Blogs from Paignton, Devon, England, United Kingdom, Europe

DAY 1 - HEATHROW TO CHIPPENHAM We arrived on time into Heathrow, made it through customs in good time and hopped on the shuttle bus to pick up the car from Hertz. We have a Suzuki Swace wagon, which is a terrific car. If they had them at home, I'd get one tomorrow. So with Google maps running we headed for Reading. We did a few laps of Reading before I gave up on finding a place to park, and hit the M4 and found a quaint little village of Hungerford. A very old place as the photos show. A nice walk around town and across the river with plenty of long boats and locks. From here it was off to Marlborough, on a suggestion from a lady we spoke to by the river. Marlborough is ... read more

Tag 292 – Ferry to Paignton Heute war mein erster Arbeitstag. Irgendwie schliefen hier immer alle aus, außer Richard, der zur Arbeit musste, und so stand ich wieder um neun auf. Richard hatte Léa eine Liste mit Aufgaben für uns geschickt. Léa putzte die Küche und ich das Badezimmer; sie machte das Kanu sauber und wir saugten noch. Außerdem backte ich mit Daisy einen Backmischung-Karottenkuchen. Dann sollten wir noch für Emilys Organisation „Ultimate English für You“ eine deutsche beziehungsweise französische Übersetzung machen, und ich bot an, den Text auch noch auf Italienisch zu schreiben. Es sollten verschiedenen Pakete vorgestellt werden, bei denen Englisch über verschiedene Zeiträume entweder von zuhause über Skype, Mail etc. oder direkt in England in einer Gastfamilie gelernt werden konnte. Emily wollte gerne auch auf landeseigenen Websites Werbung machen, und Léa post... read more

Totnes Paignton (open top bus) Looking at Totnes from the top of the open top bus gave us a new viewpoint. Progress was a bit slow with road works and traffic in Paignton, but our friends were still waiting at the bus station. We went for coffee at their flat in Goodrington. Paignton Kingswear (steam train) We could watch the train from their flat and picked it up from Goodrington Station, as it was closer. Kingswear Dartmouth (ferry) Some nice views from the end of the ferry pier. Dartmouth Totnes (river boat) Dartmouth is an interesting place to look around. I found a chandlers and bought a collapsible bucket. The benches overlooking the River Dart and the railway on the other bank are a good place to linger. Interesting stories as we went up the river ... read more

Arrived to stay halfway between Paignton and Brixham on the Waterside caravan park staying at Freda's caravan. Had a great week, although the weather wasn't up to scratch even though its summer. However, we made the most of it by visiting places where I had visited as a child, including Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton, Brixham to name but a few. The seafront at Teignmouth has been improved for children with a completed large park with outdoor type fountains which the children run through, so the tip here is to take a change of clothes and a towel for them afterwards like we did. We took young Joshua to the rocks at Churston Cove near Brixham to try our hand at fishing where I used to fish as a teeneager. Just like many years ago, we caught some ... read more