Biblical weather

Apologies to our kind followers who were concerned about our going off air
We have spent a couple of days indulging in some magnificent shropshire style r and r chez John and Jess who entertained us royally with superb food, lots of fun, comfy beds and pigeon shooting (at which young decline aged 11 beat both sergeant angus and big alex - well done declan)

I am now straight back in to mega worry mode as there is no sign of the boys and the weather could not be more dreadful. Wind and rain like you would not believe and I was unable do more than 40 mph on the m 6 because visibility was so poor. So I am standing on a covered bridge between two buildings at the hotel with a bird's eye view of the drive drive waiting for the apparition of our drowned boys

It's been odd being on the road as London burns and even odder as the mayhem seems to following us up the country and London feels surreally unreal. We have had such a surfeit of utterly beautiful countryside and pastoral idylls as we have moved gradually further north west tHat it seems hard to believe these are part of the same country let alone the same culture, but I guess the point is that these young people, criminal as they are, feel they have no part or say in the mainstream of our culture. The independent says it is britain's
hurricane katrina moment and I tend to agree

This is one of our few non yha stops as the yha's locally are only in central mancester and Liverpool and that felt too much like hars work at the planning stage. I am now thanking my lucky stars that we are in the safety of the north wigan countryside and in central carnage

Isobel is excited and frustrated since this hotel - Che

Theynhave arrived

Hurrah hurrah