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

Weds night saw me finish my last shift, begin loading the last of my belongings into my car, with help from Jamie and George, not all of it rammed in, so some on the roof and some left behind. After a pit stop at the stags head inn to wish a fond farewell to Sue, John & Sally who were my first hosts in Devon 6 years previous. Unfortunatley Craig who I was due to visit late had gone to bed, so overloaded I crept onto dorset for a nights sleep, shedding of weight into their garage space and onto Sussex to clear the car and put her into storage herself.... read more

Had a bit of a sleep in this morning which was great because I haven’t had much of a chance to get sleep in the first week I have been here! We set off mid-morning and checked out some of the towns that are dotted along the coast. As it is the start of the summer school holidays over here the roads were pretty packed with holiday makers but it was at least good to be around local tourists than the thousands of fat Americans that flood the streets of London. We headed for lunch at Great Torrington which was apparently a scene of a massive battle in medieval times. Parts of the orginal keep still remain as do many of the town buildings, except for the ones around the church. Turns out they used the ... read more

In 1998 I took my first walking holiday. The United Kingdom is a good locale for walking holidays, because villages dot the landscape and the paths are protected from encroachments. We drove from Barnstaple, where we stayed overnight, to the beginning of our country walk. At that time I favoured video (digital tape) over still photography (35mm film). Some of the photos in these posts are captured from the video. Today was exactly what I wanted – we started in one place (Prixford) and walked to another place (Saunton Sands Beach ). This morning was in woodland and between hedgerows. This afternoon was across fields, through dunes (grass covered), to the sea. Barbara and I are the only walkers. A pair of sisters and their husbands cancelled six weeks ago because of the death of their ... read more