SomersTownLisa

London Life
2022-05-24 16:37:07 (UTC)

South-west Holiday

Monday
As Jack took a long time and I didn’t want to cycle with the stuff on my back, we got the H&C line to Paddington, then the train to Totnes. We cycled up to the steam station and sat in the café until the train was due. We got this to Buckfastleigh and worked out we could cycle to Ivybridge, despite carrying all our clothes for the trip, and me riding my stiff-wheeled folding bike. I worked out we could head for a place called xx and we’d be going in the right direction, but after a while the sign ahead pointed to xx and Buckfastleigh.

We were going the right way however and stopped at South Brent which was a lovely small town, and when we got Ivybridge we got enough food for four days’ breakfast. I was determined to be in bed for 12, with a tiring week ahead and a Half Marathon on Sunday, but I didn’t get to sleep for ages.

Tuesday
We did a walk from Jack’s book, which went wrong early on when they said we had to turn left over the river when it was actually right, so we wasted time walking up a hill to the old mill and the community school. The first part of the walk was beautiful, though a narrow wood and along a river, though some parts were quite difficult as I was a bit cautious about my bad ankle. We came out of the woods and across some fields to a Tor but by now it was raining quite hard and my shoes were full of water. I hadn’t brought my wet-proof socks on holiday and left my rain trousers in the cottage, because we weren’t cycling. Before long we were soaked to the skin and I didn’t think we’d get to a road or a village for ages. However the instructions had been unclear and we’d gone off course, so we were able to shelter in a golf club where we had coffee, soup and enormous sweet flapjacks.

When the rain stopped we walked down to a bus stop and got a bus back to Ivybridge, just in time to get changed and see Operation Mincemeat, starring Colin Firth, about a British deception during the Second World War which allowed them to invade Sicily. It was nice just to have cosy tights and a warm dress on, after being soaked through for several hours. Although I’ve known this story for years, and we recently saw a play about it, there were some elements I was unaware of and some amusing parts, especially when the documents were discovered in Spain. The annoying part was a boring love triangle which has no truth in it. I slept a lot better.

Wednesday
We had to get up at 7:00 to be in time to go on an Explorer bus around Dartmoor. We first cycled up a hill to Ivybridge station and got a train to Exeter, then the bus to Moretonhampstead, though we were wondering at Exeter St Thomas’ whether the bus was coming. I’d wanted to get it at the bus station, though we later realised it also stopped at St David’s station where we’d got off the train. It was a picturesque journey, with a changing landscape of valleys, trees and hills.
We stopped for an hour at Moretonhampstead, which had an attractive old High Street, and got a coffee before continuing on the next bus to Postbridge, which was little more than a Post Office and a visitor centre. We had time to climb up to Bellever Tor, with 360 degree views around the countryside. We saw the Clapper Bridge before we got the next bus. We’d been able to leave our bikes in the visitor centre.

We next got off at Princetown which was quite unattractive. It was next to Dartmoor Prison, which I’d always imagined to be in a remote part of the moor, rather than by the side of a small town. We had a snack in the Fox Tor café, who did a vegan breakfast, before getting the bus onwards to Tavistock. We did a very quick bus change and travelled on to Plymouth. We walked around the Hoe and the Barbican but it was raining again. They wouldn’t let me rest my bike in a space in TK Max, where I wanted to get a scarf, and a café wanted Jack to leave his Brompton outside. When we did go in a café bar, they made us leave our bikes by the open front door.

We cycled quickly to the station to get a train, but because Armada Way wasn’t labelled, we missed our turning and didn’t get the train, but we caught a bus back to Ivybridge and could have cut back to the cottage but the bridges over the river were closed.

Thursday
Train to Exeter, bus to Okehampton, another to Whiddon Down, then cycled to Mill End Hotel, with its many inner doors and turnings, where we sat by the river in the sun with a tea (me) and a cola (Jack). We’d done most of the uphills on the bus, so the cycling was more down than up, the scenery was beautiful and the weather was lovely. Chagford is quite large with a Co-op but several attractive streets. It even had a vegan café that was closed on Thursdays. The (last) bus sped back to Exeter and we got the train back to Ivybridge. We were offered free sandwiches on the train, which happened to be vegan.

Friday
Didn’t know what we’d be doing but Jack wanted to go to Dawlish, and get off the train just where it skirts the coast. We had a coffee sitting by the beach then got the train on to Teignmouth where we got lunch at a vegan café, ‘Nourish’. We cycled to Starcross along the sea, at all the places we’ve seen several times from the train. Finally we got a train to Exmouth, quite a mundane journey except when we got to the marshes near the terminus. We had a quick ride round Exmouth before getting the train back to Exeter, where we picked up the train back to London.




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