Okehampton at Christmas

We set off quite early in the morning, diving around the M25 and then shooting down the A303 (mostly)...I actually slept for quite a bit of the journey down with my head resting on a pillow against the window, until the rising sun forced me to a wakeful state...

...(that's actually a picture of the sunset but you get the idea) we stopped off to buy some water (and ready-mixed Ribena drink for Flyingpops) at a service station about half way down and then woke up a very sleepy Dawn (who had been working at the nightclub in town until the early hours) at about 9am by calling her mobile just as we were pulling into town...I'd never been to Oakhampton before and was quite keen to look around the place, so we dragged our luggage up to her flat which is located in this charming shopping arcade, dragged Dawn out of bed, quickly exchanged Christmas gifts -

- and then headed straight out for breakfast -

- not opting for the amusing credit crunch breakfast we passed on the way, but to a favourite little cafe of Dawn's down a little alleyway filled with shops (this town was actually *full* of little independent places, the only chains that seemed to be in evidence were the supermarkets) which made a refreshing change -

- the food was very reasonable (£6 for a full English), and actually extremely tasty, even the sausage (which can be a bit of a minefield in the breakfast stakes) -

- funnily enough, it turns out that it had recently been visited (well, the upstairs Bistro part, anyway) by Gordon Ramsay for an upcoming episode of Kitchen Nightmares (which was quite exciting), so we were quite confident the fridges and storage areas were sparklingly clean (if nothing else)...can't wait to watch the show (just hope it wasn't too nasty beforehand)! ;) Anyway, when we had finished that somehow Flyingpops still had room left for a pasty, so we stopped at a small bakery (and she bought what was called a "cocktail" pasty, which turned out to be just an extra small example -

- I was absolutely stuffed so I contented myself with sniffing in the apetising aroma...the rest of the day saw us explore more of the town (although all the interesting stuff (museum/castle/Dartmoor steam railway) was closed thanks to the time of year) so we contented ourselves with a lunchtime pint in the local pub (which had some very interesting windows) -

- a spot of shopping in the supermarkets, and then I cooked us all up a tasty roast dinner, filling the evening with some quality Wii and Xbox 360 time in Dawns front room...a very pleasant stay...

Devon Holiday - Day 3 (Dartmoor, Devonshire Cream Tea and Dartmeet)

So, on to day 3 - we cook up a nice breakfast and then (after the Grand Prix), headed off into Dartmoor -

...which is a serious climb uphill from Totnes, right the way to Becky Falls (which was closed thanks to an "accident")...

...so we reversed course past Hay Tor...

- climbing all the way until the 20 degree plunge to Widecombe-in-the-moor-

- where we stopped for traditional Devonshire Clotted Cream Tea (followed by ice cream with more clotted cream) -

- then, with the skies starting to threaten we took the tiny roads over to Princetown, the home of HM Prison Dartmoor -

- there were big signs saying "NO STOPPING - BY ORDER" and double yellow lines everywhere, so Al pulled up in the prison museum car park and we trotted down the road to get some shots of the imposing entrance...

- and I shot this one holding the camera over the wall -

- it was only when we got back that the owners of the campsite informed us that normally, if they see anyone taking a snap burley prison guards and police appear from nowhere and confiscate the camera equipment! Meep! Anyway, looks like we got away with it! Next stop was Dartmeet -

- which, because the weather wasn't great actually wasn't full of tourists for a change -

- so I hopped pretty much on my own over the rocks (carefully guarding my camera) which are normally heaving with screaming children -

- for supper we went to the pub just down from the campsite (but I'll talk about that in another post)...the evening was drinks in the awning as usual, punctuated only by another toilet trip, this time inturrupted by the (loud) shrieking of young girls from the shower block next door "'ere 'shell where are ya?", (mouth full of toothpaste) "mmm 'ooing my 'eeef", "Wot?", (louder) "mmm 'ooing my 'eeef!!!", "Why? You got crabs or summink?" (slight pause then sound of thrown object striking shower door) (crashing noise) (fading screams)...*fink raises his eyebrows and glances to heaven*...

Long Weekend ahead...(in the good sense)

Yes! Almost there, helped Flyingpops load the heavy bits into the car last night, we are off (very early) tomorrow to go camping just outside Totnes, with the aim of exploring a bit of Dartmoor (among other things)...Becky Falls and Spitchwick are on the list so far, any other suggestions welcome... ;) Got to find something indoor for Saturday by the looks of things, oo-er...!