The view from the car!
We left London Friday morning and it was a long drive down to Devon, the route we decided on being a popular choice and in part single-lane. We drove past Stonehenge and saw it from afar through the misty rain! And eventually made it into Torquay well into the afternoon, where it was still raining. We decided to stretch our legs and get a late lunch, and in our wanderings about town we stumbled upon the local AMF Bowling venue. Seeing as it was raining, and Ben had been practising his bowling on his Wii (and for those who didn't know he used to bowl for NT!!), we decided to have a few games. We didn't do too badly and it filled in some time before it was off to watch the England vs South Africa Rugby World Cup match in the pub. Much to my South African heritage pride, South Africa thrashed England!! We then had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant, Bianco's, before heading back to our Hotel.
Great bowling action by the Jones', all that practice on the Wii paid off!!
Inge and the impressive score, NOT!!
Inge and the impressive score, NOT!!Our Hotel, the Haytor, was a nice little guest house which you could imagine being in an Agatha Christie novel (and incidentally she was born in Torquay), right down to Ben and I having a set table at breakfast! Saturday we woke to beautiful blue skies so we decided to do one of the coastal walks up the coast. We eventually found the coastal path but were a bit baffled when it seemed to end abruptly, and also have a large stone wall blocking the view! Apparently there were steps leading up at the end, but we missed them, so headed back and walked to Meadfoot Beach via the road, which was still nice and gave Ben an opportunity to use his macro-lens and take some photos of the flowers.
Views over Torquay Marina
Meadfoot Beach
Ben's macro photography - nice flowers...
From Meadfoot Beach we continued along the coastal path (we'd managed to find it again!!) all the way to Babbacombe Beach. It was a lovely walk, and thankfully at Babbacombe there were plenty of pubs to get some lunch and watch some of the Australia vs Wales game (which thankfully Australia won!) By this time Ben was exhausted from all the walking, so we headed back to Torquay by bus for a rest before heading out to dinner at a restaurant called The Orange Tree. This had been recommended to us by the hotel, and was a nice little restaurant, but we prefered the Italian place.
Hiking through the bush on the coastal path
The beautiful coves on the walk
On the Cliff Railway down to Oddicombe Beach
Sunday it was time to head home and we'd decided to drive down to Dartmouth and then to Totnes on the way. It looked like it was going to be another sunny day, however, by the time we'd driven from the hotel, down to the beach, stopped for Ben to take some photos of the bathing houses (below) and get back in the car, the clouds had come over and it was starting to rain! This lasted for the rest of the trip home!! But we enjoyed the drive to Dartmouth, where we caught the ferry across the river Dart, and up to Totnes (where I made Ben stop to visit the old Norman castle where you get lovely views - this he wasn't too happy about as the signage to the castle wasn't very good, so we drove around in circles for a bit and then it was raining quite a bit when we went up, so he wasn't too happy about taking photos!!!) But the countryside through Devon was beautiful, even in the rain!
Sunday it was time to head home and we'd decided to drive down to Dartmouth and then to Totnes on the way. It looked like it was going to be another sunny day, however, by the time we'd driven from the hotel, down to the beach, stopped for Ben to take some photos of the bathing houses (below) and get back in the car, the clouds had come over and it was starting to rain! This lasted for the rest of the trip home!! But we enjoyed the drive to Dartmouth, where we caught the ferry across the river Dart, and up to Totnes (where I made Ben stop to visit the old Norman castle where you get lovely views - this he wasn't too happy about as the signage to the castle wasn't very good, so we drove around in circles for a bit and then it was raining quite a bit when we went up, so he wasn't too happy about taking photos!!!) But the countryside through Devon was beautiful, even in the rain!
The first photo stop while it was still sunny - the bath houses at Torquay
Inge waiting in the car while Ben takes photo and the view over the River Dart to Dartmouth
Dartmouth from the ferry and the big boats anchored on the River Dart
The Norman Castle at Totnes and the view from it over the town
Views of the Devon countryside
We then drove home via the M5 and M4 which took a very long time. We left Totnes about 13.30 and didn't get back into London until 19.00. Englanders have a habit of sitting in the right lane when not overtaking (on a 3 lane motorway) and the smallest thing causes a traffic-jam. But we made it back safely, just very very tired after the long trip sitting in the car!
We then drove home via the M5 and M4 which took a very long time. We left Totnes about 13.30 and didn't get back into London until 19.00. Englanders have a habit of sitting in the right lane when not overtaking (on a 3 lane motorway) and the smallest thing causes a traffic-jam. But we made it back safely, just very very tired after the long trip sitting in the car!
But we've got a week to recover and then we have The Hardman's coming to stay for the weekend, which I am really looking forward to. There's a lot to do to get the house ready for guests, especially for a 2 year old, but I can't wait to see them all again.
In other news, I've gotten a job and from the 15 October, I will be working at United Biscuits as the Senior Brand Manager for Hob Nobs, which is a biscuit range here under the McVities name. So 3 weeks of relaxation before back to work!
Until the next update,
Inge & Ben
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