We had a 4 day weekend for Easter, and I decided I needed a relaxing time, so I spent the weekend in Devon, at my parents' home.
It didn't start too well, as apparently the entire population of Britain decided to spend the long weekend in Devon, so the drive down was slow, dark and windy, finishing with following a very nervous caravan-driver, who did't get above 25 mph.!
However, once I arrived,things improved. Living alone as I do, it is always nice to be a guest and to have someone else doing the cooking!
Friday was forecast to have the best weather of the long weekend, so we decided to make the most of it.
We went to Heddon Valley, and took a 6 mile circular walk to Woody Bay, where the outward leg is mainly along the coast, with spectacular views, and the return leg slightly inland, among woods and gorse.
It was a beautiful bright, sunny day. In fact, so sunny that we even spotted a rather lovely little lizard.
(I assume it is a Common Lizard, as apparently the only other sort you get in this country are Sand Lizards, which are extremely rare, so it's unlikely to be one of them!)
The trees were still mainly bare, but looked wonderful in the sunshine!
And we felt we had earned the ice creams we indulged in at the end of the walk!
On the way home we did a detour to Coombe Martin in order for me to go and look at the sea close up (I decided not to paddle. It was a sunny day, but it's still only March!)
Saturday was extremely wet, so we stayed home, and indulged in the traditional family pastime of being sociable by all sitting silently in the same room while we read! And eating, obviously.
Sunday was supposed to be wet with sunny intervals, but turned out instead to be sunny with showers, so we were able to go out again - this time to Baggy Point.
Although it wasn't as wet as predicted, it was *very* windy
It's a shame we hadn't thought to bring a kite!
We started with a steep climb up the hill, then a walk along the cliff path. The wind meant that the waves were big, and even up on the cliff there was lots of salty spray.
And, of course, at the point when we were furthest from the car (or indeed any other sort of shelter!) the sky turned grey and the heavens opened.
The rain was icy cold and this was the point at which I realised that *my* waterproofs were still in the back of *my* car, back at the house... So I got rather damp. But we huddled in a slightly sheltered dip in the ground and ate mini easter eggs until the worst of the rain passed. And then walked back briskly enough to stay warm and start to dry off!
Then, after a quick picnic in the car, looking out over the sea (except for when we had another shower, when it felt more like being under the sea, watching the water sleet down the windows) we walked down to the shore for a short stroll along the beach, which was looking beautiful, particularly when the sun came out.
It was a lovely, relaxing weekend. I had an equally slow journey home on Monday. (And then immediately came down with a nasty bug, which rather took the shine off the following week, but perhaps it would have been worse had I not just had such a relaxing weekend!
2 comments:
Gorgeous photos. Devon is a part of England I never got to explore when I lived there. It is clearly very beautiful. Sorry you've ended up sick. Might have something to do with getting caught and chilled in an icy rain. Stay warm and get some rest.
Thank you! I love Devon; My Dad's family has lived in Devon for generations, and both my Dad and his brother moved back there once they retired and had the choice!
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