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| Porlock |
Well that’s the holiday over and done with! How come it
takes forever to arrive and then flies by at the speed of light?
We have had a pretty good week down in Devon. Things didn’t
get off to the best start when the remains of Hurricane Bertha were due to wreak
havoc on our first weekend. Typical. Weeks of tropical sunshine, we go away and
BOOM – Hurricane! Luckily the worst of it passed through early morning and it
didn’t cause much damage where we were. Also, looking on the bright side, our
rented apartment had fantastic views directly over Ilfracombe harbour and so we
would have had the best seat in the house for any spectacular weather related
adventures. The rest of the week ended up being mostly sunny with a few showers
but nothing to cry about.
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| Verity and the rainbow |
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| This little chap was near our apartment. |
Our week passed in a whirl of walking (lots of it), eating
(also lots of it) and doing touristy things. We made a list on the first day
and by the end of the week we had crossed most things off. Eaten lobster on the
beach? Yep! Coastal walks, ice cream, beaches, collecting shells and seaglass,
corn mill visit, Lynton and Lynmouth, cream teas and cycling. In fact the only thing I got voted against was the
trip to Watermouth Castle. We have been before and yet no one else seemed
excited by a return visit to GnomeLand and the dodgy mannequins in the castle
itself. I consoled myself with a visit to Ilfracombe Museum – a really odd
little place with all manner of weird things (two headed kitten anyone?). The
children had fun pointing out all the things we already had at home. It made me
happy!
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| Collecting stuff from the beach |
The cycling was actually a highlight of the trip. We hired
bikes and cycled the Tarka Trail from Barnstaple to Torrington (approx 14.5
miles) AND BACK! DH learned a valuable lesson before we started the ride.
Namely I am rubbish at directions and they had all left me to take directions
from the bike hire bloke on how to get onto the trail. In fairness it involved
more than one instruction and I kind of lost concentration after this one. I
tried my best but we did set off in the wrong direction and spent the first 15
mins cycling up a huge hill that proved unnecessary!
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| As close as we got to Torrington |
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| Instow signal box - pretty obvious really! |
Forgiveness eventually
followed and we set off in the correct direction. The T Trail is along a
disused railway and so is pretty flat and easy going. You get fabulous views
over the Taw estuary and all the wildlife on the mud flats and salt marshes. Along
with that you get to see some pretty places and some remains of railway stuff
too.
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| Overlooking the Taw Estuary |
Torrington was the scene for a battle in the Civil War in
1646. I won’t pretend to sound knowledgeable about this period of history but
basically the Parliamentarians under General Fairfax whooped the arse of the
Royalists under Lord Hopton. The battle came to a climax when 70 barrels of
gunpowder got blown up in the church killing lots of people. Sadly I didn’t discover any of this stuff
until afterwards and so we didn’t venture into Torrington itself, staying at
the old railway station for tiffin and much needed tea!
The week ended with that old tradition, fish and chips on
the harbour. Dodging seagulls and coats firmly buttoned against the wind we
battled the wooden forks and flapping paper. Next day we packed up and headed
home – the fun of the M5 gently thrusting us back into real life once more!
Still – only 11 weeks til I’m off to Egypt with DD. Bet I
still won’t get to see any Gnomes there either :(
