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......

Jacks hill cafe on the A5.

Micky

Departure lounge cafe nr Alton, Hampshire on the Basingstoke road.

Doesn't open until 0900, lovely breakfast 

Compton Abbas airfield near Shaftesbury, entertainment and a good cafe

Thanks for that information, I think it could be the start of a useful thread. We are frequently heading up that way and have used the B7076 parallel to the M74 a few times but maybe not as far as you suggest.

Also, for those of us with the not-so-small vans it is always a help to know of supermarkets with larger car parks in some of these towns as well as for comfort stop reasons!

As a lot of us are retired, time is not really of the essence and I quite agree that some of the lesser roads are far more interesting and less stressful to boot.

Thanks again - any more suggestions?

Graham

Loch Fyne Oyster bar Clachan/Cairndow on the A83, large car park to stretch your legs and walk the dog.on the Loch side and main road into Inveraray (its very busy at times)
Bar,restaurant ,deli, shop, etc, not cheap,however the views are to die for , there's a wee old cemetery up the hill along a track, our wee dog hates the walled cemetery .
Boaby

Try to keep out of those places myself Boaby 

Good idea for a thread Rapoort   I've not much to offer, but the Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre on the A84 at Doune has plenty of parking, some decent refreshments and the chance to pick up that bit of Chippendale furniture that everybody else missed  

You don't have to go into the restraurant, the shop sells some really good outdoor gear.
We have stopped there overnight sometimes,or at the wee lay bye on the corner.
The car park at the top of the rest and be thankfull is another good stopover, especially if the snack bar is there .
Boaby

Another pit stop on the A9 at Newtomore, not far from the campsite 
Is the Newtomore Griil, used to be a Little Chef in my trucking days.
Big car park, crackin "all day breakfast" with black pudding, ,clootie  
Dumplin and loads of toast, washed down with mugs of tea.
I've stopped there in my truck in the 80/90s and in recent years in our van.
Boaby

burlingtonboaby wrote:You don't have to go into the restraurant, the shop sells some really good outdoor gear.

Boaby

Boaby, I was talking about the cemetery 

Askit wrote:

burlingtonboaby wrote:You don't have to go into the restraurant, the shop sells some really good outdoor gear.

Boaby

Boaby, I was talking about the cemetery 

Its called Kilmorich burial grounds, mainly Mc Callum's and Dewers dating back to 1849, my wee Border isn't scared of anything ,but she won't go into the grounds .at any cost.   
Boaby

Our friends' house, just off the motorway on the Normandy/Brittany border.

It's nice to arrive after a long hot drive from the channel port and know that there'll be a Kir Royale in a chilled glass waiting, on the patio under a nice big shady umbrella.

Cheers Ken and Sal.

...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.