We took Ollie out for a run along the beach this morning, then dropped him back to the cottage and drove up to visit The Eden Project.
Managed to eek our trip out a bit by stopping for a pasty and cup of tea in the cafe and watching a cider pressing demonstration, but couldn't have spent more than half a day there really.
Stopped off at the shops on the way home to stock up on Rodda's and strawberry jam for a late-afternoon cream tea :)
By the time we walked back to Gorran Haven it was only 1.30pm, so we decided to drive to Bodmin for a mooch and a coffee.
Not a great deal to write home about to be honest and Ollie's annoyance at having to walk around the town was evident.
We went south of Mevagissey this morning, with the intention of stopping at Portmellon, but the tide was in and there was no beach and not a lot going on, so we continued on to Gorran Haven.
Picked up the coastal path to Vault Beach, where Ollie played in the water and we ate our packed lunch.
Although a nudist had set up camp on the otherwise deserted stretch, complete with palm tree and deckchair. We averted our eyes and made our way to the other end of the beach!
After dropping Ollie off at the cottage we drove over to The Lost Gardens of Heligan, just inland from Mevagissey.
Not quite sure how they can say you could spend 2 days walking round, but we managed a few hours.
This pic's of Mum and Dad at the 'jungle' area.
Mum and Dad joined us yesterday evening to spend a few days in Cornwall.
We headed for Par Sands at the top of St Austell Bay this morning, so we could take Ollie for a run on the beach.
On the way back to the cottage we stopped off at Charlestown for a coffee and a pasty - the photo's of me and Dad at the harbour.
After a quick stop at the local supermarket for some supplies we went back to the cottage for a cuppa and then stepped out for a walk down to Porthpean beach.
No dogs allowed until 1st October, but we found a nice cliff walk where we could take in some views of St Austell Bay.
We drove a mile or so down the coast this morning and parked up in Pentewan for a walk along the cliff tops.
Then we headed a bit further south and stopped at Mevagissey for a stroll round the harbour and some lunch. To be honest, our days seem to follow the same routine at the moment - walk, tour round a harbour/town, then eat!
We arrived at last at our week two cottage at around 4.30pm today :)
We drove a few miles around the coast after our jaunt in Looe and parked up in Polperro (which seemed to have the biggest car park in the world!).
A quaint Cornish town so we took a walk to the harbour then stopped for a late lunch.
We left South Devon and crossed the border to spend this morning in Looe.
We did the usual 'walk about the town' and stopped for a coffee, then we found a little dog friendly cove where Ollie had a quick dip in the sea.
After lunch we drove down to Torquay town centre and had a walk around the marina and watched a few people catching mackerel off the harbour wall.
We then sauntered through Princess gardens near the Pavillion and stopped for a coffee to watch all the boats.
We went over to Torquay this morning and walked along the cliff top at Babbacombe.
We then picked up the coastal path for a couple of miles to catch this lovely view of Anstey's Cove.
Feeling a bit hungry, we then drove back up the length of Start Bay, past the lovely looking Blackpools Sands beach (no dogs allowed though), and parked up in Dartmouth.
Had a little mooch about the town, a spot of lunch and a walk along the harbour, where we took this shot of the view across to Kingswear.
The sun was shining when we got up this morning, so we headed to Start Bay. Parked up at Slapton Sands (would be better named Slapton Shingle!), which the army used to practice the D-Day landing.
We walked the length of the beach to Torcross, stopped for a quick cup of tea and then walked back to the car park along the nature reserve.
It was raining when we woke up today, so Ollie and I decided Wednesdays would be our day of rest. We got a bit bored by 10.30am though so headed out to the moors via the footpath next to our cottage.
Now for those of you that know my dog you'll know that:
1) he's not exactly good with horses
2) he's not great with live stock either
3) he doesn't like men carrying bags
4) he likes chasing balls
So I was a little perturbed to find that after only 5 minutes the 'footpath to the moors' actually turned into a trek across an 18 hole golf course stuck in the middle of Dartmoor.
Sheep and wild horses everywhere with golf balls flying overhead, a monsoon and a woman with a mad spaniel trying to navigate the footpath which had disappeared somewhere around the 8th hole. Ridiculous.
We lasted barely an hour before we (well me really, Ollie was having a whale of a time) gave up and headed into Ivybridge to get some supplies.
Bottle of wine and a face pack and we're ready for an evening of Midsomer Murders :)
Today was the first chance to get into the sea since we arrived in Devon and Ollie ran straight for the water!
Feeling a bit hungry, we head out of Thurlestone and over to Bigbury on Sea, for a closer look at Burgh Island. Unfortunately, high tide was earlier this morning so we couldn't take a ride on the sea tractor :(
So we walked instead and made it to the other side for a spot of lunch at The Pilchard Inn, which sits just beneath the Burgh Island Hotel, overlooking Bigbury Bay.
Indulged in a bit of Jeremy Kyle this morning, then took Ollie out to Thurlestone Sands for a walk along the beach.
Then we hiked a few miles along the south west coastal path over the headlands towards Bantham, where we clocked this view of Burgh Island.
After stopping for lunch at Widecombe-in-the-Moor, we headed to Buckfastleigh to catch the South Devon steam train to Totnes.
All very oldy-worldy and gave me and Ollie a chance for a sit down for half an hour.
Although not much doing in Totnes to be honest. A nice walk along the River Dart, but the pavements in town are so narrow that it was impossible to walk a dog up the high street. So we dived into a local pub and had a lovely pint of Otter ale instead.
We did finally make it to Haytor Rock this morning, which is really just a big lump of rock, but it gave us something to walk to and offered some lovely views.
Then on to Hound Tor, but to be honest, it was much of the same so no need for another picture here.
Quite frankly, it's just not worth trying to get into Dartmoor from the south in any place other than Bovey Tracey, which seems to be the gatekeeper to the moors.
The roads are like cycle tracks
The signage is practically non-existent
And when you do start thinking you're getting somewhere it seems all roads lead back to the A38
Fancied a spot of lunch after Salcombe, so headed to Newton Ferrers as there's been much talk about this town at my local pub.
Unfortunately Ollie did a Harry Houdini and managed to escape from his seatbelt harness and started jumping around the car trying to get some air (granted, the Xoot mobile was like a greenhouse) which didn't make the journey particularly easy!
Arrived at 1pm though and had a pub lunch overlooking the harbour, then navigated the walkways in the mud flats to see more of the town.
Spent a lovely morning in Salcombe today. Although navigating myself round the town was a bit tricky considering I'm relying on a dog as a co-pilot and an old OS map with a ridiculous scale.
But the sun came out and found a lovely walk at Snape's Point that overlooks Salcombe.
Before I left, quite a few people asked me "Aren't you going to get a bit lonely being on your own for 3 and a half weeks?". "Course not I said, Ollie is such great company it'll be great."
Cue a 200 mile journey this afternoon, where the dog slept for 160 of them and seemed immume to my exclamations of "ooo, there's stonehenge Ollie" and "look at that field of big cows", and turned his nose up at my choice of CD (granted, I had it on continuous play for 2.5 hours).
But now we've arrived in Devon and the cottage is lovely, multi-channel TV is at the ready and we're settling down to a bowl of doritos and a glass of wine/ bowl of water. Life seems very simple this evening.
Not a huge fan of travelling abroad, here are my top five reasons for spending your sabbatical in Great Britain:
1. no spending mind-numbing hours waiting in an airport
2. no sitting on a plane getting cramps in your legs
3. no having to arrange pet passports and extra insurance
4. no foreign currency or calling your bank to explain your card hasn't in fact been stolen
5. why bother? I live in the best island in the world
We went south of Mevagissey this morning, with the intention of stopping at Portmellon, but the tide was in and there was no beach and not a lot going on, so we continued on to Gorran Haven.
The sun was shining when we got up this morning, so we headed to Start Bay. Parked up at Slapton Sands (would be better named Slapton Shingle!), which the army used to practice the D-Day landing.
It was raining when we woke up today, so Ollie and I decided Wednesdays would be our day of rest. We got a bit bored by 10.30am though so headed out to the moors via the footpath next to our cottage.
Feeling a bit hungry, we head out of Thurlestone and over to Bigbury on Sea, for a closer look at Burgh Island. Unfortunately, high tide was earlier this morning so we couldn't take a ride on the sea tractor :(
Fancied a spot of lunch after Salcombe, so headed to Newton Ferrers as there's been much talk about this town at my local pub.
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