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.

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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.

Dartmoor - Day II

Last night we walked from our B&B, The Tor Royal Farm, to the Plume of Feathers pub and drank one and a half pints each of the local Jail Ale. That helped erase the nightmare of our first day of driving. We started driving again today.  We found that it wasn't quite so bad, even when driving down one track, two way roads.

We drove to the charming town of Widecombe-in-the-Moor.

Ponies on the village square.

St Pancras Cemetery, outside the church door.

St Pancras.

Grocery shopping for vegetables.

Grocery shopping for eggs.

Thatched roofs.

Next we drove, mostly on two lane roads, to the larger town of Tavistock where we enjoyed lunch at the Panier Market.

Lunch at the Panier Market in Tavistock is kind of like eating at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia

Walking to and from the car park in Tavistock was charming.

After poking around the market, we drove to Merrivale, where we hiked on the moor, just like Cathy and Heathcliffe from Wuthering Heights.  We found a stone circle, stone rows, cairns, tors, standing stones and Tavistock Asburton stones.  The earliest stones are dated from c2500-1500bc.  I found it amazing that we could just wander around among this history with no signage and no restrictions.

Tavistock Ashburton stone.  The A means that I am facing toward Ashburton. Tavistock is behind me and there is a T on the back of the stone.

Standing stone.

Stone Circle.

Stone rows.

We finished off our day with a hike back to the pub, Plume of Feathers.  This time we turned last night's one half mile walk into at least a 5 mile walk by hiking there on the moor.  Naturally, we were unprepared for such a walk, and ended up lost and walking through the driving rain.  Fortunately, we found the pub before nightfall.  Tonight, one pint each of Jail Ale was all we needed to go with our chicken pot pie.

Tomorrow, we drive to the coast - Dartmouth.

Dartmoor - Day I

This place looks idyllic and peaceful.

But it's a real nightmare:

• driving on the left side of roads
• manual transmission
• one track roads
• 2 way traffic on one track roads
• hedges or rock walls on both side of one track roads

I wonder if we'll drive tomorrow, or just walk?