Blogs from Devon, England, United Kingdom, Europe

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon September 17th 2023

Slept until 7.15 yay the best sleep so far !!! Down for breakfast and off on our Plymouth harbour cruise (Devon) at 8:45 had a neat ride of an hour out on deck around the harbour ….saw all the naval sites and citadel. The bus met us at Salt Ash and onto a little seaside village called Looe in Cornwall …unfortunately quite a damp day but village was still quite busy ….we had a traditional Cornish pastie and coffee didn’t think much of the pastie…. had a wander around and got lots of photos of quirky bent houses and little doorways ….back on the bus 12.15 and on to Palmero another seaside village nestled in a valley which runs down to the sea they had the doors shut to the harbour as it was to rough ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Paignton August 26th 2023

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
Hungerford Long Boats in the Canal
Hungerford Main Street
Tea Shoppe

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon March 29th 2023

CLOVELLY, HARTLAND & LUNDY I had a lovely few days in Eastbourne and managed to celebrate my birthday actually on the day, the first time since we started travelling. It is always good to meet up with friends. Then I moved to Camberley, again to celebrate birthdays and eat and drink. I kept telling myself I could cut back on both once I reached Lundy. The day I was due to leave we woke up to see the garden and cars covered in snow. A beautiful winter picture but not ideal to travel in especially over Salisbury Plain. I turned over and went back to sleep. Barry & Carolyn had kindly suggested I stay longer until the weather improved. I needed no encouragement once I saw the snow! But the next day was fine as the ... read more
Steep climb
Cosy Red Lion pub
Clovelly beach

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Brixham December 25th 2022

Well. It was not a small delight to discover Brixham, a small fishing town west of Torquay. I had imagined it would be akin to many British coastal towns I have visited, with murky water and touristy eateries. I was wrong. It was off-season; Christmas in fact: quiet, cold, clean and tranquil. As it’s on a hillside it is nigh impossible to stay somewhere without stunning views of the harbour and the bay. Knowing it was such, and that it was deep dark winter, I wasn’t expecting to like it quite so much and I certainly wasn’t expecting to swim. However, during a cold morning walk I came upon a small section of pebbled beach with clear water and I couldn’t resist. I hesitated, as I undressed in trepidation (mostly feeling bashful and foolish at going ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Newton Abbot September 25th 2022

No post yesterday as nothing happened. EXCEPT GEELONG WON THE GRAND FINAL. Today was moors and tors day. From Newton Abbot back to Dartmoor. And how good is it to be back on the moors and walking! Drove through Widecombe-on-the-Moor and over to Dartmoor for a bit of a walk and wander around the moors and tors. Actually went to King Tor and a couple of the neighbouring tors. One of our BnB hosts said there were 168 tors in Cornwall alone so how many there are in Devon is a guess I’m not prepared to make. But it was a lovely walk. Even though the heather bloom is ancient history it still looks good and it’s still a delight to walk through. The moors are still delightful, expansive and evocative. The environment is not pretty ... read more
King Tor, Dartmoor.
King Tor, Dartmoor.
The trusty backpack at King Tor, Dartmoor.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon September 16th 2022

Knowstone. I know, you know but the blog doesn’t. Too small to register. Understandable as there is only 1 accommodation address and only 1 pub and no post office, off licence or any other kind of shop or store. We managed to squeeze into the pub which wasn’t easy as it’s the Mason’s Arms, a 1 Michelin star restaurant, and it’s Friday night. We were told people come from near and far to eat there so getting a table (even in the corner of the bar) is quite a coup. Just over 25 km today but surprisingly easy. Without the ups and downs of the Coast Path each km is significantly easier and although about 20 km may be our preferred distance the bit extra wasn’t a concern and in fact we probably finished an hour ... read more
That’s a stile.
Wetheridge Square to the 2 Moors Way shop.
ABC, but it’s for a digestive biscuit so it’s OK.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Crediton September 15th 2022

Bit frustrating. We are at our BnB but it is sort of in the middle of nothing. It’s a small pub that doesn’t open for another 2 or 3 hours, the internet is very poor and it’s too far to walk to anywhere else even though we have time and probably the energy as today’s walk was very short, fairly easy yet quite interesting. We walked to Morchard Bishop, a small village with the claim of having the longest continuous row of thatched cottage roofs in England. There certainly are some cuties there. Getting there was predominantly through fields, variously containing cows, sheep, some alpacas, crops and even cornfields. Fortunately things were dry as I remember just how wet you can get walking through the corn or even through pea crops. We are still getting sweeping ... read more
Food! Clever animals here.
Half time.
Am I allowed in?

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Crediton September 14th 2022

I know we are in Crediton but we walked to the middle of nowhere and were taxied here. The Contours people (the company we walk with had the directions mixed up, very unusual for them) and when I double checked with a local even she said ‘you’re in the middle of nowhere’ so it‘s been officially confirmed. We waited 35 minutes and only saw 3 people in that time so it certainly wasn’t Trafalgar Square! Delightful day walking along streams and rivers, through fields and meadows, up hills and gorges, down lanes and paths and generally just enjoying ourselves. The moors are ancient history really (sorry to say) and it’s just pleasant Devonshire countryside. We are becoming so accustomed to the farms around here that I’m pretty sure that Julie even missed taking a couple of ... read more
Uphill section (short cut, not easy cut!)
Back in Chagford.
Same.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Chagford September 13th 2022

Julie’s machine got us here. Concerned about conditions high up on the moors, 100% chance of rain and visible low cloud we opted for the low route but missed a turn early. Never ones for going back too far Julie gets out the phone and reroutes. Consequently we spent much of the day on small, windy, narrow lanes but out of the those conditions we associate with the high moors. We are fairly dry, relatively early (considering we went to the fair) and more than content now we are showered and housed. Quite a quirky pub this one. Named ‘The Globe’ is has movie paraphernalia everywhere and it even has its own movie theatre that we estimate would seat 60 or so. Our host, you remember Kevin, drove us to Widecombe-in-the-Moor (even cuter with the hyphens) ... read more
Prize winning onions?
Graveyard opposite our accommodation in Chagford.
Almost as good as a trig point.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Devon » Widecombe-in-the-Moor September 12th 2022

From Widecombe in the Moor (really back home in Scoriton) but walked to Widecombe in the Moor today. The translation is ‘wide stand of trees on the Moor’, does it get any better? The village is described as a honeypot village, that is it draws tourists from all around and with their big show on tomorrow that is particularly so today. It’s quaint, old and lovely. It has the highest steeple on Dartmoor (very religious) but it was struck by lightning (very un-religous), scientists say as the result of an earthquake and ball lightning (very scientific), the locals said it was the devil (very pragmatic but probably wrong). Widecombe in the Moor‘s pub and the town itself and the primary school have as their symbol 7 similarly dressed men on a horse. We have seen the ... read more
That’s a 50/50 bet.
Not all signage is obvious.
The Dart River and Dart Vally are quite lovely




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