Where's your favourite "pitstop" ?

Here in Kendal we're lucky to have the Lakes and Yorkshire Dales so close, and be very near the main North/South routes...so we are very convenient for Scottish trips away. Now I admit that I just don't like motorways, far too busy and stressful, I'm never in a hurry to get anywhere, the only time I'll use them is on a Sunday, when it's quieter.
So Scottish trips always start up the A6 to Carlisle, then B7076 to Lockerbie, a name always associated with tragedy but now returned to it's old self. You can park in the street, but we always go to Tesco (turn right at the traffic lights) for toilets, then across the road to "Cafe 91", a good filling breakfast at reasonable prices, and nice scones....all the food is nice. The local accents make you feel the holiday has started, so soon.
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We carry on roughly parallel to the M74 on very quiet B7076/A701/A702, good roads with little traffic, small villages, no stress. For Edinburgh we turn on the A702 at Abington , otherwise continue on B7078/A72 to Hamilton and Glasgow, only using the motorway to avoid the city.

 "You take the high road, I'll take the low road ".....it would make a good song title......

...another one we've used a few times when in Wales is a garden centre just outside Caernarfon off the A487 Caernarfon - Portmadoc road, called Fron Goch.

We are always on the look out for a garden centre, for parking/toilet/cafe - the trick is to find one that is a compromise, small enough not to be a glorified retail village, big enough to have a good cafe.

Fron Goch is a good one  - yes, it has gifty stuff but not too much....the cafe/restaurant is excellent, in choice, quality, and quantity...and value.
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The only downside is that the car park isn't enormous. We have never actually left our van there, we've always been on a good site nearby and used our bikes. In fact a long cycleway runs along the back, next to the railway - which was the main reason for our visit this year, doing both the Welsh Highland line and the Festiniog railways, a long standing to-do....now done.