Lazy, Hazy days of Summer

We had a real stay at home and do nothing day .......


......With a beautiful sea view outside, we decided we would take advantage of it and watch the view .... 


....so we saw the Ferry off on its travels .... Plymouth we think .....

......couldn't quite make out what this rather large ship was carrying ..... I guessed containers or trucks but PJ thought it couldn't be containers as they weren't stacked high enough!!.....


...don't think we'll ever know .....

.... some brave person found a hot air spiral, spending some time just sailing back and forth over the cliff top .....

...... there was a session of this ...... really was too hot for this type of work, the noise was awful but the sweet smell of cut grass was enjoyable ......


..... we spotted several small boats, different sail formations but very pretty as they sailed past ....




.... I managed to finish a few ATCs .... in between the crocheting....

.... and eating .... 
....and drinking ...... 
speaking of which ...... 

....PJ found a new wine glass while we were out yesterday so he spent the day reading his books and testing out his glass!!

Well wouldn't you??

Then, as we were trying to decide what to have for our evening meal .......
... the Ferry made its return journey past the window .......

..... we settled for the crab in a salad - easy when made with tomatoes and eggs brought from home.......




..... and as the sun set in the west ........... red sails ..... almost calls for a song .....

Torquay & wine & crabs!

We had hoped to visit our friend today but she has been taken poorly so our plans were changed.

We decided to go into Torquay and check out the charity shops there for books and wool.

As we had missed the bus and didn't want to wait for another hour, we decided to order a taxi and reach the ferry across the bay that little bit quicker.

Our journey was very smooth, and the boat docked a wee bit closer to the town so that was less distance to walk.  

As we walked round the harbour we noticed this big fella.......

We travelled up the hill to the shops at the top and slowly worked our way back down.  It was a fruitless journey so we decided to stop and have lunch, just a sandwich and takeaway coffee.  We stopped at Warrens Bakery, bought a pasty, sandwich and two coffees.  The staff were so friendly and PJ said the pasty was delicious and I can vouch for the sandwich!!!!

We continued our journey down the hill to the main road where the named shops lined the road.  PJ bought his books from Smith's and I popped into Poundland.  

Well, I had a lovely shock inside ....all the wool was reduced in price!!!  

Bearing in mind my little blankets .... I think it is time to stock up with wool!!!

I bought lots of balls of wool, several shades of pastel colours but my favourite was the white wool, it has just a sparkle in it of silver.

We sat outside at Shiraz which is right on the quayside, and had one or two drinks, then went inside for a meal.  
They serve ample portions of lovely food, no wonder they are so popular.

Web photo

While we sat outside, I ordered a fresh crab from the stand in the harbour, the lady dressed it and brought it across to our table in a cute brown paper carrier bag.  

Delicious!!  Can't wait to try it.

We travelled back to Brixham on the local bus, inside as my knee is still hurting a bit from all the standing and walking around on the Open Day, but we did find another two rhinos. 
I have some walking poles with me and, although they draw a few looks, they have helped me enormously.  I don't do the Nordic Walk but use them as one uses crutches, and then fold them up and put them away after use.  Marvellous things!  I have certainly walked up and down a few hills using them!!


After we came home we watched a film starring Maggie Smith.  I thought this was based on a very funny book I read some time ago but it was based on a different one, quite sombre in places but enjoyable.

We sat with the curtains open and the passing ships could be seen out at sea .... in the distance .... and as the day closed they changed to small lights bobbing out in the darkness ........

On the road again....

We started out with rain and it stayed with us all day .....
We transferred the chickens out to their hotel in the rain but were they bothered .... not at all!!
I felt quite let down as I thought they would create as they were put into their travel boxes .....silence!
I thought they would run around when they went into their Bird & Breakfast .... no! 
They just started scratting around and eating their food as though they were at home!!
Ah! Well!  We were off to the seaside so at least they were happy.
We came down here to visit friends but it also means we get to do a bit of sightseeing as well.

We travelled into the local town to buy a new jumper for PJ as I had shrunk his old one!!  After buying his jumper  we had a look round the shops and even managed to pick up a couple of crafting magazines from Harbour News - the best newsagents in town! (according to the owner!).  I noticed this building as we walked down the high street, haven't noticed this on our previous visits.

We didn't stay in town long as the sun shone and it became very warm ..... 

.........not good for me so we came back to the chalet and sat outside for awhile .......

We have a different chalet this year but it is the same beautiful view .....

......and the same old birds flying around.

As we are further along in the line of chalets this year we have access to this view of the bay, we often wondered why people stopped to look over the bushes just here!

....... another visitor flew round investigating the various tables and deckings outside.

We have met several folks this year, everyone seems much more friendly this year, our first day has been really pleasant. 

Along the South Coast visiting friends (late posting)

Friends moved down to this part of the country several years ago.  We went down to Devon to meet up and to explore.  
We met up with BS at their mobile home, just popped in to let them know we had arrived, then we arranged to meet up at The Dartbridge for an evening meal.



As the weather was so fine we met up outside and then decided to stay outside for our meal.  We had a great time - reminiscing, eating and laughing.  The time soon came for us to return to our campsite so we all said our goodbyes and agreed to meet up again in 2015.



We travelled into Totnes the next day and met up with our friend from the Flats.  She is in a new home now and took great pleasure in showing us around.  C has a lovely room, access to a really large community room and a bus every hour to take her into to town.... luxury!!


We wandered down into town to The Dartmouth, had a lovely Carvery meal.  We were just in time as the pans were cleared away not long after we were served!




The next day we went on the ferry across the bay to Torquay and had a wander round before we caught the bus back to Brixham.  This is the local open top tour bus  which fascinated PJ but we decided to save that until next year.

This is a post from 2014 which was not published.

Paignton and a trip home

From Torquay we caught the bus and travelled along the coast to Paignton.  Lots of great views but when we reached the bus station we had no idea in which direction to go.



We bought a coffee and asked directions and arrived at the beach although we did find the railway on route!




We sat on the promenade and watched the world go by, but it appeared to be a very tired town and we were certainly disappointed.  We window shopped on the way back to the bus and managed to find some small flags for PJ's pond - see later post!



The next day started well enough, we even managed to overtake this steam train - only us could find a steam train travelling along a motorway!!!





Then we hit traffic and this slowed us up considerably but we managed to arrive in Bristol only 30mins late to meet our friend. 
He was working on the railway (surprise! surprise!) so PJ chatted while I had 'a coffee and a cake' and chatted to a local business man.

  
We left about 16.00hrs and only hit one or two traffic jams on the way, thankfully, and arrived home to receive lots and lots of fuss from our moggy.

Totnes and Torquay

The whole point of our trip down to the South West of England was to visit our very good friend T'Other One, who moved down to be with her family, and this was our first visit to see her.  
We started out in dry but overcast weather, driving through Devon-shire countryside to her cottage, where we spent a wonderful 5 hours nattering ........ 
eating ....... 
computering .........
drinking and ......... 
catching up.  
During this time it started to rain, as we were rather occupied we didn't notice and it was quite a shock when we looked out and saw how wet it was!!!  
On the drive back to camp the skies opened up and we were a bit despondent when we arrived back but at least the rain had stopped.  We intended to go visit a few more places on the morrow but ........ all this rain ..........?!
The next day was cool and overcast but we decided we would go exploring anyhow, so off we went with woollies, macs and umbrellas!!!  The bus dropped us further into Brixham, just outside the ferry point so we thought - why not?!  We bought our ticket and walked round the quay watching the wildlife then the boat pulled in and off we went.  

See the blue boat on the right side - we were smaller than that............. it was a bit choppy out in the bay but we enjoyed it and soon landed at Torquay.






We docked just behind the shops and strolled round the marina into town.  While we were walking round I spotted this guy on the right -  he was 'walking' that boat along the quayside.......... (see the folks watching him) strolling along pulling the boat (down on the water) behind him .......... 






We went into several cafes to have 'a coffee and cake', several were a bit 'tired' and one actually tried to charge extra for coffees and, when we complained, were so rude!!!  We asked for our money back and came out in disgust (said cafe NOT in this photo of High Street).  
Little did she know that she had made it better for us because  ............ 


further along and set back a little was this pattisserie........... 




inside was pure heaven ......... and the cream tea was the cheapest we had seen advertised and was to die for........... served by the friendliest of staff, with attractive crockery ........ heart shaped plates and patterns on our coffee ........ oooh! doncha just love it!

Visiting here made our visit to Torquay and we would definitely recommend a visit to Serendipity, for service, value and a look at their patisserie counter ....................

Day out in Brixham

The country side round here abouts is so different to what I expected!  It is very hilly, so steep in places it's a wonder the bus can climb up.


We caught the local Stagecoach (doncha just looove that!!) bus into the town and then started walking.

We really didn't know what to expect and found it was a Harbour Town!!!



We managed to get our shopping at really good prices and I quite enjoyed myself.  There were the usual souvenir shops, teatowels, windmills, postcards ..... need a couple of those....rock.... need a couple of sticks of that ........ and then we were at the harbour.

There is a mock up of the Golden Hind among the fishing boats and yachts.

Prince William of Orange landed round here just before he became King.



We found the main street and completed our shopping and found a lovely cafe for coffee and cake (toasted teacake actually!)


Loved the art on the walls especially one mixed media one so I asked if I could take a photo - inspiration.

Corrugated cardboard and burlap used on lower left

on the middle - folded paper and a cotton bud dipped in gold paint!!! 

When we came out we found the bus stop opposite so that was just what we needed!

We're going to catch this Stagecoach soon...........