Cornwall Lost. Devon Found

Our original plan, after leaving Dartmoor, was to make our headquarters in the village of Dartmouth,  a harbor town that hangs on the hills dropping down to the River Dart.  It's on the edge of Devon, and on the way to Cornwall.  We assumed that it would be easy for us to explore the coast line, driving west to go in and out of the Cornwall villages that we've seen on so many BBC shows.

Reality struck, however, during our drive from Princetown in Dartmoor, to the coast.  The quality of the drive convinced us that we needed to get into our parking spot in Dartmouth and abandon the car until we leave for Jersey.

Dartmouth is on the mouth of the River Dart.  It is a smallish village that rambles down to the river.  Once we parked the car, we were able to walk every where.

This is the road leading from our B&B to the center of Dartmouth.

There are lots of little alleys and stairways leading off the streets going down to town.

Dartmouth Harbor is very picturesque.

.

It was a beautiful day for a ride up the River Dart on the Christie Bell to visit Agatha Christie's summer home and garden.

Now that I've seen this house, I want to reread some of Agatha Christie's mysteries. She used this house and grounds for some of her settings.

Agatha wrote all over the place.  However, I liked the look of this little corner in her Fax Room.

We rang the bell at the ferry dock at Agatha's to catch the ferry to Dittisham.

Here's the ferry.  It's looks more like a large row boat.

We mooched about Dittisham.

The tide was out.

Thatched roof.

All in all, we have decided that Devon is lovely.  Although we would love to visit Cornwall, we think we can appreciate that area just as well, if not better, watching the British shows from the comfort of our own home.

Keep Calm and yada, yada, yada

We are off the moors, and back into civilization.  This means that driving should be easier.  Right?  Well, the answer is no.  Now there are more cars, higher speeds, and the same narrow roads.  More differences are curbs, round abouts, and large vehicles.

We're trying to keep calm, but it's challenging. It's hard to make a cuppa while driving.

Two annoyances have occurred today:

• We learned, after being unable to get cash from Barclay's Bank with our Bank of America debit card, that our card was compromised last week and the bank cancelled our card.  That's good.  But, why didn't they send us an email, or phone us, to let us know that we no longer have a cash card?  We had to suss this information out by calling the bank's emergency number - on our long distance nickle.  As it turns out, they can't accept collect calls from mobile phones.  Where does a person find a land line in this day and age?
• Tyre got a puncture.  We just spent several hours waiting for the British version of AAA to come change the tyre.

Where are we?  In Dartmouth.  No more driving until we go back to Exeter on Monday. This is why:

This is the road that we walked down to get to the Dartmouth town center from our B&B.  In addition to people walking, cars go up and down this street.