28th August 2016

At the crack of dawn (5:30 am) on the 14th of August, Sue and I packed the car in preparation for our journey south to the beaches of Devon. Precisely at 6:30 am, with the wheels crunching on the driveway gravel, the adventure began. The Rothwells followed about 40 minutes later.

After a relatively quiet journey, we rendezvoused around two and a half hours later on the seafront at Clevedon. It promised to be a lovely day. The boys were as excited as the adults and had to be calmed with an invigorating walk along the clifftops to the site of a nearby Iron Age fort. The sea views were spectacular, and on our return to the cars, we were entertained for a while by the local model boat club, who demonstrated their craft on the newly refurbished Lido.

Returning to the motorway, it took us just over two hours to reach Ilfracombe. After fruitlessly searching for a parking space near a suitable spot for a picnic, we struck lucky and found the start of a cliff walk with no yellow lines and ample space for a large number of vehicles. Scrambling along a narrow path and avoiding the many nettles, we discovered a bench with magnificent views over the sea, overlooking a cove that we planned to visit the following day. Sandwiches and snacks were soon devoured, and after a brief excursion down the cliff to the sea by Suraj and the boys, we made our way back to the cars.

Parking on yellow lines outside our seafront hotel, we dropped off our luggage and checked in. Suraj and I bought weekly parking permits from the Tourist Information Office just down the road, then parked the cars about half a mile away.

Returning to the hotel, we had a chance to check out our rooms. They weren’t the largest, cleanest, or best-equipped we’ve ever stayed in, but as it was the only week available (it just happened to be high season), the hotel reluctantly agreed to let us have these rooms, which were clearly due to be refurbished and upgraded in October. Fortunately, the Rothwells’ room was in worse condition than ours, and the screwdriver Charlotte had brought came in handy!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the charming town of Ilfracombe. It doesn’t seem to have changed at all over the decades, and thankfully, there’s no loud glitz or glitter. The harbour was bustling with an endless stream of cars looking for parking spaces, making it difficult to navigate the streets. The weather was glorious, and with seagulls wheeling and crying overhead, it brought back fond childhood memories.

We had our evening meals booked at the hotel. A few days later, this became a matter of some debate between us and the management, but it was resolved to our advantage when we produced the paperwork. Good old internet! The food at the hotel was excellent, particularly in the evenings, where we could choose from the à la carte menu.

After dining, we made the steep climb up the hill opposite the hotel to watch the sunset. It didn’t take much imagination to picture ourselves on a Greek island, though with a pocketful of British pounds rather than Euros and a stomach full of British beef rather than Greek goat. We ended the evening by playing roll-a-penny in the arcade near the hotel.

After breakfast, we planned to visit the Tunnel Beaches, accessed by passages cut through the cliffs by the Victorians. Suraj and I diverted to the cars to pick up the beach games left in the boots. Unfortunately, Suraj had been issued a parking ticket by the authorities. A few days later, we confronted the issuer, and he had to admit it did look as though Suraj was in a parking bay. He advised us to dispute it, which Suraj will do.

We spent the morning and part of the afternoon on the beach, inventing a new game we’ve called ‘Sitting Bowls’. It’s likely to be included in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

That evening, we went to the theatre to watch a performance of ‘Wind in the Willows’ by a local theatre group before heading to the rooftop restaurant at a promenade Wetherspoons for a very late evening meal. A quick roll-a-penny session followed before bed. This became a ritual each evening as the boys (and Sue) enjoyed the excitement of accumulating large amounts of winning tickets, which would be exchanged for gifts at the end of the stay. Suraj and I added to the ritual by playing pool in the bar next door while the tickets were being harvested.

After breakfast the following morning, we set off through the town, past the harbour, up the hill (where Sue pointed out where she once stayed in a B&B as a child), by the Rugby Club, where a circus tent was set up on the 1st team pitch (sacrilege), and on to the small village of Hele Bay. A lovely beach, perfect for playing ‘Sitting Bowls’ and beach cricket, and that’s how we spent our time. We left late in the afternoon when the tide started to peak, and fellow beachgoers had shuffled in all around us, limiting our gameplay. The trek back to the hotel was notable for the surprising amount of energy Lucas and Ellis demonstrated in helping carry the equipment back. I think the promise of coins for roll-a-penny may have been a key motivator.

Later that evening, we returned to the harbour for ice creams and fudge.

The next day’s adventure involved driving to Lynton & Lynmouth. We stopped briefly on the way at Woody Bay Station to look at the steam trains.

After finding a car park that our weekly parking passes conveniently covered, we meandered up through the town of Lynton, then wandered down its High Street, window shopping and entering most of the gift shops on either side. After a short foray along a nature trail through Rockvale, we purchased some excellent fish and chips and, finding a little spot in the churchyard with spectacular views over the town of Lynmouth, joined other picnickers and stuffed ourselves. We collected a large quantity of leftovers into one box in readiness for some illegal seagull feeding.

Making our way to the Funicular, we bought tickets and descended to sea level. It wasn’t long before the local birdlife was also satiated, and it was noted that several seemed to labour somewhat in flight afterwards. Once again, we visited gift shops, walked over bridges, and admired the very rocky beach by the harbour before joining a growing queue at the Funicular station for an easy ascent.

On our way back to the car, we stopped at the small but lovely resort of Combe Martin. The tide was on the turn, so we only had about an hour there before the sand almost disappeared.

That night, after dinner in the hotel, the boys traded in their bundles of tickets for toys at the arcade shop.

The following day, after breakfast, we packed up, brought the cars outside the hotel, and stuffed the boots with our belongings before parking them again. We spent about an hour along the High Street, mostly window shopping, but we did buy some sweets.

Around 11 am, we went our separate ways. The Rothwells headed north, back home, stopping first at Cheddar Gorge and then in Bristol to see the sights while the heavy Friday night motorway traffic dissipated. We set the Satnav to the shortest route, knowing it would take us through the heart of Exmoor, and headed south towards Buckfastleigh and Philippa’s.

It was a lovely route, though with many junctions and mostly along very narrow single-track roads. Surprisingly, we didn’t meet any other vehicles on the road until after Chagford, where we stopped for refreshments at The Three Crowns and enjoyed cheesy scones at the café next door. After a stroll around this rather affluent village, we chatted to a local who mentioned he had a house in Australia, one in Germany, and another here, before getting into his Range Rover and driving off.

We did encounter several cars on the next leg of our journey, but they must have all been locals, as they knew where the passing places were, and we didn’t have to reverse at all. We arrived at our destination to find Simon there, head buried in his laptop, but still managing to watch the Olympics on the TV.

After tea, we spent the evening chatting and watching the Olympics. Like Team GB, Philippa’s radiotherapy seems to be going very well, and she appears to be coping with the treatment with no noticeable side effects.

The following morning, after breakfast, it was decided we’d go to Slapton Sands for lunch and a walk along the beach. Simon was still in bed, having watched the boxing the night before until 4:30 am, so we left him sleeping and made our way to the coast. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but apart from it being very blustery, the rain stayed away and the sun came out. We parked halfway along the beach and walked about a mile into the wind to the little village at one end. There, we had cream scones and drinks and puzzled over lemon halves and cloves. They supposedly keep wasps away (though they don’t!).

After the obligatory shopping in the gift shop (I bought some sour cherry liquorice sticks), we set off back to the car. I left the two sisters to chat and opted for a route along the road rather than the beach. We met up again for ice cream back at the car. On our journey back to Buckfastleigh, the rain arrived and settled in for the evening.

Simon was still occupied with work, and after having an Indian takeaway for tea with us, he chose to work in the kitchen on his laptop while watching the Olympics on the TV there. His company, ‘Wraptious’, seems to be doing very well, and it sounds like he’s branching out into China. There are now four of them working in the business, and they’re making a healthy profit.

The plan was to drive home the following morning after breakfast, and that’s exactly what we did. The motorways were clear, and we arrived back in Harborough in record time.

The next day, Sue took the boys to Corby for ‘Muddy Mondays’. It sounded good, and there was a time I would have loved to do such a cool-sounding activity, but instead, I dug up a row of potatoes and pulled up some carrots and beetroot, creating my own ‘Mucky Monday’.

On Tuesday, it was Sue’s birthday, and Charlotte brought the boys over in the morning before she went to work. Sue and I had a lovely day taking them on the bus to Leicester. It was a scorching hot day, so we cooled off on the boating lake in Abbey Park, then walked along the canal and River Soar into town to the castle. After refreshments in a local hostelry to cool down, we visited the market (bought some sweets) before returning by double-decker bus (upstairs, front seats, how exciting!) to Harborough. After taking the boys home, I picked up Sue, and we made our way to Jamie’s, where he cooked a very nice meal for us. Surprisingly, Harley was there too.

On Thursday, I drove Sue to Bletchley Park to see how the Enigma Code had been broken. We had a guide who showed us where the exhibits were and shared a few stories about the people who worked there during the war. After our tour, we set off on our own to investigate further, only to stop for a picnic lunch on one of the lawns, just after midday. We left after 4 pm and made our way to a De Vere Hotel I had booked in nearby Newport Pagnell. We ate that night at an Indian restaurant in the town.

After a very substantial breakfast, we checked out and had a walk around the town, passing the Aston Martin factory on the way. Exploring further, we found a route that took us along the River Ouse before returning to the hotel. It was a fabulous day, with warm blue skies and lovely river scenery.

We were home by mid-afternoon, and as it was a Friday, the Rothwells arrived a little while later, having visited Conkers for the day. We sat outside, ate hotdogs, and chatted about what we had been up to.

Harborough has a new showground on the edge of town, and on Saturday, it played host to the Leicester County Show. Sue had arranged for family friend Lynne to visit Willow Bank, so Jim Hankers and I went to have a look at the showground.  I’d decided to visit the allotment and pick vegetables before going, and we unfortunately found the showground rammed when we arrived. After queuing for quite a while, we eventually made it into the grounds, to amble around the many farm exhibits, before watching the animal judging and observing the Fernie Hunt cantering around the show ring with their pack. I was secretly hoping one of the hounds would gobble up one of the toddlers sticking their hands out to stroke them, but no such luck.

We left just as it started to rain, and within an hour, we had the loudest and heaviest thunderstorm in Harborough for years. That evening, the celestial fireworks continued with a brilliant display from the showground, which could easily be seen from Willow Bank and lasted well into the night. I’ll go again next year, but earlier!

Other News:

• Jamie is off to Fuerteventura with his friends for a week in the autumn.
• Sarah, Lee, and Mia had a few days camping at Lindisfarne in the North East.