Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 South Shields - Largs, UK
After our stay in the north east of England we took a ~4 hour drive up to Scotland, well it should have been about 4 hours. As we were leaving South Shields, I decided to fill up the van with fuel for the long journey ahead, the van required diesel and, in my haste, to get on with the journey I did not pay much attention at the pump. It turns out in the UK the regular petrol is dispensed via green hoses, and of course in the US green hoses are for diesel. About a half mile from the gas station the van began to splutter, and the engine died; I coasted to a safe spot by at the side of the road and immediately knew what I had done. Five hour later the recovery truck finally showed up, looked at the size of the van and stated the obvious – he would be unable to load the van onto his truck for recovery. By now it was getting late in the day, and we needed to get to Newcastle Airport to pick up a replacement vehicle – panic was setting in! The rental company arranged for a taxi but, despite my warnings about the amount of luggage we had, the taxi was a small size car. Luckily our family came to rescue, and we just made it to the airport before the rental place closed; we took the largest vehicle they had – it was a big SUV, but it was still extremely tight to fit us in with and all the luggage.
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 mi from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its historic links with the Vikings and an annual festival is held each year in early September. I have very fond memories of a brief vacation to Largs when I was a small child, catching mackerel from small rowing boat just off the beach. Sandra’s family also regularly visited Wemyss Bay, just up the coast from Largs, when she was young. Before we emigrated to the US, we used to live in Greenock just up the road from Largs – we still have family in the area.
A few years ago we came across an Airbnb in Largs that we really like, and we managed to reserve it for this trip as well. The apartment is on the top floor of the Moorings Building right in the center of Largs. Before its conversion to apartments, The Moorings café and restaurant opened in 1936 on the seafront at Largs. It incorporated its own ice-cream factory and bakery and housed a ballroom with a capacity of 1000 people. There is still a small café on the ground floor operated by Nardini’s who also have the famous restaurant and ice-cream shop just along the road. We really love this apartment; the location is fantastic – right across the road from the ferry terminal and with views across the Firth of Clyde to the isles of Bute and Cumbrae.
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