. I read something about Vera once that stated if Brenda Blethyn figures out who did it herself on the script read through, they convolute the story a bit more to make it harder to solve. I don't know how true that is, but it may well be.

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  8. Welcome home after your trip, definitely more snow on your journey than we have seen here (about 2mm yesterday 😂 ). Your menu plan looks good - Sunday sounds delicious! Thanks to you I am doing the same this year - 3 weeks in and it is going very well.

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    1. We were surprised at how thick it was up on the tops.
      Menu planning is really working for me, it makes life so much easier doesn't it. Even though I didn't manage to stick to the whole of last week having those options to carry forward made this week's planning so much easier.

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  9. I love those snowy photos. The views are just beautiful so small wonder you went snap-happy!

    Have a great week after your lovely weekend! xx

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    1. We are all shattered even the dogs, so we will be having a quiet week that's for sure.

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  10. Glad you enjoyed your visit to Scotland and we have been in Tebay (both sides) many, many times.It’s become very busy since the group were named as one of the top service stations and the one at Gloucester is also very good. We use it as our stopover going to and from St Annes. Catriona

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    1. Yes, we like both sides too and used to stop at the other side when we travelled up from Wales or from Oxfordshire. As we now live so close to it, we tend not to stop northbound anymore. I have never been to the Gloucester one although Alan has a couple of times.

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  11. Lovely photos! We stop at Tebay on our way up north too!

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    1. We don't stop northbound anymore as it is so close to home for us now, so we tend to only use the southbound side these days.

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  12. Beautiful snowy pics. We haven't been to Scotland for a long time, despite my paternal heritage and it's too far for G to drive now. I'd be much too nervous driving in the snow myself. It sounds like a lovely break for you all.
    Great episode of Vera, by the way and more to come!

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    1. We go at least two times a year staying over for at least one night, to visit family and to put flowers on Mum and Dad's grave. I hate driving in the snow, but Alan has never had a problem with it, even though we no longer have the 4x4. He just does so many miles it doesn't faze him at all.

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    2. How different things looked in Scotland! What happened to all the white stuff? Off to read about Tebay!

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    3. Yes Debby very different, it was nice to get back down to the lower levels and for the green to reappear. Although beautiful to look at it makes for tense driving conditions at this time of year.

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  13. Those snowy photos are gorgeous!
    I've not been to Tebay Services but absolutely love Gloucester Services which are part of the same family. xxx

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    1. Yes, it took them a long time to be able to open the Gloucester services due to planning permissions etc, Alan said it is quite reminiscent of Telly Tubby land due to this.

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  14. I am so glad you got snap-happy! Beautiful. We have yet to see Scotland and keep hoping it will happen one day.

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    1. It's well worth a visit and a driving holiday, perhaps in a motor home would be wonderful.

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  15. Beautiful photos! I would love to visit but can only do so via blogs so thank you for sharing these scenes.

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    1. My pleasure, it did look wonderful didn't it I couldn't resist snapping away with the camera.

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  16. Scotland looks much like my part of Canada right now. Snow, snow, snow!

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