Dad's Devon

With the oldies over from New Zealand we took the opportunity to take a wee trip down the coast an old tramping ground for some. With Mum off with old teacher friends we had Dad all to ourselves who became our personal tour guide for the weekend.  We left on the Friday, Tom and I a bit dazed from the week of work and Dad behind the wheel heading for the M4.

After a frustrating wait in the queues getting out of London for Tom and Dad (I however had my head in the third Harry Potter book - with obsessive reading). We had a quick stop along the way for naughty KFC (sadly not as good as home) and arrived in a little town called Mere to our very posh Bed and Breakfast - Castleton a little after 10pm. We hit the sack after a nice cuppa to recharge the batteries.

Breakfast did not disappoint, Tom braved the egg bennie and it definitely paid off and Dad went for the whole English lot. Still full from the burger the night before (a bit of a worry) I stuck to simple good old Muesli organic style followed by fresh bread and croissants. With food in the tum we took to the roads towards Dartmoor National Park for the green rolling hills, wild horses and a drop of thunder and rain for added excitement. We stopped off at Buckfast Abby for a short hale shower followed by a devonshire tea (scones with clotted cream & Jam) YUM.

We continued on and drove past an Ultra Marathon (34 miles - 54 km) which finished in Princetown, which has a very depressingly notorious Dartmoor Prison and on the humorous side a brewery producing none other than Jail Ale.

As we got higher and deeper in the Park the weather started to clear in the direction we were heading we saw lots of horses and strange looking sheep with black heads and feet!, not to mention the amazing stone walls still standing after centuries. Tavistock was the next town we met for the best Cornish Pasty I have ever had to date. Followed by a spot of sun in the local park.

After we booked a Farm B&B for the night, we dropped off our gear and headed to the Dartmoor Inn after missing out on the Elephants Nest (not a sentence you would normally see) in Lydford. A pricey affair but well worth it with five star service. After a few Jail Ales we hit the hay not in the barn but next door.

Woken by a moo from a friendly neighbour we broke for breakfast. Cooked for the boys and cornflakes and toast for the girl. The sun was shining, quite a contrast from the day before so we headed for the coast for some Beer. Had a few stops to meet with the horses which Tom continued to 'feed' them grass and had a near miss with some very large teeth. Driving through little villages with thatched roofs reminded us we were still in England - because the weather was so good it just couldn't be.

We stopped in Beer - sorry it is a place not a drink this time! which had a cute wee stream running next to the footpath to the sea. Picked up a few homemade sammies and sat on the beach wishing for some togs. The last stop was of course Seaton were Dad was born and lived as a child. After a few drive byes Dad spotted the house named Trail on Scalwell Lane. Followed by a quick stop to his old local field of dreams were he started his football career. While taking a few loops of the little town centre we spotted the cute tram that runs from Colyfod to Seaton which looked almost like an oversized toy train set.

After a great sunny weekend road trip we headed back to London only to hit more unwanted traffic on the way in! Harry served me well once again during the hard times and we managed to get back for dinner with rest of the Whanau. Thanks Dad!

G