Jurassic Coast and English Riviera

Had a reasonable night in our cosy little air BnB – the girls were in the lounge on the sofa bed while Ian and I were in the bedroom. After breakfast we were ready to leave by 9:30. We thought it was feeling cold last night when we were walking around Salisbury and it obviously was, as the car was covered in frost this morning and the radio told us it was going to reach a maximum of 4 degrees today. But it was a lovely clear morning with blue sky and sunshine despite the cold. Our first stop this morning was Old Wardour Castle, a 14th century castle that is now ruins, situated by a beautiful lake. The drive there took us through some beautiful English countryside and through some very quaint villages with narrow roads and houses with thatched rooves. Unfortunately, when we got there

we discovered the castle is only open on weekends at this time of year so we had a look at the ruins from over the stone the wall and then continued on our way. We decided to head towards the coast and take the coast road to Torquay rather than the inland route and so our next stop was the quirky little fishing village of West Bay. Had our lunch sitting on the harbour wharf looking out to sea and the scenery was beautiful. Huge soaring cliffs in both directions – this area is called the Jurassic Coast because of the significance the area plays in discovering the history of the earth from 180 million years ago due to its fossils and layers of sedimentary rock which explain so much of the changes to this land over time. The ocean was incredibly calm and despite the cold it was a very still, beautiful day. While we were sitting eating, a very

large seagull swooped between Lauren and Brianna who were sitting next to each other on a bench, flicked Lauren on the head with its wing and then stole Brianna’s sandwich out of her hand as it flew off!! Lauren thought it was Ian playfully hitting her over the head for some reason and Brianna didn’t even realise it had stolen her sandwich until she looked down and saw that her hand was empty! Luckily, we had extra sandwiches so Brianna didn’t go hungry. We had a walk along the pebbly beach before returning to the car.
After lunch, we continued around the coast, drove through very picturesque Lyme Regis and then stopped in Sydmouth – another coastal town – for afternoon tea. While in Devon we are on the hunt for the best Devonshire Tea and while the one in Sydmouth was good, I think we will find better! Again, we could see amazing, soaring red cliffs stretching in both directions along the coast and the lowering sun created beautiful colours on the calm ocean as well as on the cliff faces. We had a walk along the promenade after our scones and then returned to the car to make tracks for Torquay.
We got into the outskirts of Torquay about 5:30pm and stopped at a supermarket for provisions. Got to our Air BnB just after 6pm – we are staying for the next 2 nights in a 2 bedroom apartment which is in a hotel complex called the Osborne Apartments and it is beautiful. Very tastefully furnished, heaps of room and extremely comfortable – not sure we will want to go anywhere tomorrow!! It was dark when we arrived so we weren’t able to see much but we know we are located on the beachfront at Torquay and with the fine weather set to continue it will be lovely for a walk around here tomorrow. The girls cooked soft tacos for dinner - very yummy, then bed.