Menootnaboot; Meeting My Buddy

The key instigator of getting the Second's Trip underway was that Aitch had a Geocache meeting to attend on Feb 29th in the border town of Hawick - a place that is quite dear to me. 

I left you last week, having taken off to the ferry and headed to New Lanark for a staged park-up. Also got a good charge in the town. (40p per unit, for those paying attention to Monday's post!) I arrived late on the Sunday, had Monday to rest, then set off on Tuesday to Hawick. Aitch was coming north from her home just south of the border in Northumberland. I won't regale you with the trials and tribulations caused by road closures and active works and such. Suffice to say that as I drew into the target town, for some reason I opted to drive into the supermarket carpark instead of heading directly to the Victoria Road aire. I was typing a message to Aitch on my phone when I heard a horn beside me. Had I parked erroneously in all those empty spaces? Errrrr no... I had chosen to park right next to none other than my dear friend!!! She was only there a few moments ahead of me and had also chosen that park. I didn't recognise her new car, so it was all a bit spooky. Anyway, that was us, so we went into Sainsbury's to make use of their toilets and for me to purchase a few items, then round to the place of my next park-up. 

In Europe, aires are everywhere. These are local authority provisions for vans and motorhomes to stay; occasionally paid, but many are free and provide water, toilets and/or waste dump facilities. The expectation, naturally, is that users of said facilities will spend money in the town and boost the local economy. Hawick has taken on the concept in the Victoria Road carpark, which is right in the town centre. Free, with a suggested max stay of 48 hrs (but no obvious monitoring). GOOD ON 'EM!!! 

Aitch went and booked into her accoms, then returned by early evening so that we could take a wander over the bridge and along High Street to the Horse - mainly because there was a place I thought might be nice to eat, but turned out to be only a take away now. So back along to 'our' end and into the Italian which was also appealing (and really the only other choice, much of Hawick being closed on a Tuesday night!). La Locanda Romana, run by brothers, Fabrizio and Franco Portella turned out to be an absolute winner. Franco, the younger bro, was the maitre dee (that's him on the left of the image below) and saw to it that we were well-seated by the radiator (did I mention the icy conditions outside?) He was lively, loquacious and lovely. I had seen the menu online (*a photo, they don't actually have a website - which is a real shame) so it didn't take me long to reconfirm my dishes. Aitch went for the liver pate starter, followed by Carbonara. For me, it was Arancini with spinach salad, then Ravioli Ricotta Spinaci. Beyond scrumptious! As we departed, the older bro and chef, Fabrizio, came and greeted us. We will definitely be making a return visit there.

We retired early and met up again on Wednesday morning for a cuppa and buns as we planned out our walking route for the day. Aitch was pleasantly surprised, I think, at how comfortable and cosy it is in The Grey, even on cold days, with the door open. To read what we got up to, come back tomorrow!