Chapter 1 of 3
Leaving Bristol
The car was fifteen years old and smelled of dog even though they had never owned one. Hannah packed a bag in twenty minutes. Her father, Robert, packed in twenty seconds: one change of clothes, a torch, and three packets of biscuits.
They left before dawn because Robert said motorways were honest at that hour. Hannah navigated from the passenger seat with a paper map bought at the first services. They argued about a roundabout near Birmingham and apologised over tea in a café that sold mugs with the wrong spelling of Wales.
By evening they reached the Lake District, not because it was the plan but because Robert liked water and Hannah needed to sleep. They parked facing the fells and ate biscuits for dinner with the windows steamed up.