Road trip day 1
It has been 48 hours since I made the decision to embark on my solo road trip. My aim is to drive from London to Edinburgh, with Edinburgh being the final destination. Google maps calculated that this would be a 7 hour journey, which was much too far for me to drive in one day! Hence, I decided to break it down into a three day drive, with two over night stops.
My first stop is the small town of Stapleford on the outskirts of Nottingham. I chose this location because it is a ten minute drive from the David Attenborough Nature Reserve, which is a place I have always wanted to do bird watching! Hence, my aim was to pack up the car and set off on a 2.5 hour drive to the nature reserve, arriving by lunch time.
I must have been tired, as I unexpectedly slept in until 9.30 am! This was not my plan, as I had been aiming to set off early, but instead I took my time to have breakfast and to slowly pack the car. It wasn’t 11.30 am until I was ready to start driving! I am starting to realise that it’s okay to slow down and that I don’t need to be in a hurry, as I am now working on my own time.
When I set off driving the road was clear and I enjoyed listening to Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department album. It was good to have time to sing along to the songs and think about the last week and my plans for the next few days. You could call it ‘car therapy’! I decided to knock out the 2.5 hour drive in one go with no stops, which meant that when I arrived at the David Attenborough Nature Reserve, I was running straight to the loo!
After the loo, I was able to take a look around the visitor centre and buy myself a mocha with oat milk (my favourite). I sat out on the terrace watching the swans. The sky was moody and the water was still. I suddenly felt like I could breathe a big sigh of relief, as I had made it! This was a glorious moment - just me, the swans, the reserve, and a big sense of excitement. The world was my oyster and I was excited for the afternoon ahead.
I decided to set off walking with my coffee, as I was eager to start exploring the reserve. However, as soon as I stepped out of the visitor centre and was looking at the map of the area, an elderly man on a zimmer frame appeared. He looked very fragile and I wondered why he was on his own. I approached him and he asked if I could help him to call a taxi. He was with his brother but had lost him and did not have a phone. I called a taxi and we had to wait 25 minutes for the taxi to arrive. I felt like I couldn’t leave the elderly man on his own - his name was Tony. So, I sat with Tony in the carpark waiting for the taxi to arrive.
Tony told me that he used to be a warden at the reserve and had spent his career looking after the grounds and creating habitats for the birds. I was so impressed! He told me he had been involved in building a ‘tern table’ for arctic seabirds called ‘terns’. He said he has lost contact with his bird watching friends but still enjoys visiting the reserve with his younger brother and having coffee at the visitor centre. I was captured by Tony’s story and excited to have met a retired warden during my visit. The taxi soon pulled up and I said goodbye to Tony, thanking him for sharing his story with me. I was now ready to embark on my walk feeling even more excited!
As I set off on the Kingfisher trail, I stopped at the first viewing platform and noticed a woman standing on her own looking over the water. I said hello and joined her. We got chatting and she explained that she was local to the area and enjoyed walking around the reserve. She was a primary school teacher and this was her last day of summer, so she was enjoying a walk before returning to school the following day. I explained to her that I had just resigned from my job and was embarking on a new journey. Her name was Berny and we decided to walk together.
Berny was familiar with the different birds, flowers, and plants, which she showed me along the way. I felt very lucky to have bumped into her and to be joining her on a walk. As we arrived at the first hide we heard excitement from within - there was a kingfisher hovering right in front of the window and diving for fish, it was then taking the fish back to it’s nest to feed it’s babies. Two bird watchers invited us to sit on their bench and showed us where the king fisher was. I watched in amazement as this beautiful bird hovered right in front of us, its wings beating so fast and then dove into the water catching a fish between its beak. I watched it fly with the fish and land on a wooden post, before flying to its nest. The king fisher repeated this multiple times giving us bird watchers a real spectacle to watch!
The afternoon was wonderful and I spent three glorious hours strolling and chatting to Berny, as we spotted different birds and wandered through the Attenborough village next to the reserve. The reserve closed at 5.30 pm and we said goodbye, and I set off to drive to the nearby town of Stapleford (which Berny jokily told me is known as ‘Stabford’ by the locals). As I arrived in ‘Stabford’, I looked out my window wondering if I would be safe here for the night. I saw the pub where I was staying, the Horse and Jockey, and parked on the side road.
As I crossed the road and entered the pub I was relieved to find a relaxed atmosphere and the pub owner, Gilly, waiting to welcome me. He knew who I was immediately and said “are you Holly?”, to which I confirmed I was, and he said he’d been expecting me. Gilly took me into the little garden on the side of the pub which was full of gnomes and flowers, before taking me upstairs to see my room. I had the little bedroom at the front of the building above the pub - it was cute and I felt I would be cosy here for the night. I settled in and then went downstairs to the pub to enjoy their pizza night. I order the Arizona pizza, which was a pepperoni and bbq sauce pizza, and enjoyed looking at my National Trust Handbook in preparation for my journey the next day!
