West Country 1 (Devon) - 5 Jun to 6 Jul 19

Google Maps has an excellent feature which plants a red dot everywhere you've been. We noticed that there was a severe lack of dots around the south coast of Devon and round the coast of Cornwall to Tintagel. Accordingly, although we would normally tour Europe in June, we set off "dot filling" in the West Country.

On  Wed  5th June we had a our first stop near Cheltenham at a pub called the House in the Tree. Amazing grub, good beer and a good nights sleep, despite the noisy road.

A resident of the pub

The House in the Tree

From Cheltenham it was on to Tanpits Cider Farm in Taunton, where we were to meet up with some old friends for a splendid curry in town. The site is, as the name suggests, on a cider farm and it sells very nice scrumpy, albeit the owner had no idea of the strength of the brew! The farm is also alive with Peacocks. Peacocks are interesting birds but bloody noisy!  Lovely site, well worth a visit.

Tanpits Cider Farm

Could be 4%, maybe 5% ....10%? Dunno really

On Friday, in heavy rain, we  moved from Taunton to the Temporary Holiday Site at Exmouth Rugby Club. We parked on the training pitch, which is handily situated very close to the station and centre of town, and we were a bit worried about the mud, but the ground was just about holding up. The rain stopped and we walked along the seafront in sunshine. Exmouth is a nice place, especially the microbrewery  (the Grapevine). Even better, the ice cream man visited the site, driving right up to our door, and sold us a very nice cone for £2.

Exmouth Rugby Club

On Saturday we got up expecting to get wet that day as it had rained all night with blustery winds. We caught the train to Exeter St David's and changed for the train to Teignmouth, which runs along the famous Dawlish sea wall.  We wandered around Teignmouth, enjoyed a proper cream tea (with cream on top, not like some of those dodgy Devonians like it), then walked along the coast path to Dawlish before catching the train back to Exmouth.  Before turning in for the night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the estuary. In all, we walked 11 miles that day - and the rain held off!

Famous Dawlish Black Swans

The following day we walked to Lympstone, home of the Commando Training Centre, then on to the National Trust property, a la Ronde, which is a very interesting and pretty house. The sun was shining, it was warm and the views magnificent, so we had lunch on the lawn before exploring the house. The weather started to close in, we walked back to Exmouth, popped into Marks and Spencer for provisions and then the heavens opened. We thought we could dash the short distance to the van without getting too wet. We were wrong. Luckily, the rain stopped, the ice-cream man cometh and we managed a short walk to the estuary staying reasonably dry.

Lympstone

a la Ronde

Ice Cream delivered to your door!

On Monday we moved a little further around the coast to the Brixham Temporary Holiday Site. It was sunny. We cooked outside. We walked down the steep hill into Brixham and, once again, the clouds came in and we got soaked. By this time we were beginning to wish that we had gone to France or Germany as they were suffering a massive heatwave and we were cold and wet.

Brixham

On Tuesday the forecast wasn't good (what a surprise - I blame Brexit). We decided to buy a bus pass and have a pensioners day out on the buses. First stop was Newton Abbott. We didn't stop long. Certainly one of those places that sounds better than it actually is.  From there it was to Torquay. It rained. We left. Finally Kingswear and Dartmouth on a packed, damp bus out of Brixham. What sort of imbecile brings two large, wet, stinking dogs on to a small packed bus? Funnily enough, a caravanner from the C&MH Club site at Hillhead! Dartmouth is lovely, but by now we were cold, wet and thoroughly pissed off, so we went home.

Not impressed with Newton Abbott

Torquay

Torquay - The English Riviera! Pah!

Kingswear

Dartmouth

Wed 12. It wasn't raining! Early walk to Berry Head, then a bus to Dartmouth to enjoy this pretty town in the sunshine, and it was certainly much better in the warm and dry. We explored the Castle, had a cream tea, wandered around a bit more then took the bus back to Brixham and had fish and chips by the harbour. 

Berry Head - the smallest traditional lighthouse in the UK

Dartmouth

We knew that the good weather couldn't last and we had a drizzly drive to out next stop, Ilton Farm, just outside Salcombe. This is a lovely site with fantastic views, albeit the access road is very narrow and the van touched the hedges on each side all the way along.  In drizzle we walked the two miles into Salcombe and she managed to find a new waterproof coat in one of the sales. Salcombe appears to be full of poncy yah-yahs. If you are not wearing the correct sailing gear then obviously you don't belong here. We walked a different route back through the steep, narrow Devon lanes and managed to get home without being squished by cars on the very narrow lanes

Ready to press the "breathe in" button

Salcombe

As she had purchased a new waterproof, the following day it stopped raining. we had a long walk to the national trust property at Overbeck, down very muddy tracks. We cleaned our shoes on the beach, visited the house, walked along the coast path to admire the views at Starehole Bay, walked back down along the coast path,  and rewarded ourselves with an ice cream on beach at South Sands.  Billy Twelvetrees, the Gloucester Rugby player, was paddleboarding around the bay and trying to steal his children's ice-creams. We took the bumpy ferry back to Salcombe, had an expensive beer then walked back to sit outside the van with a Salcombe Gin.

Mud on

Mud off

Ferry to Salcombe

Billy Twelvetrees

On Saturday, in glorious sunshine, we walked to Hope Cove, around Bolt Tail, and followed the coast path to Soar Mill Cove, reputedly the inspiration behind Enid Blyton's famous five adventures.  It was a stunning walk.

Wedding photos - arriving by helicopter!

Hope Cove

On Sunday, in miserable weather, we moved to Plymouth Sound Cackyvan and Motorhome Club site. A lovely little site with no facilities, but with beautiful views over Plymouth Sound.

On Mon 17 June, we walked along the coast path to Mountbatten, where we caught the ferry to Plymouth. First stop was the famous Cap'n Jaspers burger shack, then a wander around the Barbican, a very interesting tour and tasting in the Plymouth gin distillery, into the shopping area to look at the market and collect a pair of shoes that she had ordered online, a nice couple of pints in the sun at the Barbican and then the ferry and walk home. On the way up the hill to the site we noticed skid marks on the road and a tractor towing a muck spreader had crashed through the hedge and into a field with one tyre shredded. On that steep hill, that could have been a nasty, and very smelly, accident! In all we walked 15 miles that day. 

RFA Tidesurge

Cap'n Jaspers

The Barbican

Plymouth gin

Tractor crash!

On Tuesday it didn't stop raining. We walked to the local shop then came back, sat in and watched the rain, moaning about how utterly useless the met office is at predicting weather, as the promised sunny intervals never appeared once.