Friday 25 September 2015

Dartmouth and Dartmoor

Had a bit of a lazy day yesterday with a late start after some more fried breakfast. Rich was hurting and I didn't mind a chilled day. So we drove to Dartmouth. Really beautiful place and quite busy. With this now being off-season, the place must be packed with people on a nice summer day. Packed with elderly people. Almost 8 out of 10 people were elderly tourists, haha.
Is it just my impression or are many tourists quite superficial? Witnessing the typical tourist behaviour of seeing something like the Naval Academy, pointing it out to partner or friend, taking a picture and then moving on. What's the point? I take pictures myself, as you know, but mostly for things I've seen from the inside as well and read about the building, who built it or why it's famous e.g. what makes it really special. I understand if people take pictures to give others an idea about the atmosphere of a place or to remember the time they've been there. But when I think how they might show others their pictures and go "And this is the Naval Academy." And the reply "Uh, huh." Useless information in my eyes.


Anyway. Did some window shopping, but couldn't stay out of the nice food shops... We are food lovers. Especially of the handmade local kind. So the first cheese and delicatessen shop was ours. Tasted some cheeses and got away with only buying three and a nice chilli salami and a huge scotch egg which we shared while walking on.
Rich had his go in an old-school sweet shop getting all excited about the countless jars with different sweets. Had a cheeky afternoon pint at the oldes pub of Dartmouth which is in one of those beautiful old white houses with the wooden beams. Heading for the toilet upstairs I felt like I was on a moving ship or drunk... or both. No wall was straight and no floor even. Almost did a Jack Sparrow waddle there.

Hunting for a wee snack Rich had a nice pasty and I found a fish & chips shop which was a bit tucked away and at the very end of high street. Had salt & pepper calamari and it was gorgeous. Fist time I ate tentacles, haha.

Stopped by the butcher to get some steaks for the BBQ later. Seeing the rump steak he cut off, we politely asked if he could cut it in two and that was pretty much all for us. We still ended up with about 600g each.

Back home we put the steak onto the BBQ and pretty much filled all the available space. Squeezed two corn on the cob on. Wow. It was a meat fest!!!

Today we were a bit lazy again in the morning and set off later than intended. But hey, we're on holiday, right. I had quickly come up with a circular walk in the Southern part of Dartmoor, starting and ending the walk in South Brent.
Again the weather was simply fantastic. Started our 13 mile loop at 11:30am and were back at 5pm. Out of South Brent along the river Avon on some public foot paths and very quiet minor roads, then into Dartmoor proper on a small path and through high grass later as the path on the map was non existent. We headed for some old tin works and again pathless to a disused tram way before we hit the well defined Two-Moors Way.
We could see all the way to the Plymouth Estuary at some point and saw two Hercules planes roaring past us above. Quite impressive.




Otherwise we quite enjoyed the silence and utter bleakness that is Dartmoor as well as the views of Devon's green fields in the distance.

Quite exhausted after the fine walk we drove over to Totnes, where we had booked a table at the Good Pub Guide recommended Steam Packet pub. Had a pint in a proper local first, watching the rest of the rugby on telly. Then headed over to the Steam Packet for another absolutely fantastic meal. British cuisine is certainly much better as its reputation. The smoked mackerel with pickled cucumber and leafy salad was a dream. As well as my duck on sweet chilli veg stir-fry and Rich's Moroccan minted lamb burger with Harrissa mayo and cucumber mint sauce. Food heaven for sure.

Just chilled back a the house, packing tomorrow, then off to have a look at Exeter before we head home in time for the England game.

Thursday 24 September 2015

There and Back Again

Another day, another very promising weather forecast and another coastal walk. Parked the car in Torcross this time and walked all the way to Start Point. It's surely off-season since we could park up just in the middle of that little village, the park and display was deserted.

Looking back down to Torcross and its long beach
High tide meant we had to take the high route to Beesands, but the sun was shining again and it was less windy compared to yesterday, so we were sweating quite a bit climbing up and then down again. Looking at my watch it was now 11:30am. I really wanted to be back here for 2:30pm to watch the rugby so we had an hour and a half to get to Start Point.
Hallsands

Start Point ahead
One hump later we arrived at another beach - Hallsands. From there on we headed straight for Start Point and the light house there. Despite Rich hurting a bit from the walk the day before he tried his best to get  good pace going. Very much appreciated, hehe.
Made it easily for 12:30 and lingered a bit at the lighthouse before walking back. This way around we finally saw the abandoned/destroyed village near Hallsands and stopped for a bit to visit the viewpoint and read about the events that led to the village's demise. Apparently a number of storms and gales at the beginning of the last century had led to only one house remaining of about a dozen.

Start Point

Not far to Minehead from here
Arrived back in Beesands before 2pm even and had some of the best fish and chips ever at The Britannia @ The Beach - a small shack with a seefood menu that made our mouths water. Provided by a local fisherman everything was a fresh as you can get it. We were actually not in for a proper meal and thus chose the fish & chips, but the portion was hearty indeed and again we were fully stuffed.

Headed over to The Cricket, which I had picked from The Good Pub guide. Lovely but quiet pub at this time of the year and a huge TV screen showing some old photographs. We asked for the rugby and they turned it on for us after fiddling around with the remote controls since no one really knew how to switch to the TV channel,

Over a gorgeous pint of Heron cider from a farm near Kingsbridge we watched Scotland's landslide victory over Japan with more and more people joining us in front of the screen.

Headed back to Torcross then and again had to take the high path as the tide wasn't low enough to walk the beach. Drove back to the cottage and watched some more rugby with some of the farm cider we had bought the day before. Ahhhh, good times, eh? Dozing and chilling for quite some time, we eventually set to barbecue some chicken thighs which we had marinated in a nice searingly spicy Psycho Sauce all day.
9:30 pm is a bit late for a meal, but it was easily the best chicken we ever had. Hot and spicy to burn your lips off and with a jerk-like smokyness to it... it was simply the best!
Food coma and general exhaustion did it for me. I fell asleep in front of the TV within a minute while Rich watched a bit of QI.

Wednesday 23 September 2015

A Coastal Walk

With the sun shining brightly we set off around 10am for another walk in fantastic weather. At least that's what we thought. After a nice fry-up with plenty of choice from our extensive chilli sauce collection we headed down to the coast on veeeery narrow country lanes. Arg. I was very glad when we finally hit the A381 at the coast.

First stop was a farm shop near Torcross. With the bag full of sausages and meat we realized, that the box to keep all of it cool was still at the cottage."Luckily", it had started to rain as we left the farm shop and we decided to risk it and hope the fresh meat would stay cool enough during the day.

It was quite busy on the road to Salcombe but we made it just for 11:30am with a bit of luck and a nose for a good spot to park the car, we found ourselves not long after hunting for a cash point and a coffee.
Somehow we just got the bus to Malborough at 12:30 literally gulfing down our coffees fearing we'd miss it otherwise.

Salcombe bay
Got off in Malborough with the sun shining again from a sky that went from overcast to bright blue again during the remainder of the day. The walk on another country lane was short, before we turned onto a public footpath towards Hope.

In Hope we finally joined the South West Coast Path and walked all along the coast from Bolt Tail to Bolt Head and into Salcombe again.


Stunning weather, a good breeze a few ups and downs... what a fine day on a British coast. Just amazing! We stopped a few times to take in the fine views. Waves coming from the blue and turquoise sea, crashing onto dark rock, blue sky and green grass.

Hope




Back in Salcombe we had a pint at the Victoria Inn which won the Best Pub of the South West in 2014 and 2015. Good selection of gins and wine but only a few ales and I'm not talking about the cider. Boo. Still nice pub and the food looked nice.
However, we were booked for the Tower Inn in Slapton, so as darkness was approaching fast we drove back on still narrow but now more or less empty country lanes. Parking in Slapton was a bit tricky. Driving through is already tricky, find a parking space even more. Eventually we parked a bit outside and walked to the pub.

What a nice one that was. Liked it much better than the one in Salcombe. Proper cosy and good cider, yeah. Spoilt for choice food-wise I suggested the mussels in a cider, garlic and cream sauce. I had never eaten mussels but wanted to give it a go so close to the sea. Rich showed me the best way to eat them and they were gorgeous!!!
Mains were Braised Ox Cheek (another first for me) with Kale and veg and for Rich Barbary Duck with sweet carrot purée. Both dishes were absolutely amazing and we were completely stuffed afterwards. Drove the last two miles home under a clear sky dotted with thousands of stars and chilled a bit at the cottage, food coma setting in.

What a day! Simply perfect from the start. Good weather, good food and the best company.

Monday 21 September 2015

South Devon, Here We Are

Sitting by the fire, laptop on my knees after a nice warm up walk in perfect weather. Ah, the good life, eh? Rich is entertaining me with some Wurzels playing from his iPad. Only missing thing is a canister of cider, but I'm way too lazy to manoeuvre the car up the narrow steep country lane to pick some up.

Arrived late yesterday afternoon after attending a wedding in Wells, then driving back to Bristol for packing and finally down to Devon. Been here more than a year ago when I was mountain biking in Dartmoor. It's good to be back. It's such a beautiful place!
Rich's parents own a cottage near Slapton and what a cottage that is. Furnished with a good touch of what was en vogue in the 60s and 70s it is a cosy place indeed. Two master bedrooms and a few smaller ones, two lounges and a huge kitchen. Think we'll enjoy our stay here for the week.

Stayed in bed until midday today and when the rain finally stopped we decided to go for a walk. Good decision in the end. The sun came out more and more as we walked small country lanes towards Strete enjoying the views over green fields and the sea in the distance.
Some of the bramble was still with fruit so we picked some here and there. Reminded me of my childhood when we went for raspberries for hours, stuffing our faces.


From Strete we headed towards Blackpool Sands on the South West Coast Path as it was only a mile away. Brilliant views forward and back. Took a very small detour to a sandy beach which we had all to our own. Awesome.




Back to the cottage along more or less quiet country lanes. Had to hug the hedge a few times to let cars past. 


In the end we did 8.5 miles which was not the short warm up walk we intended to do, but the weather was simply too good. 
Somewhat knackered we relaxed on the couch sipping spiced Indian tea, listening to the flutter of a trapped bird in the chimney until we took pity on it. While Rich took the big pipe off I covered the end with a frying pan. Together we carried it out the back door and once I took the pan off, a yellow beak followed by a black head looked out. A few seconds of blinking in the daylight later, a fully grown blackbird emerged and flew off. Cheerio and good riddance to you.

Rich got a fire going and we're about to cook off our marinated chicken wings, yum. Weather forecast's looking bill for the next two days, so we're probably off to the coast again tomorrow.

Friday 18 September 2015

Hello Devon!

To me it feels like I haven't really been away at all this year, to many others it seems like I'm away all the time. Looking at the annual leave I have left, I'm definitely in for a proper holiday! I've had a good deal of short trips this year making good use of the flexible working hours at my job, but I've only had one proper trip to Scotland and that's it. Same applies to my boyfriend by the way. So why not spend some days together?

It happens to be that his parents own a cottage in South Devon near Slapton so we decided to spend a week there. He's not into mountaineering or days and days of walking in the rain up and down mountains with a heavy backpack, but we found a nice middle way for us.
Both of us are exhausted and tired and need some time off, just relaxing and doing "nothing". I wouldn't be me if I just lazed about the cottage for a whole week. So the plan is to do some coastal walks, visit the beautiful surrounding villages (Dartmouth, Kingsbridge) and do a few short cycle rides.  Short but strenuous they're gonna be with all those steep ascents around.


So after work tonight I'm driving down for a wedding on Saturday, then back up to Brizzle to pack the car and do some shopping and hopefully we'll be down at the cottage some time Sunday evening, enjoying a wee dram by the fire.
Although it's not a hardcore outdoor adventure, I can't say I'm not looking forward to it very much. Been counting the days for some time now and can't wait to just rest and relax. No alarm clock in the morning, no fixed schedule, no plans to stick to other than finding a pub on Weds to watch the Rugby, haha.

There's exciting things happening next year, so regard this as the calm before the storm. 2015 - the year I lay dormant, gathering my strength, preparing for an exhilerating year 2016. My plans and futur trips are listed here on my blog. Just go to Upcoming Trips

Over and out.