A BIRTHDAY treat turned into a real adventure for one Langholm family caught in the midst of Storm Arwen at the weekend.
When Iona and Robert Davidson’s twin daughters, Isla and Lauren opted to go to Fusion Trampoline centre in Carlisle for their birthday, little did they know it would result in them being stranded with no way to get back in the town.
They took two friends with them, Holly Irving and Emilia Graham with them for the 7-9pm disco and it was around 8.45pm that Emilia’s mum Jenny Graham contacted Iona to say there were reports of a tree down on the A7.
Meanwhile Robert also contacted Iona to let her know about the weather and Iona decided then it was time to leave Carlisle and head for home.
Iona said: “At the time it wasn’t as wild in Carlisle.”
The five of them headed to Longtown where Robert would meet them and try an alternative route home.
With Robert driving, they headed towards Waterbeck but were soon halted with fallen trees all around and at one point were trapped 10 metres between two.
Luckily, they met Callum Henderson who was able to help Robert move one of the smaller, lighter trees to escape.
After trying other routes home, they eventually decided to be safe and headed away from the smaller treelined roads towards Gretna where they booked into the Days Inn at Gretna Services to spend the night.
Talking to the E&L, Iona said: “It was midnight by the time we reached Gretna Services, the girls were tired and hungry and I hadn’t eaten myself since lunchtime but the staff there were very good and gave us water and crisps.”
Lauren added that it felt like they were ‘in a film’, while Emilia said she hated it and was scared when her phone died and she could not phone her mum.
After a comfortable night they looked forward to their breakfast at Starbucks and headed back to Langholm along the A7 by which time the road had been cleared of the fallen trees.
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