Exploring Narrow Country Roads

We had decided last night that seeing as we are in such a lovely apartment in such a lovely area, we didn’t want to race out the door this morning and spend all day in the car rather we wanted to have a chance to enjoy where we were. Which was just as well as Lauren was sick during the night and up a few times so we all had a disrupted sleep and Lauren wasn’t wanting to race off anywhere this morning. Her tummy had settled by this morning and she had some dry toast for breakfast about 10am. Ian and I decided to go to the hotel gym this morning so we wandered down there at 8:30am and had a 45min workout which was really good – although I was a bit torn as it is also a lovely spot for going running – the hotel looks out over Meadfoot Beach and Tor Bay and the view from our living room window is beautiful. Even though it is cold – about 4 degrees again this morning – there is no wind so the ocean is completely flat and looks very tranquil. After a leisurely breakfast, we went for a walk from the hotel down to the beach and got some lovely photos of the hotel and the view.
We decided we wouldn’t hang around here all day so packed some lunch and headed off in the car about 11:30am to go to Dartmouth Castle. This castle was begun in 1380 and in 1460

became what was probably Britain’s first fortification which was purpose built to mount ship sinking heavy cannon – to protect the port of Dartmouth from French invaders. We had to drive around the peninsula to get onto the Dartmouth side of the Dart estuary and instead of choosing the fast route on the sat nav, I chose the short route which was longer but more direct – taking us along some very narrow country roads. It was a very picturesque journey through lovely green English countryside, fields dotted with sheep and cows and bordered by dark hedges. The roads were also bordered by hedges which were very high a lot of the time which was a shame as they tended to obscure a lot of this lovely view. We had a few tricky moments passing other vehicles on the narrow roads especially when we needed to get passed a tractor towing a trailer – had to fold the wing mirrors in at this point!! Then we

also had some very narrow roads to negotiate in Dartmouth itself but we reached the castle without any scratches on the van. Had a lovely time wandering round the fortifications of Dartmouth castle and looking at all the weaponry. They have set it up to be a very interactive display and it is set in such a picturesque location on the mouth of the Dart inlet. Again the weather was perfect – cold but fine and still not a breath of wind, there were even some crazy people out kayaking on the inlet which looked like glass it was so still. Saw some yachts out on the water as well although I don’t think they would have been doing much sailing given the lack of wind! After the castle we had a look in the little church that is located at the foot of the fortress and is still in use – imagine your local parish church being located at castle which is over 550 years old! We stopped for cream tea at the Dartmouth Castle café – a very unassuming looking place but it was rated on google as the second best place in Devon for cream tea and after eating it we decided that it is likely true as they were delicious – definitely better than yesterday’s cream tea. By now it was nearly 4pm and time to make tracks home. We decided to try the car ferry from Dartmouth to Paignton which made the return journey heaps quicker and was also a very quick ferry ride across the inlet – the ferry was operated by a rope pulley system and as soon as we docked at Paignton and cars drove off, the next lot of cars were driving on ready for the trip across to Dartmouth. A very efficient service.
Stopped for food supplies for dinner and got back to the hotel about 5:30pm. Clothes wash day today so Brianna and I took a load of washing down to the laundrette and then we all sat and relaxed before dinner – lamb Rogan Josh on the menu tonight.