Torquay - English Riviera

---

Left London Sunday morning to head to Bath and kick off the roadtrip portion of our trip.

We stopped at Stonehenge along the way. It's surreal seeing something so historical and considered a wonder of the world, in real life. The countryside around it is breathtaking so there's more to see than just the stones.

We arrived in Bath Sunday afternoon. Beautiful, old English town. But we had Mexican food for dinner! It was great. Two for one PITCHERS of cocktails (we had 4!) and the best cheesecake we've ever had.

Monday morning, we decided to do as the Romans did in 800 AD ... took a bath in Bath! There are three spas in Bath that take advantage of the healing power of natural mineral springs in the area. Never swam in warm mineral water before - very therapeutic apparently. Sophie's zit and Ann's hangnail both got cured (not kidding). The water is denser than normal water and beautifully warm. Robb discovered you can't go underwater, face up, without it your sinuses feeling like they were shooting to the back of your brain. Don't ask why Robb would be experimenting with this when everyone else was RELAXING in the 2,000 year old baths.

Headed out to Torquay Monday afternoon. Beautiful scenery along the way. The roads to Torquay were extremely narrow. Robb had to pull over quite a few times to give way to traffic coming in the other direction. Robb got his 5th and 6th honk today.

Torquay is known as the English Riviera. We can see why. It's got houses on the hillside, palm trees, a marina ...
We took a walk to the pier. Lots of fishermen at the end of the dock catching cod, bass and other such fish for "tea" (dinner). We saw an old old looking building right by the shore in the midst of all these modern beach shops and suspected it was an ancient blacksmith shop or trading post. We later found out it was a "ancient" public toilet. Go figure.

We are staying at a quaint B&B with a great view of the seaside. Dinner was at a traditional english restaurant where we all enjoyed fish & chips. Jonathan loved the appetizer so much (leek soup), he had it for dessert!

We'll explore the area some more tomorrow as we'll be here two nights before heading to Brighton on Wednesday.

---

Photos

Best cheesecake
Vanilla with macadamian nuts.

Roman bath
Our personal Roman bath/spa (Cross Baths)

Spikes on ledges
They really don't like you sitting on their ledges here in Bath

Comments

[Anna]

Looks like you're enjoying your trip. Sorry to hear about Rob's sinuses; although, I am glad that they didn't clear in the bath. I hope that you will be bringing me some of that cheese cake. It looks really good. I am enjoying your travel blog. Be safe, Anna