St Mawgan

St Mawgan Monday 25

I Left Helston and my lovely room in the morning  and headed towards my next stay in St Mawgan's near Newquay, I most definitely did not want to stay in Newquay, besides the only airbnb showing up in Newquay for my budget range was above a surf shop which was I suspect a hostel. The only other time I booked to stay in accommodation above a surf shop was in Punta Hermosa in Peru and it was a bit of a nightmare, firstly I couldn't find it for ages and when I did it was on waste land and no one seemed to be running it but there were just a bunch of stoners out the back. Inside it wasn't much better and not wanting to wait until I was robbed I left and found somewhere else in town to stay, the 'surfing' beach was also ridiculous as it was a tiny bay in which you probably had a few meters of surf before you got dashed on the rocks, it was also 50km from Lima with a limited bus service.
    At least I wouldn't be stranded in the same way in Newquay but there is a certain Blackpool tackiness  about it. Still - none of that mattered as I wasn't staying in Newquay.
Not far from St Mawgan there's a fantastic owl sanctuary called Screech Owl Sanctuary, they had every sort of owl. Owl facts: Owls with orange or coloured eyes are day time hunters, owls with dark eyes are night or dusk dawn hunters. Barn owls rock from side to side when they are happy. Owls are lazy and would rather get fed that go hunt. Owls eyes takes up about 70% of their head compared to our eyes take up about 5%. Owls imprint on a person looking after them and after that the owl is almost like a pet to that person, it takes a long time to get an owl to accept new people after that. Big owls look a bit like penguins.
    After the owl sanctuary I wanted to see Bedruthan steps at Carnews, a bit of coastal loveiness with sea stacks are strewn along the beach with steps down to the beach. I saved £5.50 on the parking with my National Trust parking sticker. On the way down the steps a very large lady on her way back up had stopped to cling to the railing only a few steps away from the top looking like she might not make the last 5 steps. I wondered if she's still be there when I went back up. The tide was still out to walk through the sea stacks to the next beach and then scramble back up the hill so I never will know if the fat lady made it back up.

Bedruthan

I was staying at nice airbnb once I eventually found it, I only had a post code and 'St Mawgan' despite sending texts during the day to advice my time of arrival and also asking for the address I heard nothing back. I managed to pick a house whose occupant knew who I was talking about, thankfully St Mawgan is small and just round the corner I found the right house. Which isn't bad  going considering all the houses in the village share the same postcode, when I put post code into Google Map it came up with a specific house - the house of the helpful neighbour. It turned out my host had lost her phone that day, but hadn't thought to check her airbnb messages via her computer. My room was lovely and my host very horse and hound, Horse and Hound magazines were abound, they had a horse and all discussions involved horses, there were also some hounds to complete the picture. It was quite difficult to have a conversation as my hosts attention was constantly distracted by the dogs, probably mistaking the dogs for a sort of people, or something else that she had just thought of which meant phoning someone or leaving the room and would then and forget she was half was through a conversation. Thankfully her daughter was very helpful in showing me where vital things were, like coffee and mugs so I didn't have to go through the ritual of opening every cupboard.

Baby Eagle Owl

Padstow tuesday 26

There seemed to be some sort of event going on in Padstow, the streets were jammed packed but it turned out just to be people shuffling around buying tat and eating pasties and ice creams. One lady had her handbag in a pram, perhaps the pram used to contain a child but had been swapped for the handbag.  It was a very shiny bag. On the harbour side rows of stalls traders braided little girls hair and the next set of stalls traders gave them henna tattoos. It was ridiculously busy, so I headed out of the town onto a grassy hillside to look at the estuary, which lead to a busy beach and the coastal path beyond which became quieter and after the last tea shop had been past, there were not many people around at all. This was a good thing as I was desperate for a wee, the track split before the end of the headland and I took a lower path and enjoyed a nice alfresco wee overlooking the water. I then just sat looking out at the estuary for half an hour or so before walking back along the beach as it was now low tide and then back to the car park on top of the hill.
    On the way out of town I stopped at the busiest Tesco's car park in the country to get an avocado and some salmon and a weird man starred at me whilst I exited the car park. Weirdo, perhaps it was because I wasn't in a WV camper. Cornwall has the highest density of restored WV Campers in the world, that's a fact. If you don't believe me just visit Cornwall.
    Back in St Mawgan I spent some time writing and listening to the church bells that rang every hour, it seemed very nice and relaxing to hear the regular bells, even in the morning I didn't have to look at anything to tell the time, just listen to the bells.

St Michael's Mount Sunday 24 July

St Michael's Mount is open today, great! It's also raining and gray, bother. The mount is about 3 miles east of Penzance, there's a car park opposite the mount on the mainland but not National Trust which costs £3.50 for the day with a massive amount of cars in it.
   As the causeway didn't open for another hour as it was still high tide, I walked to Penzance in the misty rain, the sort of rain that only makes one side of ones person wet. It's quite a boring walk as its a road on one side or a railway line and the beach on the other, eventually 50 minutes later I arrived in Penzance, it had stopped raining by this point, after walking through another massive car park on the harbour front I made my way up to the high street, stopped half way as I'd got the measure of it by then and so turned round, bought a delicious pasty to take away. I was advised to eat in would have cost another 50p - that's a whole dollar extra! So I walked back to Marazion eating my pasty, so in effect I walked 6 miles to get a Cornish pasty, but this was such a good pasty, it was worth it.
   It was about 1.30pm by the time I got back to the mount where a steady trail of people were slowly cluttering over the causeway, at low tide its possible to walk on the beach all the way to the mount which is what I did. On the mount it was heaving, after completing the crossing of the causeway people had stopped immediately to recuperate  and contemplate the next stage of the journey which was a stony path up to the castle, some people were dismayed by the presence of big cobbled stepped path so turned back to take refuge in the tea shop.
     I'm pretty sure it wasn't this busy when Tony Robinson came for his Walk Through History series. Mind you, he always looked well wrapped up in his red Gortex jacket so it probably wasn't school holidays in July when he films his programmes! Up the steps the castle is a grand sight, of course it was thronging inside, which would have been fine is it wasn't for parents shouting at their children for doing something or not doing something, strangely I never heard any children and they never appeared to be doing anything naughty. People exhibit the same behaviour with their dogs, if these parents could just shut up for a bit, we could have a bit more peace and quiet and perhaps enjoy the experience a little more. That said, after being processed through the castle ahead was a girl posing every few meters around the perimeter to take duck face selfies, I had to look up what a duck face was the other day, I remember it being referred to in Four Weddings and a Funeral, where Hugh Grant character refers in not an entirely affectionate way to a past girlfriend as 'duck face'. A duck face is essentially making a pout and can make people appear somewhat dim. It seems to be an automatic reaction some girls have when taking selfies, so that's what a duck face is. On this occasion the duck face was not required, not that it's ever required, but the girl was Japanese so already looked perfect and will never experience a wrinkle until she is 65, if she could take just one selfie with a simple smile it would stand out a mile amongst all her thousands of duck face selfies.
   Back to the stepped rocky path I bounded down past people who seemed to be clinging on the railing for dear life, ok there was one slightly slippery bit in the middle under the trees but that was it. At the bottom of the steps a group of young well groomed people with their sweaters round their shoulders and deck shoes on and whatever else they had attired themselves with from Fat Face and Sea Salt and Joules were heard looking at the steps and bemoaning their existence.
    'Steps! I didn't know we had to go up steps!' Said one neck jumper wearer.
    'Look at those steps! ' Agreed another.
    So they looked at the steps, I don't know what happened next as I was almost running down the steps in a moment of maximum energy, I think I was drawing power from everyone else's sluggishness until I felt I was practically flying. The pasty was doing a great job and I felt great! Near the entrance I was drawn to some lovely singing, a male choir were singing old sea shanties and quite wonderful to listen to. Something you could be lulled to sleep by, I closed my eyes and hummed along.

    I headed back over the causeway passed the hordes still making their way over to the castle and back to Bluey where with no sluggish people in sight, my pasty energy suddenly ran out and I sat in the car for about half an hour doing nothing and feeling like going back to the bnb to see if the wine was still dreadful. On the way I thought I'd just pop into the nearby village of Porthleven, I didn't want to drive into the center as that's always a nightmare on these tiny Cornish village roads so I saw there was a National Trust car park just at the top of the village on the hill so I parked there.
   On consulting the map, there was no direct path into the village which was only 3/4 mile away but a longer than I really had energy to walk path around in a circle over some fields and eventually approaching the village from the West, so I walked it. Oddly the signs on the roads gave distances in miles but the signs on the footpaths gave distances in kilometers. It was 2.5 kms to town, sigh, so on I walked, but as soon as the sea was in sight my energy levels picked up again and it was in fact a lovely quiet walk. The town was very pretty, I was glad to be on foot as the roads were super narrow and along the harbour side traffic was having to edge through pedestrians which is always be a bit awkward. Les had stayed in this town whilst he was down this way and he generally picks decent places to stay and so it was, at the other end of the harbour was a restaurant called Kota Kai which is Maori for sea food or shell food, just the sight of the word kai was good as I was feeling hungry again by now as it was around 6pm and the fact in was in Maori made me feel at home! So my place of eating decided (and you can never have enough fish) I treated myself to a chowder soup with a side or rice. Afterwards I walked the direct route back through the town to the car park with the last few hundred meters on slightly dodgy bit of road with no pavements. Well walked, back at the bnb an old episode of Top Gear was on where Clarkson, Hammond and May take some slightly older but strangely robust sports cars and go through various unsettled zones in the middle east with a mission of getting to Bethlehem.

St Michael's Mount

Porthleven lanes. Which was first, the pink house or the road?

Porthleven harbour

Cornwall

Thursday 21

Plymouth appeared to have a very nice waterfront, reminding me in parts of Wellington until the nice coast path ended with a big fence and barbed wire meaning I had to retrace my steps and start again. Eventually I got to The Hoe, a nice promenade with steps into the water and green on the hill with a massive war memorial monument with the names of thousands of soldiers inscribed.

Plymouth waterfront

Plymouth harbour

 Departing Plymouth I drove to Lanhydrock a large National Trust place in the Bodmin moors.

First I took a turn around the ample gardens,

then ordered the kitchen staff to make me lunch. They were a bit rubbish as they just kept taking photos, they were fired.








 

I like a lot of vegetables.

Eventually I was able to sit down for lunch with all my imaginary friends,

after lunch I had a game of chess,

and read a few books.

By which time it was time for high tea,

 I then wrote a few letters,

sent for my luggage to be retrieved

and then went to bed.












My bed was a bit further away from the rest of the house, on the other side of St Austell at Pleasant Streams Campsite, another wonderful camp ground without the RV's and caravans. Basic facilities but a beautiful setting around a big pond with a little row boat in for campers use and little goats, hens and chicks and all sorts of poultry clucking and burbling away living a charmed existence, and no they don't eat the hens. Up with my Eureka Spitfire Solo and Bluey got to rest his wheels on nice soft flat grass.

Friday 22

Tim Smit the guy who transformed an old clay mining pit into the Eden Project was also involved with restoring the lost gardens of Heligan. I spent quite a long time there, it's wonderful, so wonderful I don't know how to sum it up. After Heligan I drove down to Lizard point and had a walk along the coastal cliffs and then drove on to my stop for 3 nights at Helston.

Lost Gardens of Heligan

Saturday 23

A few years ago I drove to Lands End from Sussex because I wanted to see Lands End, it was getting dark by the time I got there and having left on a whim at 1.30 in the afternoon so I stayed in the car in a field outside Penzance because it was 10 at night as I hadn't booked any accommodation. So this time I didn't go to Lands End but to Lavant mine nearby and walked to Boltallack down the coastal path. Lavant mine itself was shut today but there were plenty of old bits of buildings to poke around, the path to Boltallack doubles back on itself towards to some big towers on the edge of the cliffs. Past the first tower the path gets small and narrow and the second tower is down a rock scramble with metal handles which is quite exciting. It was a nice quiet place to sit and have lunch watching if anyone would climb down, a few did, after lunch I climbed back up and around the corner to the end of the path, you can't go any further. Instead of going back the way I came I scrabbled up the cliff back to the coastal path just for fun and then back to Lavant, on the way I help a German walker with a large backpack down a tricky section of path. Back at the car park I was surprised how far some people had walked, the occupants of SUV next to Bluey had walked as far as the boot of their car before setting up their picnic rugs.
    I headed on to the Minack Theater, a wonderful little Greek style open air theater on the cliff edge next to a lovely and popular bay, its £4.50 entry. They put on real shows and while I was there a group in matching blue t shirts were rehearsing a play, I watched them for a hour before driving back through Penzance where I bought a bottle of white wine from the supermarket, it was disgusting.

In my room was a TV and an en-suite which is quite a luxury, so I watched the end of Toy Story, 1 month post Brexit debate where nothing really was said and still nobody knew anything and Midsummer Murders in which a well off old boy who had scammed a few people out of a lot of money into buying fake wine was murdered by having wine bottle thrown at him whilst his not particularly loving wife looked on.

Botallack

My airbnb

More Devon

Totnes Tuesday 19

Just look at this map for a bit:

 

That was actual weather that really happened. Even Scotland has sun, in fact the temperature later that day where I was had been high twenties and Inverness had been recorded at 26 and London at 33!
My Airbnb in Totnes was informal with the bonus of another interesting and very talkative guest called Jeff staying, plus my room had an enormous amount of shelves. I often stay places looking for the slightest hint of a shelf to put the phone on or wash bag or a cup on, but usually it's just the floor. Here the shelves were 3 to 4 rows high and on most walls.  Home is where your bookshelf is, ask any traveler.
   I had planned to going to Salcombe the next day but Jeff said he would be going on a walk to the nearby Dartington Hall along the river Dart and did I want to come along, so that's what I did. It was a lovely day and a lovely walk, Jeff is an ex Journalist and now film producer from New Zealand was able to tell lots of interesting stories. He was staying down in Totnes as a nice place to write and divided his time between London, California and New Zealand. In the evening Jeff and host Thomas would  engage in debates about various things.  Thomas was pleased I hadn't gone to Salcombe as he had mentioned Dartington Hall before and that I should visit it and besides Salcombe is just a posh place with posh people.

Dartington Hall near Totnes

Wednesday 20

Today I went to Salcombe to see how posh it was and to see if it was anything like how I remembered, I had been ages ago with family and family friends and we went out in our tiny foldable boat and I remember being a bit scared when we got near the entrance of the harbour as it was a 6 foot boat and we seemed very small and not the greatest of sailors. Being prepared for a lot of traffic I didn't want to go into town so I thought I would park at East Soar as described in the National Trust book as a good parking alternative and then walk along the coast to Overbecks National Trust property and then into town. Only I couldn't get to East Soar, the only road there was blocked with road works and a sign that said 'Road works  delay 15 minutes', I backed up round the corner up the hill before anyone else could block me in, the Google machine seemed to have found another route, foolishly I followed it, down another single track, past a no exit sign and into a track with grass in the middle that clearly wasn't a road anymore, so once again I backed up and went back the way I just came to Malborough. I passed the original route to find cars hopelessly backed up with still no end to the delay. With no other options I drove to Salcombe where upon on top of the hill a perfectly good and very accessible car park on the left, which much relief I parked and paid the all day parking fee of £2.
   I walked down the hill into town, I wasn't tempted to stop for anything as I had everything I needed with me,  besides there was nowhere to stop, it was crowded people fulfilling their duty of eating because it was 1pm, it seemed frenzied. Plus the occasional SUV trying to escape the harbour car park and push its way up the high street. I walked on through past the Seasalt and Cath Kidman shops and others that all sold similar things and past the invisible barrier that most people don't go beyond and round the bays and after some time to Overbecks. As I had walked up and down dale to get there I now rewarded myself with a cream tea in relaxed, quiet surroundings.
Overbecks is  the home of scientist Otto Overbeck, he invented something called the Rejuvenator - an electrotherapy device  that delivered very small doses of electrical current to parts of the body where there was said to be an electrical imbalance. The house was a pleasure to walk round too, not too big and in the main hall is a secret door in the paneling that leads through to another room. After Overbecks I continued my original plan but in reverse and walked along the dramatic coast to near East Soar and then back in a sort of loop to Overbecks and returned via some back paths bypassing the town and arriving neatly back at the car park again. 
I had walked several miles again and so onto Plymouth my next port of call.

Salcombe

Cliff walk to East Soar

Devon and Dorset July

Friday 15 July

It takes about 2 hours to get Bournemouth from West Sussex, except not on Friday afternoon at the start of half term then it takes 4 hours. It's a boring drive, I still had to get to a campsite in Purbeck that was according to the camp site owners 'in the middle of nowhere', this should ensure most other campers would go somewhere else.  On route I stopped in Bournemouth to look at the sea and feel nostalgic for a bit, it wasn't very warm so I ate my lunch rather quickly and then went for a quick walk up Alum Chine and over a nice suspension bridge I remember cycling over in my uni days at Bournemouth, according to words printed in a Sunday supplement magazine Branksome Cliff Sands has the most expensive  strip of real estate in the world.  I pressed on to Purbeck and consulted my drawn map of the campsite location, located down a few kilometres of gravel track, it was a lovely simple site, not many people, friendly owners and very cheap. They said they only take up to 50 tent bookings per night so it didn't get too crowded and the field was massive so it would never feel busy. After setting up camp I walked to the nearby village of Morton where Lawrence of Arabia is buried, I paid my respects and then went back to my small dwelling and to bed.

Saturday 16

The next morning I drove to Corfe castle and parked at the park and ride just outside of town and dithered whether to get the steam train to town or walk, seeing as it was only 3/4 mile and the next train wasn't due for another 25 minutes  I decided to walk. It only took 15 minutes to get to the castle gates in the town centre where I  had to make a very important decision - pay £8.30 to go into the castle where I had been twice before already but I was there now so I should really go in again, not go in or become a national trust member and then I don't have to analyze each and every National Trust place I may want to visit that I was in a good distance of visiting. I went to the church with some pamphlets to think about it and do some sums. There were at least 3 National Trust places I wanted to visit on this trip, there's also the free parking for members, and its less that £6 a month. I decided to become a member. I then dashed around the castle rejoicing in my new National Trust freedom, after which I took the train to Swanage.
    The steam train that had been running earlier had now broken down so it was a diesel engine instead, it pulled the same lovely carriages though and it was a nice ride of 25 minutes during which time I spread out the map and thought about a walk recommended by the National Trust lady who seemed to think a walk from Corfe Castle to Old Harry rock would only take 45 minutes and in fact you could walk there and back quite easily. I considered this information against the distance and terrain on the map and decided she must be a very fit person, or more likely has never done the walk as she also told me she had recently relocated to Dorset. From Swanage train station it was more like 9 miles and then there was still the short distance back to the car park.
    Arriving at the station, I walked down through the high street with the throng on their way to the beach and then past the beach onto the coastal path which ascended to the top of the cliff and gave a choice of north back to Corfe or South to Old Harry, I continued the path to Old Harry rock, it was quite busy as it was a Saturday, and stopped at a point that gave a nice view over Poole harbour and down to the rocks, looking back up the hill I decided not to walk any further down it if I was to walk all the way back to Corfe Castle, so I ate a bagel, my fruit and a packet of salty crisps. Fortified I pressed on, back up the hill to the point at which the path had divided and this time headed north towards Corfe. Also unlike the National Trust lady's description that once you are on the hill it is flat and easy, the path climbed, briefly levels and then descends back to almost sea level in order to cross the valley to the next range, where the path ascends for over a mile and there eventually it flattens and is quite glorious. For the last few miles happy chap with a little Westie dog caught up with me and chatted and walked together until Corfe, the dog had an endearing trick of doing a handstand when it had a wee, which was often.
Feeling famished I had dinner at a pub in Corfe Castle and then back to the campsite for slumber.

Looking towards Corfe Castle

Sunday 17

On the main road before the turning down the track to the campsite is T.E. Lawrence's house, as it was just around the corner and I was now a proud member, I went to visit. Annoying it didn't open until 11am so I dawdled and decamped as slowly as possibly but even so I was still there too early and the gates were shut, not being able to immediately turn around I continued and parked a few hundred meters down the road at a tank training viewing area and walked back to the house.
    The house was perfect, it reminded me of a dolls house, Mums dolls house. With paneled walls, the bathroom looked surprising modern, I was interested in the cork tiles used on the bathroom walls. Everything about the place was simple and nicely thought out. Lawrence was killed not far from the house whilst delivering a letter , he'd encountered some cyclists whilst on his Brough Superior SS100 - the 7th Brough motorcycle he'd owned and spilled off, not wearing much more than a flat cap and a pair of goggles, he died.  T.E. Lawrence rose to unwanted fame during his wartime activities in Arabia, he was an archaeologist, an officer and a diplomat, after the war to avoid unwanted attention he changed his name and enlisted as an aircraftsman in the RAF, but eventually his cover was rumbled and he had to left the RAF so he changed his name again and enlisted in the Tanks Corp and bought the cottage as a retreat at Clouds Hill.

Whilst at uni I cycled to Lulworth cove, took a picture and then went back and painted it, it is a splendid painting. So I went back to admire the cove, unfortunately it was Sunday and all people from everywhere were there, there was no hope of parking in the car park, silly idea, so I went back in the direction of Durdle Door and parked on the road out of town and walked in. It was heaving, anyone not pushing a pram was eating an ice cream, some were doing both. I left the crowd and went to look at my painted scene. It was still lovely, I walked up the bank inside the scene I painted and sat with a view towards the cove and ate my lunch, in the time it took to eat a bagel  4 cars left the car park and 16 cars entered, 5 of those carried straight on past the car park initially in an effort to walk the least distance possible to the ice cream vendors little knowing they would only have to turn around in about 20 metres and go back into the car park, queue and then drive to the far end of the field to actually get a spot and walk back. This was quite pleasurable to watch.
    Looking at the map there was a coastal path to Durdle door I was originally going to walk, looking over to the path now showed a steady stream of pedestrian traffic, but there was another sign to Dungy Head up a nice shaded path, I started up the path and just got my camera out in time to capture a snake wriggle across the path. The path was splendid, not only did it avoid a long boring ascent with lots of people dribbling ice cream, it was also just better, Dungy head gave a fantastic view of the beaches of Durdle door and the crowds on them. I sat down and ate the rest of my lunch and sadly the last of the bagels - they were splendid, and took photos  before heading back to the car and onto my next campsite on the other side of Weymouth in a tiny hamlet of Puncknowle. I chose this place because there was a pub in the village where I planned to have dinner. I pulled into the campsite and found a nice shaded area, there was only one other camper, fantastic, as I was getting my tent out a gruff woman appeared across the field and demanded I come and check in. I followed her to one of the caravans I had just thought were caravans on arrival and stood in the blasting heat on the doorway while she attempted to write some details on a red tent tag.
    'What's your name?'
    I pointed to the very misspelled name she had on her list as me.
    'How many nights are you staying?'
    'One night'
    'Do you have a small tent?'
    'Yes, it's a one man tent'
    'Is it a small tent? '
    I realised at this point I had provided too much information about the tent and this had perhaps confused her and having clearly lived in a caravan all her life she didn't understand tent technicalities.
    'Yes it is small tent. '
    'What's your car registration? '
    'W717OAP'
    'w1771'
    'No its 717'
    'W1771717'
    No its just W.7.1.7.O.A.P
    'W7711oafp'
    At this point she scribbles angrily at her markings and barks 'It's no use! I can't hear what you're saying with those people talking outside!'Those people appeared to be her friends as she had been talking to them earlier.  I was standing right next to her quickly wilting in the heat of her doorstep which seemed to be magnified and keen to get this procedure over with. I suggested I write the number out for her.
    'Do you want a shower token? Its 40p for 7 minutes. ' It always disappoints me when they charge for showers. 'Yes please. ' I said
    'Did you want a shower token i can't remember. '
    For God's sake woman I just told you one second ago! 'Yes. I Would Like A Shower Token!'
Eventually I was allowed to step away from the furnace heat of her caravan doorstep and go back to the cool shade of my pitch and set up my one person tent. I had taken 2 tents, a fairly standard but older and quite terribly designed 2 man dome tent which Dad had found abandoned near the house, I can see why it was left now as I was tempted to do the same thing, so it was back to my Canadian Eureka! Spitfire Solo tent from now on, it's a fantastic tent and what a name, it also had some big exclamation marks on it, it has the same effect as going into a small cosy living space with soft furnishing in it, you feel cosy and safe. And so finally to the pub for some great sounding mediocre standard pub fare with a glass of nothing special wine.

Durdle Door

Weymouth

Puncknowle campsite

Monday 18

After a good nights slightly sloping sleep I used my valuable shower  token, decamped and was on my way to Lyme Regis. I parked at a car park at the top of town for £2 for all day and walked in through the center and had a poke around in some of the trendy  nautical clothes shops and a nice old rambling bookshop with a grumpy man behind the counter.  A lady at the back of the shop was looking for something, probably something on a certain topic and the staff member responsible for organising the books in that section took great pride in his alphabetical placements and proceeded to point out all the sorts of books available in that section, she was politely making oh right noises but probably didn't need to be told all the sections but could just read the labels herself, I quickly ran away before I had to endure the same thing. I walked on through some lovely gardens to the beach and then up to the cliff walks which are mostly shaded, the walk way used to be a lot nearer the cliff top, but it fell into the sea and so rerouted inland a bit.
    It was another hot day, I didn't plan on walking too far as I still had to drive to Totnes, after seeing a sign for Chimney rock I thought this was a good as any target to walk to, the rock itself it quite small and yes a little like a chimney and up quite a lot of steps. Back to town I collected Bluey and rattled away to my Totnes airbnb, the sat nav decided to only give out selected directions and by this means I ended up in somewhere I really didn't want to be threading through a narrow town center and then up a dead end. Bluey doesn't have air con and to be comfortable in heat I need both front windows down to create a through flow of air, so stopping and looking at the tiny map on the phone whilst the car feels 40 degrees inside is not easy, I quickly memorised the route and then ignored any other directions the GPS cared to tell me and found the lovely Totnes.

Lyme Regis

On the road again!

A trip to the west country and Wales, departing...soon!