Warming up on a road trip to sunny Somerset

Fiona Duff is wondering about moving south in order to keep her Vitamin D supplies topped up

I don’t think that there is anyone north of the border who would think that we have had a good summer. I mean at times it was a joke – walking the dog in the evening wearing a full on winter jacket. I think I wore a pair of shorts once in the past three months (apart from when I was abroad).

So earlier in the week I set off on a little road trip to visit a couple of friends who happen to live quite close to each other in Somerset. Any of you who have been driven by me, especially my husband, were somewhat alarmed by this journey that I was planning to undertake in the mighty Polo. I had no wish to do it all in one go – apart from anything Bruce the spaniel hasn’t got the greatest of bladders and I tend to need a pee stop fairly often as well. First place we parked was Moffat – lovely little town and a bit like going back a couple of decades. Next was Kendal in the Lake District and as soon as I go out of the car I could feel a change in temperature.

It wasn’t particularly sunny, but as soon as I started walking around I realised that I should have left my jacket in the car. And when I returned to my vehicle, I had to open the windows and put the fan on cold for a while. This is what it should be like in the summer.

After stopping overnight Bruce and I had a walk in the Worcester Wood Country Park which seems to be a very popular place. It was pretty hard to find a parking space, so Lord knows what it is like at the weekend. This time I didn’t take my jacket.

I am now in Somerset and the temperature has notched up again and it’s actually a cloudy day.

It is at times like this one wonders about moving south in order to keep my Vitamin D supplies topped up. Then I think about July when it was over 30 degrees here and I realised that I wouldn’t manage more than a couple of days before having to ship myself back to Edinburgh to cool down. But I wouldn’t be able to afford that – have you seen the prices of hotels and AirBnBs in the capital?

Warming up on a road trip to sunny Somerset - Fiona Duff