I Want One !!!

So we were sitting there – eating a (small) bit of tea – after our enormous fish dinner and we noticed this flashing flagpole !!!
When we looked around – ALL the tents and caravans seemed to have one – a bit like the things lightey-up speaker that we have – you can choose an individual colour or go for the rainbow 🌈 effect – like this…

RainbowCaravanPole

🌴 Torquay – The REAL English Riviera 🌴

Had a lay-in, showered (in The Van with the bleedin’ shower blocks being closed 😡 it should be a reduced 💰 rate – don’t get me started !!!) and had brekky outside in the glorious Devon sunshine ☀️ 

Got on the bike and today ventured to Torquay – which is the REAL English Riviera !!!  Truly – today – with the temperatures and the surroundings – I felt like I was in Europe 🇫🇷 – not the UK 🇬🇧 

So we parked the bike, I took off my leggings & fleece (needed for the bike) and we wandered along the Victorian harbour side – it was idyllic 😊 Children catching crabs, adults and children fishing, and some wonderful street music – a guy on a small square electric guitar and another on a didgeridoo – it was tremendous and I was bopping along 💃 

Lunch was in a fish & chip restaurant in a prestigious position on the front – so fish & chips twice and 2 ciders cost £42-something (Aunty Et will be turning in her grave) but it was SO worth it – best fish & chips EVER and lashings of tartare sauce & mushy peas. Dave (just about) managed it but I left a few chips & peas – YUM 🤤 (bang goes tonight’s BBQ – we can’t manage it !!!)

I wanted us to go on the “Torquay Eye” but Dave wouldn’t 😐 (if I  had been truly fussed, I would have gone on my own)…

Then we went on the Land Train (which you COULD apparently “hop on and hop off” but – in true English style – we hopped on at 3:45pm and were duly informed it was the last loop of the day !!!)  Ah well, you win some, you lose some !!!

Bibbed back, got a few rays in (Dave said he felt like he’d had a bit too much soon but I gave him a squash and some paracetamol and he’s playing his sax (beautifully) as we speak…

So for now – “That’s all folks !!!” Xxx 💋💖 

Wednesday – All’s Well That Ends Well 😊

As well as popping an iPhone with Google Maps on the motor home dashboard, Dave has a £300+ Garmin sat nav (supposedly for caravans & motor homes) so we keep that going too so that it avoids narrow (lairy) roads.
However, as we approached our campsite for our Torbay stretch, even Dave commented, “This isn’t right” as the road got tighter and tighter. I re-input the destination into the Garmin and it said we were on the right road but it was awful, scraping the hedge on both sides and suddenly a 4×4 came towards us from the bottom of the hill – head-on…
We’d passed a driveway not far back, so Dave started reversing back up the hill but the wing mirror cover popped off and fell into the road and Dave (curtly) told me to retrieve it. There was no way he could get into the driveway so the guy in the 4×4 motioned for Dave to reverse further up the hill and then the 4×4 guy would go into the driveway whilst we drove down the hill – STRESS !!!
We finally arrived and Reception and the shower blocks were closed due to COVID (!!!) then we saw our name & pitch no on a board and were on a bit of a slope but Dave got the ramps out and all good. After a cup of tea, we decided to bib to Paignton on the (motor) bike (I didn’t fancy my chances on roads on the push bikes) about 20 minutes away.
We both have pleasant childhood memories of Paignton but what a difference 45 years makes 😐 Run-down, chav-ey, full of amusements and fun fairs and sadly, not a quaint bone in it’s body…
We had a walk on The Pier (for the LOLS as Holly would say), had an ice-cream sitting on the beach wall and made a hasty retreat…
Had a FAB BBQ and listened to “da tunes” drinking lemon G & T’s (me) and red wine (Dave) until gone 10pm = then snuggled up with a hot drink & a bun watching Corro ( like a couple of old people ) 😂😂😂

So close…

So we leisurely packed up and then headed in the direction of Devon via The Boddinick Ferry in Fowey to cross the estuary (having rung in advance to ensure It could take motor homes).
The lanes got really narrow & lairy and we kept having to pull over and drive into the hedges (Dave was fine and he was driving – it’s me that stresses) but we eventually arrived at the ferry – which was really picturesque (see below)…
I took some piccies whilst we waited for the ferry and chatted to a nice local man originally from Sheffield and then the ferry arrived…
There was another nice (ferry) man who brought the ramp in really close and tried to direct us on but the tow bar hit the ground and the back wheels of the motor home were off the ground and Dave thus had to reverse back off – which was great entertainment for all the foot passengers waiting to board !!! My Dave (as usual) took it all in his stride and chatted to them all out of the window as he carried out his manoeuvres !!!
We then had to drive BACK up the narrow, lairy lanes and go the long way around the outside of the estuary…
… where we encountered a toll bridge anyway and My Dave was not impressed that because he had the bike on the back, they charged us £4.90 instead of £2 😐

What A Busy Day !!!

Tuesday dawned beautifully sunny so we bibbed into the tourist town of Perranporth on the bike and had a little look around the tat shops then wandered down to the beach.
We bought a steak Cornish pasty (and a dinky half-size one for me called the “Pixie Pasty” and (cheekily) took them and our takeaway teas to the care home over the road and sat on one of the old dear’s benches to consume them !
Then I had booked us in at Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm (the home of Rattler’s Cider) and for the bargain price of £8 p/p we were presented with an annual pass and a ticket for a free drink !!!
We saw the old presses and the museum had videos to explain the process. Then through to the distillery where we learnt about colouring and ageing & you could try samples.
There was also a farm with cute goats, piggies and peacocks then we had a sit in the courtyard and drank out free pint of Rattler’s in the sunshine ☀️
Sadly we didn’t have room in the top box for a pallet of Rattler’s (see piccie below) so had to make do with a glass for Marcus – but when I checked later, it’s cheaper in Sainsbury’s anyway !!!
We then headed back to Rich’s, packed up and said our goodbyes and headed off…
We originally were going to visit The Eden Project so had booked a campsite 5 minutes from there for convenience – but in the end we didn’t go – however we were delighted to arrive and be given a cracking spot overlooking the sea 😊
Little sit in the sun, Dave on the sax whilst I made tea then a couple of glasses of wine whilst we watched Corro and an episode of The Crown before tucking up just gone 10pm 😴 💤

St Michael’s Mount

So it was SUPPOSED to chuck it down ( ☔️ ) ALL day but – after it cleared (a little) we popped on the bike early afternoon and went to explore…
The only thing (REALLY) worth a mention is St Michael’s Mount – which looked lovely (if a little misty) but was inaccessible – due to lack of booking – and also completely full car parks… So we had a very late lunch/early dinner in a pub then came back to warm up…

My Dave practised then the sax whilst I updated the blog and then we had a few drinks & a chat with Rich & his housemates – so another lovely evening 😊

Sunday Lunch & New Friends 💗

Sunday dawned just gone 5am to the sound of the cockerel 🐓 but we snuggled back down & didn’t re-surface until gone 9am…
Gutted 😐 that the WIFI didn’t let me attend online Mass 🙏 but in the end was probably just as well as we were bundled off in a Range Rover to the pub (my first since Lockdown !!!)
Table for 11, a fantastic roast dinner followed by a sit in the garden of another pub for the afternoon, sipping Thatcher’s Gold and chatting to Rich’s lovely friends…
Came back, more G & T’s in the kitchen and chatting whilst Rich magically conjured up toad-in-the-hole, chips & beans In record time !!!
A little bob in the hot tub with a glass of bubbles finished the day off nicely and was tucked up by 10pm… 😴 💤

Arrival at Penhallow House, St Newlyn East

So we arrived at St Newlyn East, Cornwall – home of Richard – about 5:30pm Saturday, had a cup of tea and then wandered around the grounds complete with hens, cockerel, summer house, Lazy Spa (blow-up hot tub like our’s), vegetable patch, water source and well – then got started on the G & T’s…

Richard had some other peeps staying, also invited some locals over and was ever “hostess-with-the-mostest” dishing up canapés, cocktails, “posh” fish/chicken and chips AND 2 desserts !!!

The conversation flowed – as did the alcohol, then came the singing and My Dave can’t remember going to bed !!!

As an aside – Louis (Richard’s 8 year old french bulldog) who seemed to be my friend – later in the evening when I tried to pick him up – decide to bite me – ouch !!!

On Us Way At Last !!!

So here we are (not on a cruise ship 🛳 to Bilbao but) on the rainy ☔️ M5 on the way to Richard’s just outside Newquay in Cornwall for a couple of days…
Stopped at the services and Dave sent me in for a Double Whopper With Cheese but I came out with a BLT from WH Smith as Burger 🍔 King was closed 😐
Got the electric bikes 🚲 AND the KTM 690 🏍 on the back so will be popping off for adventures !!!
Weather dodgy initially but should clear up for Torbay on Wednesday & the Isle of Wight the week after.
More later 💋💗