With the arrival of daylight, we were able to see some of the carnage that the storm had brought, as we made our way to civilisation or Hawick as it is known locally. At least there was electricity and phone service, so we were able to get hold of every one.
Morrisons were our breakfast venue of choice [No one else was open] and it was from there that we ascertained that Jonathan & Jamie had in fact made it back to Longtown but not before a brief excursion into a ditch. Luckily they had been able to extract themselves without the need for external assistance.
Richard and Stefan had fared better than Andrew & I despite the A7 again being blocked beyond Langholm, had taken refuge in a pub. [You couldn't make it up ,could you]. The publican of The Crown in Langholm, realising that there was a bit of a problem, had open the pub and it's function room up to the crews. The staff had called friends and family to help with supplies and bedding, offering great hospitality to a random bunch of misfits. OK, he probably made a bob or two, but I can't think that anyone would begrudge him that. [except of course one of the other publicans in the town, who shopped him to the council, so I'm told]
Safe in the knowledge that everyone was safe, we made our way back to the cabins. The road was still closed but there had been reports of some action. It was 9.30 ish before we were able to continue our journey. It appeared that there had been more than one tree brought down across our bit of road. Looks like the guys on the right had had their work cut out. While all
this had been going on, the app which the organisers had been using to deliver bulletins had been out of service. They had given no thought to the fact that regardless of the storm, much of the area had no service, perhaps next time they might put in a temporary mast. It was obvious to almost all, that there would be no rallying today. The Scottish leg of the event would not be happening. but nothing from the organisers.
As we passed through Langholm, we saw the pub which had hosted the lucky crews. For much of the rest of the run back to Longtown, there were signs of frantic activity, as the emergency services sought to restore some sort of order. [Such was the damage caused by Arwen, that some places were not back to normal for over a week]
For Andrew & I, it was time to review our position. At that time, there was no plan from the organisers, we had some work to do on the car and knew just the guys to carry it out. We opted to do our work, roadside by our
accommodation. All the comforts of home on a pretty chilly day and an opportunity to introduce Jamie to the delights of roadside servicing.