roemin around

typical Burford inn Fed the goats at the Britstop with corn cakes and set off for the final leg home via the Cotswolds, should have been sunny but turned out very overcast. First stopped at a trout fishery near Lechlade for a look round (its too expensive), then Burford for a browse on the picturesque high street. Finally Batsford for a lunch stop where the garden centre at the side of the Arboretum has a nice terrace cafe. Wait(rose)ing for the shopping to end Decided to go through Stratford upon Avon so that Rosemary could do a shop at Waitrose and got held up for about an hour in very slow moving traffic on the Warwick bypass, due to the road works where the A45 and A46 junction is being reconstructed. Did not get home until 5:30pm. Rosemary cooked the trout for dinner  - which was epic! Total miles about 750, 2 nights in CL's, 2 nights at Britstops, 6 nights in CC main sites and 5 nights in commercial sites.

Coleridges's home for 3 years We stopped at the CC site at Exebridge again last night so we  gutted the trout before we left and will cook it on Friday, when we are home. Nice morning so I drove cross country past Wimbleball Lake to Coleridge's Cottage, (NT) near Bridgewater. We had a Poets Lunch, Cheese scone, Somerset cheddar cheese and chutney. Its October and I have still got my shorts on! Stopping overnight at Britstop 60 just a few miles south of Swindon. We will have dinner in the White Horse Inn as its the last night of our holiday. Home tomorrow :-(

Focussed Left the CL in Chard and drove back into Devon to return to Exebridge to do some fishing. There is still no rain, despite forecast, so spent (it was quite expensive) an afternoon at Exebridge Trout lake and finally caught a fish to cook. The fly fishing is not good at the moment because the water is too warm at the surface and the fish mostly stay in the deeper cooler water. No one was catching anything! After a couple of hours I finally caught a nice rainbow trout weighing about 2lb - just right for the table. Hunter/gatherer with 2lb rainbow trout I was so focused on fishing that Rosemary had to take all the days photos and she forgot to take of picture of the trout. Here it is back on site.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.