Blogs from Devon, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 28

..Shire...Bagginssss... It's no secret that Tolkien had the english countryside in mind when he thought up the Shire and the jovial Hobbits. And now I'm atop my black bike overlooking...the Shire.. I'm on Dartmoor overlooking the cornish countryside, mile after mile of rolling hills in different shades of green, dotted with forests, hedges and trees. In the walleys, small hamlets with -combe names, bell towers, white walls, thatched roofs, the village pub and the village green. Small winding roads and old stone bridges. Humid, lush, rich greenery. Lichens climb and thrive on the trees. The Shire. And I have a feeling that I'm not going to be Sam-the-Hobbit, charging down on Bill-the-Pony. Or the she-elf on the white strider (For those of you who hasn't read the books but enjoyed the films-read the books. It's not ... read more

Day 388 We dug out the camping gear (strangely slightly excited about the prospects of returning to a tent!) and loaded it all into our hire car with Sarah and Bill. We set off with Sat Nav in control and cruised along the freeways in brilliant sunshine and minimal traffic. Things we going all too well and we stopped to pick up some supplies and managed to get lost in the small town of ... down the tightest street possible with barely enough room for our small car to squeeze through let alone the 4WD that reversed down it towards us. Back on track for a short while until we realised we had punched in the wrong postcode! After a few detours through the narrow country roads (also definitely not made for two cars!) we followed ... read more

Birthday Weekend in Cornwall & Devon 24th - 26th April, 2009 Rupesh and I are loving having our own place and being able to have visitors. On Easter Sunday, the Dornoms arrived - not Bern and Elizabeth but their parents and brother. Bern and Elizabeth were in their last weeks of work at the end of the ski season in France. Susan, Ian and Timothy spent a week with us in London before heading off on a road trip to southern England and then on to France to stay with the girls. We enjoyed having them stay but what I enjoyed even more was picking up on where the Bern & Elizabeth's genes came from! When Bern and Elizabeth travelled with mum and I they found it highly amusing to tell me how much like my ... read more

Sidmouth One crazy English day in early March we braved the weather conditions and drove out to Sidmouth, on the northern beaches near Exeter. After sampling a lovely creamed tea (aka Devonshire tea) while the rain beat down and the winds whipped up a frenzy, we were lucky to snatch a limpse of lovely sunshine as we walked along the stoney beaches. Once again as in Brighton, we experienced the deafening sounds of the waves sweeping back over the rocks, although this time we were thoughtful enough to catch it on film (even if we had no idea where we were when we were commentating, with me saying we were at Exmouth and Davin thinking we were at Budleigh Salterton... You will find this amusing when we can actually play you the clip) In a ... read more

Lucretia and Craig Lucretia and Craig (Davin's sister and her husband) arrived in London in early February, landing in Heathrow just hours before the airport was shut due to snow (in the same night we were stranded in the Dublin airport thanks to said snow storm!). While a very exciting welcome to the northern hemisphere with neither of them having before seen falling snow, it was a bit of a temperature shock having come from 30 degree days on Thailand beaches. Plus there was the sheer pain-in-the-bum factor as they struggled their way through snowy streets with copious amounts of luggage and a non-existant public transport system. Craig, a teacher, had a job lined up at a school about an hour north of London, and so started work fairly promptly. However, he had one week ... read more