West Bay and Cerne Abbas

West Bay

Left Seadown to start heading slowly home. Stopped at West Bay (Broadchurch) for a last paddle and Rosemary bought some fresh mackerel to griddle for supper.

Cerne Abbas Giant

Then we went to medieval Cerne Abbas where there is a giant sculpture on the chalk hillside of a rampant naked warrior. Only 3 of these chalk 'mega-doodles' exist in the UK. The short walk to the village, which has a ruined abbey, was also very pleasant.

We are stopping in a CL near Chard tonite before trout fishing tomorrow. Weather forecast says rain tonite, if so, it will be first rain for 10 days.

Burton Bradstock

Decided to stop another night at the Seadown site, but had to change pitch due to hedge cutting. We went over the road to the big outdoor Charmouth market, the last one of the season apparently. I bought a new carpet and 4 butane cannisters for the van, all for £10.

just checking

Then we 'bus passed' it again to the nearby village of Burton Bradstock so that we could walk part of the Dorset cliff path. There just happened to be an excellent beach cafe, called the Hive, which for lunch did a fish pie almost as good as Rosemary's. The plaice was also very good.

We walked the walk, only about a mile over the cliffs and had a coffee in the Anchor Inn in the village before bussing back to Charmouth. I walked up the East hill to catch the sunset and we had a Mexican focaccia and salad for supper, purchased from the morning market.

Bridport and Sparrow Hawk

early morning looking towards Golden Cap

It was a nice misty morning, with the sun just breaking through, so Rosemary decided it would be a good idea for me to go to the beach and take some atmospheric photos. It was only 7:30am - but it was quite a good idea.

After a late breakfast we went to Bridport for some shopping at Waitrose. Unfortunately the winter bus timetable started today, only one bus every 2 hours, so we had to fill in a bit of time at a Costa again. We went to the beach for an hour before dinner to try (unsuccessfully) to find some fossils.

don't stare while I am eating

When we returned a sparrow hawk had just 'hit' a pigeon at the side of our van and was busy plucking it! Undeterred by us and our neighbours, it dragged the dead pigeon to the side of the hedge and spent the evening it. What a wildlife photo opportunity.

We had a tapas style meal later, with chicken wings!!!

Walk to Lyme Regis

getting some paces in

Walked along the beach at low tide but had to cross a big boulder field which I don't remember from last time. The winter storms have re-routed the river so maybe they moved a few boulders too. It was warm and dry but overcast today - OK for walking, its about 3 miles to Lyme Regis including wandering.

beach and Cobb at Lyme Regis

We wandered around the shops etc and found a place for fish and chip lunch near the famous Cobb. Rosemary bought a shopping bag and I bought some fudge. We caught the 5 o'clock bus back after a Costa coffee.

Sidmouth to Charmouth

As we were starting breakfast at 10:00am the lad who tows caravans to their pitches stopped by to tell us that we should have vacated our pitch by 9:45am! We rushed (not really) to nearby Sidmouth to find a Macmillan Coffee morning, which we did and to buy some steak to BBQ later.

Rosemary with Diane and Cliff

We were just walking back down the prom when we bumped into our next door neighbours Diane and Cliff with their dog Jake. What a surprise as neither of us knew we were in Devon!

Seadown Park entrance

Arrived in Charmouth mid afternoon and just got in to our favourite site, a short stroll from the Jurassic beach and the coastal bus route. More cloudy today than of late but still warm and dry enough to eat outside. We are here for at least 3 days.

Luxury site at Buddleigh Salterton

Ladnam bay beach and stacks

After a night at the CL we left for the Devon coast to stop at Ladnam Bay, a holiday park with everything. Restaurant, shop and entertainment including bingo! Enroute we stopped for a quick lunch at Otterton Mill, a working water mill with cafe serving local produce and bread made from their own flour.

The site is on a steep slope with terraced pitches. Relaxed in the sun for the afternoon after first going down to the beach which is mostly shingle, but has three impressive sandstone stacks just off shore and sandstone cliffs. Two evening meals in the restaurant were £10 - and not bad too.

Missed the bingo - yessss!

Paignton and Fishing

We have had 3 days/nights without mains power but the battery and gas has held up very well.

We left Totnes bound for a fishing CL near Cullompton. Detoured via Paignton where we were able to park on the harbour wall. We walked along the beach at low tide as far as the pier and watched seagulls digging holes in the sand to find food. So they don't just eat chips after all! Strolled the length of the pier and then shared fish and chips back at the harbour.

Arrived at the fishing location to find that it no longer offered fly fishing. So went to find Hollies Trout farm and fishery down some very steep and narrow roads.  May call again on way home. Returned to CL, had a couple of hours fishing on their silver fish lake and caught a nice mirror carp about 4lb.

It was very dark all around the site which made the stars really bright on a crystal clear starry night.

Totnes Steamer Quay

Elizabethan dancers in market

Spent the day in Totnes, an interesting small town with a long main street that starts at river level and is topped by a Normal castle ruin. Lots of nice shops and coffee stops on the way. The old guildhall was worth a visit and the Tuesday market is made special by Elizabethan costumed stall holders and dancing. 

Cruising to Dartmouth

A river boat makes a twice per day trip to Dartmouth from Steamer Quay where the CC site is located. In the main season this is a coal fired paddle steamer.

A guinea pig made regular visits to our pitch from the undergrowth between the camp-site and a row of houses behind the site. It seemed quite happy eating clover and our biscuits.

Sunshine and shorts in South Hams

Thurlstone Rock

Full sun again today and the shorts are on. We had a great breakfast at the Britstop farm shop cafe before we set off for the beach again.

Stopped briefly at Kingsbridge for coffee and cash machine, then went to Thurleston beach nearby. Rosemary collected some pebbles for doing a bit of beach art.

River Dart at Totnes

We are stopping 2 nights at Steamer Quay Totnes, an unusual site with no EHU - so a testing time for battery power.

Summer is back at Abbfest

military wives

Glorious sunny day from the start and we are on our way south. We Called in at Abbfest a long standing beer and food festival near Newton Abbot. we had a hog roast and I sampled some real ale. There were hundreds to choose from. We just made it in time to see the military wives choir perform a short concert.

Young beach fisherman

Then went on to Slapton Sands in South Devon and sat overlooking the beach where there were some beach fishermen. Actually saw mackerel and mullet caught from the beach. We stopped in a Britstop at a farm shop near Torr Cross overnight.

Birthday, Dulverton and Dunster

Dunster Castle

Dunster church and castle gardens

A rather dull start to the day. But it brightened up when I opened my birthday cards and presents. We went out to Dulverton which was also rather dul. Then on to the attractive village of Dunster with magnificent castle. There should have been fine views over the Bristol Channel but it was - well dull. Toured the castle, very fine place and then had tea in a nice tea shop in the village. Rosemary judged the ginger cake as the best she has ever had - praise indeed.


We returned to Exebridge and had a really good evening meal at the Anchor Inn. We shared mussels in cider and cream marinade to start, then I followed with Lobster risotto and Rosemary had the Portuguese fish stew. It was all washed down with a bargain bottle of NZ sauvignon blanc, but that's another story.

There was a hedgehog sitting in my coiled up EHU cable when we returned to the van! We also heard owls and saw grass snake on this site. Lots of wild life!

Thunderous start at Exebridge

Nicely landscaped coarse fishing lake

Awoke to crash of thunder and torrential rain. The good news is that the UK is still in one piece after yesterdays Scottish referendum.


It only rained for 3 hrs so plenty of time for fishing in the afternoon. I did not catch much but it was a relaxing afternoon in nice surroundings. Rosemary just kindled!

Last of the summer in the West Country?

Nice pitch looking down the Exe Valley

We are off to the the south west to (hopefully) catch some of the late English summer sunshine. We have booked a CC site in the Exe valley, in Somerset, that has a fishing lake and a gastro-pub for my birthday weekend. After that it depends on the weather.

We arrived at Exebridge Lakeside at 5:30pm. A very nice site with good fishing lake and nice walk to the riverside pub. Its hot and humid, the wardens say we need a storm.