Day 4 - South Devon

Starting the day with another good breakfast with the family, and yes - Bobsy, we planned an explore around South Devon he headed for the seaside town of Salcombe.

After only a 45 minutes drive We approached Salcombe by driving down a steep cliff. The town itself is situated on the Kingsbury Estuary and seems to be a very popular sailing location. It was a glorious sunny morning and the views across the Estuary were stunning (another panorama here).

We squeezed the car through some narrow street and were lucky enough to find a good car park. Walking back to the water's edge we explored the many jetties. As a large marina there were lots of small boats used to ferry out to the yachts that seemed to be piled up against moorings. James particularly liked the red ones!

There was a real holiday feel about the place. People out and about. And a good selection of shops and restaurants - something that was lacking in most other places we'd visited to date. A children's clothes shop caught Merrilyn's eye so we split - with James and I heading back to the Estuary to watch the kids fishing. I'm not sure whether its an English thing but at a few places near the water we found that families were dangling newly purchased lines (you know the ones - basically plastic reels with black line, a sinker, and a hook) with a lump of meat/bread on the end. Mostly wishful thinking. Although the shops selling the kit were probably doing well. You could even buy the things at souvenir shops!

Merrilyn was soon back wanting James to try on a nautical top. Five minutes later he was out with new t-shirt in hand!

From Salcombe we headed north east to Torcoss. On the map it looked like a beach. In reality it was another pebble beach. Although the town itself was lovely. We all walked onto the pebbles and James, bucket in hand, set about scooping pebbles as if it were sand.

It was getting on to lunch time so we found a pub with outdoor tables right by the sea. Merrilyn and I ordered Ploughman's and James had some sausage. It was probably the best lunch I've had to date. For about £5.50 each we had an enormous plate of food; a hefty chunk of bread, cheese, tasty relish, ham, and salad. We tucked into it and enjoyed the sunshine. I can even recommend the local ale - Otter!

After lunch James and I walked into the waters of the English Channel. A little cold so we lasted only about 5 minutes.

Moving north we headed for Dartmouth. First stop on arrival was Dartmouth Castle. Its located at the strategic entrance to the Dart river. Its apparently the first purpose-built artillery fortress in Britain built in the 14th century. Over time there were a number of defensive additions, such as a range of cannon together with an iron chain that can be pulled from the river bed rising above the water to trap inbound boats. Once trapped, the cannon open fire.

James was absolutely taken by the cannon. He pretended to be a little cannon; loading himself with cannon balls and shouting "BOOM!". Leaving the castle I put him on my shoulders and he set about firing himself at unsuspecting people passing by. Very cute!

Finishing up about 3pm we decided to head for home via the vehicle ferry that crosses the Dart landing at Kingswear opposite Dartmouth. Its only about a 3 minute trip and James was disappointed we couldn't keep going. A tug is used alongside the ferry to get us from one side to the other.

The journey home took about 4 hours - there was heavy congestion approaching Slough on the M4. Not particularlyunusuall for a Sunday evening especially if the M25 has a few problems. James was so exhausted he slept the whole way home.