Overnight stop between Dumfries and Heathrow

2 hours on Tuesday would mean staying down the Birmingham area. Or you could do tomorrow night in Liverpool, which is about 4 hours.

If you'd be up to doing 5 hours on Tuesday then I'd suggest going down the M6 to Penrith, then the A66 to Appleby for a stop, possibly. Appleby is about 45 minutes drive from Carlisle, then back on the A66 turning off at Brough onto the A685, calling in to Brough Castle (at Church Brough) 15 minutes away, where there is a very nice tearooms.

From there it is a very scenic 45 minute drive down to Sedbergh through Kirkby Stephen and Cautley (Cautley Spout- waterfall) should be in good flow after the recent rain.
Sedbergh is a picturesque small town, and a Book Town- lots of 2nd hand book shops.

There are a couple of hotels there- the Dalesman (a bit expensive) or the Black Bull.

Or you might like to push on another 45 minutes to the seaside village of Arnside- a nice place for your last night.

Or maybe down the old A6 through Milnthorpe and an overnight at Carnforth- several hotels in Carnforth. You could then have breakfast next day at the Brief Encounter tea room on Carnforth Station (Brief Encounter, as in the movie)- a nice place for your penultimate UK breakfast.

From Carnforth you're all but straight back on to the M6.

From either Arnside or Sedbergh it's about 5 hours down to Heathrow. From Carnforth about 4 1/2 hours.

Yes, I'm biased in trying to show you some of the less well known parts of Cumbria.

PS- I thought that if someone was staying in CD it rang a bell- you've been on your family history trail there. I presume you're doing stops in Dumfries, maybe Annan and maybe Gretna tomorrow. I've not heard of flooding at Whitesands but I imagine the river will be running high through the centre of Dumfries.
See if you've got time in Carlisle to visit Tullie House Museum and/or the Castle and the Cathedral if you have time.

I feel like I'm overfilling your day tomorrow!!

Bother- just checked. Brough Castle Tearooms is closed for the winter, but the Castle is worth a look in (with it's Roman origins), as is St Michael's Church in Church Brough village.

The other thing you could do at Penrith is come off the M6 onto the old A6. Then see King Arthur's Round Table, Mayburgh Henge and Brougham Castle at Eamont Bridge, then the Jacobite stuff at Clifton (the next village down the A6) then the scenic drive over Shap down the A6 all the way to Arnside or Carnforth.

With more time you could have called into Lowther Castle but it's not worth it on your schedule- more time is needed for Lowther.

Still looking at this- if you wanted to get to within the 4 hours drive time for Tuesday you could stay at the PI Preston East (at junction 31a of the M6) or at the McDonald Tickled Trout at junction 31- I haven't been there in years but it always used to be a nice place- both on for £76 tomorrow night, or the Ramada Chorley South at Charnock Richard services - on for £49 tomorrow night.

Thank you so much! We ended up leaving Longtown late in afternoon and drove straight (well several times round the round-about to get into the parking.) to Tickled Trout.

Thank you for all your suggestions! Down to dinner!
Cheryl

I suspected you might take most of the day meandering from CD to the border. Glad you enjoyed the day. Longtown is a nice village, one most people just drive straight through. I like the riverside walks there. I hope you managed to get into the Church, which keeps pretty intermittent and unpredictable opening hours.

By the way the Preston Bypass was the first motorway in the UK, and what is now Junction 31 was the first motorway junction in the UK. The Tickled Trout way pre-dates the motorway and was always on the A59, so not strictly a motorway service area. It was originally the Riverside Cafe from opening in the years before WW2, until the motorway was built in 1958. The hotel was built in 1958. The motorway entrance to the services and hotel was only built in 1993.
The Tickled Trout holds many happy memories for me, and I am so pleased that you stayed there tonight. I've been past several times this year and been tempted to call in for nostalgia sake- but such silliness tends not to end happily.

The Preston bypass was followed by the Lancaster bypass in 1960, and the infill section between them where Lancaster (Forton) services is only followed 5 years later. From 1960 to 1965 traffic was sent back on to the old A6, and the layout of the rather odd Lancaster south junction (junction 33) with it's tight curves relates to that heritage, as the south end of the Lancaster bypass.

I'm just returning a kind of favour as I have a friend on a road trip in WA and OR at the moment- who's just today sent me a couple of pictures of signs relating to the Santiam Pass and the Transcontinental Auto Race of 1905 by Dwight Huss, and I'm a sucker for that kind of roads history.

Very interesting information. We're happy with this location and establishment. Thanks. Apparently there was flooding on the ground floor yesterday. Perhaps that discombulation impacted the restaurant. They seemed to be short of many items on the menu for the few of us that were in the dining room...but I was able to finish off my meal with a great toffee pudding!

We didn't spend the time I'd originally hoped in Longtown. I actually took time in Castle Douglas looking for a few souvenir gifts so I wouldn't have to stop in Dumfries. Besides getting a few gifts, I ended up in several charity shops and got some great souvenirs for myself---more woollens and a couple of local photographs. We also spent some time at the Gilnockie Tower for an Armstong friend. We eagerly headed to Longtown to get a meal at the Graham Arms (maiden name) but we would have had to wait for almost hour and a half before it started serving the evening meal...so we took some photos and got on the road.. Decided to stay in Preston and wait to eat....

So, I need another trip to research my Grahams, feel the area they probably originally inhabited, and to visit a family history centre in Dumfries. The record office was a bust.

Thank you, again!