Happy New Year and The Annual Book List.

 A slightly belated Happy New Year.

 

I hope you all had the festive break you wanted, whether that be peaceful or lively. We spent a few days over Christmas with my Mum, my brother and his wife came over for Christmas Dinner followed by a couple of games of Herd Mentality and Hitster, the later my mother won convincingly! I think her listening to radio 2 all day gave her the edge, certainly my knowledge of anything remotely like popular music stops in about the year 2000.

 

Given we have recently had to pack up and move all that we own we again decided not to do Christmas presents for each other, we have enough stuff already, well too much really. 

I did do Himself’s stocking thought, filled with socks, beer, posh coffee and a chocolate orange in the toe. He got me my Rupert annual and a Snoopy calendar for the kitchen. We managed one walk at Mum’s, otherwise it was an incredibly lazy time and just what the doctor ordered frankly. 

Mum and I did a couple of huge jigsaws and Himself read. 

How lovely is this snowman my Mum bought me from the village craft fair? He is made from an old book, so clever and such a good way to use up books that no one wants that would otherwise end up in land fill. Out of interest Himself peered at some of the pages to see if we could figure out what book it was and it turned out to be about a serial killer so not very festive at all! 

 

The week before Christmas we had what seems to have become an annual catch up with friends Soo & Gav, Dan & Melissa and Gareth. 

We do see the first four more often, but for some reason coinciding with Gareth always seems more challenging. We met at The Rose and Crown in Oxford, somewhere I don’t think I have been for well over 30 years.

It’s a bit off the beaten track on North Parade, but Gareth was keen to try the menu, more specifically the pint of sausages on the menu! It turns out it is literally a jug pint glass full of 6 sausages with a small portion of chips. The boys all went for this and were not disappointed, apparently they were delicious. 

Not being a fan of sausages, I did dither over homemade fish pie, I adore fish pie but never get at home because Himself hates fish and particularly the smell of fish. 

In the end I plumped for ham, egg and chips which was also very good with tasty home cured ham, not prepackaged stuff. I think I will definitely be back to try the homemade fish pie next.

 

The next day I was back in town to meet Charlotte. 

As it was the last Saturday before Christmas, we decided to head out of the city centre and walked out to Summertown. Calling via the street market at North Parade I had spotted a sign advertising the night before. I sampled various Oxford honeys and bought a jar before we walked to Mama Mia in Summertown for a well earned glass of wine, and in my case a huge bowl of aubergine parmigiana, something else I absolutely love but Himself hates.  

 

Christmas eve afternoon we headed to Mum’s and on the 27th we all met at my brother’s for dinner of a huge lasagne and salad. As you may have gathered my Christmas does seem to have revolved around eating this year!

 

On Monday the 29th we were up fairly early to go to London for the Snoopy in the City Trail. 

I had read about it online back in October, but house upheavals meant we hadn’t had a chance to go up until now and knowing that it ended in mid-January we decided to go over the festive break.  

It starts by the tourist information office near St Pauls and whilst I had written down directions to each of the 12 statues because I didn't want to rely on my phone, we just couldn’t figure out where the first one was. 

We stepped into the tourist information to ask and found it was surprisingly busy in there!

Turns out they had maps of the trail and literally everyone was asking for one. The woman behind the counter seemed utterly bewildered that so many people were asking about the trail which seemed odd given the trail has been open since November.

Whilst there were quite a lot of parents and children, I Loved the fact that nearly all the people in the tourist information, and many that we encountered whilst doing the trail, were my generation, or older. 

Clearly once you are a Snoopy fan you are one for life. 

The trail was centred around Fleet Street and by the time we had finished it I was needing to spend a penny. Never an easy thing when you are out and about in the city anyway, but particularly when you are in a business area and all those businesses are shut, which means all the cafes, restaurants and bars that feed the workers are shut too. In the end we found a big Greggs of all places, which was doing a roaring trade. We bought a quick snack as it was well past lunch time before decamping to Ye Old Cheshire Cheese pub for a pint. It was also ram packed in there so we were very lucky to snag a table when someone else left. 

I’ve been past this pub so many times over the years, but this was my first time inside. Himself was a bit disappointed to find it was a Samuel Smith’s pub as they only serve their own brand, thankfully they had a decent winter ale for me and an acceptable stout for him. 

I know people were considerably shorter back in the day but on investigating the downstairs I literally ended up bent over and crouched on my knees to get down there the ceiling on the stairs was so low!

 

We decided against another pint and instead we headed across to Leicester Square and the Lego Store. The crowds were insane. Himself was laughing at how shocked I was by the ridiculous crowds. I don’t know why, but I just assumed because Christmas was gone the huge crowds would be too. How wrong I was! The outdoor ice rink and Christmas market were heaving. I really am not a fan of being hemmed in on all sides like that with people coming at you from all directions. 

We did the Lego Store before heading for the tube and home. It turned out the underground was so busy they had actually shut all the Piccadilly Circus entrances to try and ease it a bit! 

Rather than join the crowds waiting at the gates we decided to walk to another stop.   

 

The following day I was up early and into Oxford. There were a couple of shops I wanted to hit the sales in and Oxford is always quieter in the morning. I rarely go into town these days and tend to wait until I need a few things before I go in. 

Sure enough by the time I had done what I wanted and headed back to the train station, there were hordes of people everywhere. 

Himself was not in the least bit interested so I was able to spend a blissful couple of hours browsing in M&S, Accessorize, The Body Shop and the haberdashery counter of John Lewis without having to rush.

The stress of the house situation meant my crafting mojo had deserted me, but recently it’s been back which makes me very happy. 

I had completed this embroidery kit of a hedgehog I found whilst packing, absolutely no idea where it came from or how long I have had it!

I did have a good clear-out of my crafting supplies but I decided it was definitely something I would do. I’m very pleased with the result. 

I also bought a kit reduced to £2.99 in TK Maxx after Christmas and have finished that one too.

 

Once I was back we walked round to Nephew Number One’s house to take him and his fiancée their pressies and pick up a spare key and detailed instructions on the care of Maisie the cat. 

They were off on holiday on the 30th and we are part of the team looking after their princess whilst they are away. We volunteered to do New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as we were not going out anyway.

 

It was sunny but bloody cold on both days. We did a lovely 10-mile walk the first day, I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back out walking a decent distance again. At one point I did start to panic my knee would never recover fully.

New Year’s Day we did a walk that ended up at the Fleur De Lys pub knowing that they would have their annual bring an instrument folk music session on. 

Even though I’m not a folk music fan it’s always great fun, I think mostly because of the lovely atmosphere but also because if there is any singing it tends to be old school wassailing songs. At one point this year they ended up with 6 accordions and 3 squeezeboxes!

 

I shall finish with my annual booklist. 

I set myself the goal of 55 books this year which I missed by 2 books. Overall given the ups and downs of the year I’m pretty pleased I made it to that many.

As ever I used the Goodreads book-shelving system to keep track and also their 1-5 scoring system. There would definitely have been some half points in there if it were down to me!

As in previous years there have been some cracking reads and also some pretty bad ones. I don’t think I gave up on anything this year though 'Ghosts of the British Museum' was a close-run thing it was so bad. On paper it should have been right up my street.

Only one with full marks which was 'The Night Tiger'. I know it’s quite an old book but somehow, I missed it first time round. It was seeing it recommended on BBC2’s Between the Covers that made me buy it and I’m so glad I did, I absolutely loved it. On a side note, I’m gutted they have cancelled that show I always end up with a list of recommendations from watching it.

I feel like I read more 4’s this year. The 3 Mrs Hudson books I’ve had for ages and couldn’t quite bring myself to read as I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes and was worried they would be an awful parody, but they were brilliant. I must look for the rest.

As ever Elly Griffiths and Marian Keyes did not disappoint and I was delighted Lisa Jewell, Graham Norton and Lucy Foley were back on form. 

One read that stayed in my mind was First Light by Geoffrey Wellum. It’s about his time as an incredibly young spitfire pilot. Coincidentally I had seen him interviewed on a couple of programmes about WW2 before I read the book, it also turned out my brother chauffeured him to the Goodwood festival once and ended up spending the day with him he was so lovely and interesting to talk to.  

Two Way Murder - ECR Lorac 4

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota - Chuck Klosterman 2

The 5 People you Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom 3

Murder on Safari - Elspeth Huxley 2

Cold, Cold Bones - Kathy Reichs 2

Can I Have my Ball Back : A Memoir Masculinity, Mortality and my Right Testicle 4

Into the Uncanny - Danny Robins 4

Mrs Hudson and the Spirits' Curse - Martin Davis 3

Sea Shanties ; The Lyrics and History of Sailor Songs 4

The Stargazers - Harriet Evans 2

Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose - Martin Davis 4

None of This is True - Lisa Jewell 4

Hagitude : Reimagining the Second Half of Life 2

Mrs Hudson and the Lazarus Testament - Martin Davis 3

The Long Weekend : Life in the English Country House Between the Wars 3

First Light - Geoffrey Wellum 4

Would you Believe it : Mysterious Tales from People You'd Least Expect -Karen Stollznow 2

Woman's Lives and Clothes in WW2 - Lucy Adlington 4

My Favourite Mistake - Marian Keyes 4

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris - Evie Woods 2

The Murderer's Ape - Jakob Wegelius 3

Rough Music - Patrick Gale 2

Love Song and Lies - Libby Purvis 2

Death in Fancy Dress - Anthony Gilbert 2

Skelton's Guide to Suitcase Murders - David Stafford 3

The Light we Carry : Overcoming in Uncertain Times - Michelle Obama 3

Mrs P's Journey : The Remarkable Story of the Woman who Created the A-Z Map - Sarah Hartley 2

1984 The Year Pop Went Queer - Ian Wade 4

ABBA The Official Phot Book - Petter Karlsson 4

Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s - Angela J Latham2

We Solve Murders - Richard Osman 3

Frankie - Graham Norton 4

The Shell House Detectives - Emylia Hall 3

The Night Tiger - Yangsze Choo 5

Ghosts of the British Museum : A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects 1

Midnight in Cairo : The Divas of Egypt's Roaring ''20s - Raphael Cormack 3

Murder Under the Sun : Classic Mysteries for Summer 2

Post After Post Mortem - ECR Lorac 3

The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths 4

The Wild Remedy : How Nature Mends Us - A Diary - Emma Mitchell 2

The Sphinx : The Life of Gladys Deacon - Hugo Vickers 3

The Midnight Feast - Lucy Foley 4

Magnificent Rebel : Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris - Anne De Courcy 2

The Palace : From the Tudors to the Windsors 500 Years of Royal History at Hampton Court - Gareth Russell 4

Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World - Mark Aldridge 4

The Eights - Joanna Miller 3

Bellman and Black- Diana Setterfiled 3 

Fisherman's Friend's: Sailing at Eight Bells - Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends 2

Palaces of Pleasure: How the Victorian's Invented Mass Entertainment - Lee Jackson 3

100 Years of Fashion - Cally Blackman 2

The Christmas Clue - Nicola Upson 3

A Case of the Claws : Classic Tales of Feline Crime 2

Eight Ghosts : The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories 2

Unexpected New Beginings

This post comes to you from a new address.

It's been a bit of a turbulent few months and in a sort of nightmarish bi-annual groundhog day we found ourselves having to move again, only with the added frison of a eviction order to make everything more urgent.  

 To give a potted history, around late August our rental agency sent out someone from the selling side to value the house, but told us absolutely nothing to worry about, the owners weren’t going to be selling they were just checking out the value as they have been living outside of the UK for many years.

Even though it was in a part of town where houses go for much more, the house was a very weird layout and needed work so because of that it got valued at £350,000 - £360,000. Over the following weeks two more estate agencies were sent out to value the house because the owners clearly weren’t happy with the price. Both of those also valued it at the same price range.

I suspect they had put the postcode into Rightmove and got a much higher price quoted. 

We discussed making an offer because we could just about manage £360,000 and it was unlikely we could afford somewhere that size, and in that part of town if it wasn’t for the quirks and snags. Sadly for us the owners decided they were going to ignore the advice of all three agencies and go with their own price of £400,000 

The first we knew about it was when we were isssued with a section 21 eviction notice, the email telling us it was coming arrived in our inbox just as we were travelling home from our annual long weekend in Bournemouth, nothing like killing the holiday vibe stone dead!

It is such a horrible, horrible, letter to get, and of course right at a time when the rental market in the UK is in utter chaos, panic properly set in and didn't leave.

We registered with every agency in town and by chance one had the house we are now in. It had just come up, and they hadn’t even marketed it yet, would we like to see it? 

We said yes immediately and said yes to the house after a quick 15-minute viewing, all with the previous tenant glowering over us whilst we looked round. I’ve no idea why he was so hostile, I mean he was moving out after all!

 

We rallied the same friends and family who helped us move just two years ago and the date was fixed for the 8th November. We got the keys a week earlier, ironically on our anniversary, I can't say either of us felt like celebrating that this year.

Packing and moving was intense. We really have way too much stuff, I was actually ashamed of how much we do have. I have been downsizing like mad and being really ruthless. I think it helps that as I get older, I seem to be more realistic about what I like, what I need and what I will never use again, but whatever I do, it’s fair to say I will never be minimalist! So far we have had an email from one charity to say they have made just shy of £450 from our donations. I'm waiting to see what my qurterly email from Oxfam says as they got over 100 books, a huge chunk of my vintage film stills and some bags and brooches. I simply didn't have the time or the capacity to sell things myself.

A lot more needs to go.

This house has a big summer house/garden office which is two thirds full of boxes at the moment. The plan is to go through it all hopefully get rid of loads and repack what is left.

I cannot lie, I was not in a good place. My stress levels were through the roof and I just couldn't seem to switch them off. This time round I did something about it and called my Dr's surgery. I'm lucky that Oxfordshire is a county that offers a free service called Talking Therapies.

I have never been a fan of taking medication so for the last six weeks I have been taking part in one of the therapy programmes. It has not all been relevant but there has been some helpful advice and techniques and I am feeling more myself again.

So I'm going to finish up with some pictures from our September break in Bournemoutrh. 

We started out staying with friends in the New Forest which was lovely. They are in the middle of a huge renovation project and said it was nice to get away from the DIY to take us on a tour of the New Forest. We also had to eat out which included a delicious lunch in the forest and an amazing breakfast overlooking the sea.

Annoyingly I wasn't as mobile as usual because I had managed to tear a ligament in my knee in August which took a frustrating 12 weeks to heal. We did have a lovely day mooching around Swanage though I couldn't make it to or around the country park which was our original plan. 

We had an early dinner in a lovely little Italian restaurant there before catching a bus back to Bournemouth.

The next evening after a delicious food in a pizza and cider place we had never tried before but will definitely visit again, we headed to Electric Boulevard. 

It turned out they had an open mic night on which was so incredibly bad it was hilarious and I nearly did myself a damage trying not to laugh.

We felt obliged to stay for a couple of drinks because apart from the staff, and the acts themselves, we were the only customers left, everyone else clearly knowing what was coming had wisely fled before it started! 

Given what greeted us on the way home I'm so glad we were able to have these few days of enjoyment.

Anyway I hope to be back with my annual book round-up at the end of the month but until then I will sign off.

Wishing everyone a lovely festive season and here's to a less dramatic 2026.

Glorious July.

 July, what a bumper month that was.

I started the month meeting my friends Simon, Carole and Liz at Liz’s house. The plan had been for a leisurely lunch in her gorgeous garden, but for once the weather didn’t play ball so instead, we were ensconced inside. 

I brought pudding and tried out a new recipe for malted chocolate mousse, thankfully it worked, and result was delicious. I would definitely make it again.

 

The following week the weather was back to roastingly hot when I went to meet Soo in Oxford. We had tickets to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Oxford Playhouse. Though I know some of the songs, it’s a musical I have never seen, so I was very much looking forward to it. 

We met at the station then walked the canal towpath (hoping for some shade!) to Jericho where we planned to have lunch. 

We ended up settling on the deli café at Branca where we both had a homemade quiche and some of their amazing salads. Absolutely delicious and perfect hot weather food.

From there we decamped to the Jericho Tavern for a chilled glass of wine before strolling to the Playhouse.

Our seats were front row of the circle and as we had suspected it sweltering! So we got out our water bottles, settled into our seats and resigned ourselves to sweating. People were fanning themselves with their programmes and the lady next to me never came back after the interval. There were some empty rows further back where it was a tad cooler, so I suspect she stayed back there.

It was the local operatic society production and some of the talents shone a little more brightly than others shall we say, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I’d most certainly go and see it again and I can understand why one of my friends says she hates musicals but has the soundtrack for this one.

From the theatre we decided a cold drink was in order so stopped at the Organic Deli café for one and a bonus delightful blast of air con, sadly the less said about my slice of chocolate cake there the better….all in all a fab day out.

 

The next week was my birthday and as has been my rule since I turned 40, I booked the day off. 

Mum came over and we took ourselves off to Notcutts Garden Centre as I needed some soil and it’s always good to have a browse of the plants. It was another super-hot day, so we sat gently perspiring as we ate lunch.

In theory I had a Pilates class that night, and as we were due to go away the next weekend, we decided against going out for a meal. 

I went to my class and Himself cooked pasta and cracked open a bottle of prosecco on my return.

The next day I went to Oxford to meet Charlotte. I had a couple of bits of shopping to get, as did she, so we ambled about doing that. 

We included a visit to Knead, the new bakery on the High Street that everyone at my work has been waxing lyrical about. We both bought cinnamon buns to take home before a leisurely lunch at Comptoire Libanais. 

I can confirm the cinnamon buns were very, very good.

 

Saturday the 19th Himself was off out with Nephew Number One, so I pottered about in the garden then sat down to watch Clueless as the 19th July happened to be the 30th anniversary of it’s release (where the hell did that time go??)

I love the film, always have and always will, it has held up well. One that really hasn’t is Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion which I watched next, in my mind the two films sort of go together. That one will definitely be going in the next donate pile.

On the subject of film nostalgia, Himself and I were having a conversation and the film Singles came up. He has never seen it and I remember enjoying it back in the day. The next week I walked past a charity shop with a big basket of DVDs for 50p each in their window and what was right on the top? I checked and it was in good condition, so I parted with 50p and brought it home. 

It was a good nostalgic watch, not as good as I remembered but I still enjoyed it. I did have to chuckle that at the time it came out I was still more into L.A hair metal than grunge so had somehow managed to miss the fact that Matt Dillon’s band in the film were played by Pearl Jam!

 

As I mentioned in my last post, Soo and I had been hatching a plan to go away for a few days with our other halves. It turns out her partner was due to go on his work’s annual cricket tour from the 25th - 28th July, but that got cancelled, Himself and I were both able to book those days off work, so suddenly we had dates that worked!

Soo did some research and couldn’t find anywhere that we could afford in Lyme Regis, it being the school holidays. So, we ended up booking a flat in Seaton about 20 minutes down the road, but in Devon rather than Dorset.

Sadly in between us booking, and the time arriving for us to go away, her partner had managed to injure his back to such a degree he wasn’t able to come with us. We had hoped he might be well enough but, given the amount of walking we had planned and the four flights of stairs up to the apartment, he really couldn’t have managed. We had missed the time to cancel without losing all our money so in the end with his blessing, the three of us went.

The drive down was pretty pain free, we got stuck in traffic near Stonehenge but arrived in the early afternoon. Thankfully the apartment was ready, so we settled in, opening every window possible, as wide as possible because it was stifling, before Soo and I pooped out to buy breakfast provisions.

This is the view from the sitting room. We enjoyed watching the various activities at the bowls club, they are obviously a very active team.

Once we had had a drink we decided what we were going to do with the rest of our day. We settled on taking the beach walk to the village of Beer and have a pint of beer in Beer. 

However when we got to the seafront the tide was in so that scuppered that plan. Plan B was to go the road route, which was longer and much, much steeper, but very beautiful. 

Beer was also very beautiful, we had stroll about at the same time as checking out all the pubs before deciding on which one to stop for a drink in.

We decided it was food time so joined the big queues at the one and only chip shop for fish and chips which we ate sitting above the beach

Full of delicious fish and chips we strolled down to the beach but the tide was still in meaning we had to walk back the way we came. We decided to head back before it got too dark rather than stay for another drink. Instead, we called in at the Co-op and bought beer to drink back at the apartment. 

 

It turns out Seaton is not just 20 minutes away from Lyme Regis it’s also 20 minutes away from Sidmouth. Now Sidmouth has long been on my ‘places I want to visit’ bucket list!

Not only is the fictional town of Dilmouth from my favourite Miss Marple book Sleeping Murder based upon Sidmouth, it is also where they filmed the Joan Hickson version of the book. Probably my favourite screen version too.

Unfortunately, it has no train station and is also not the easiest of places to get too, which was why as yet, I had never visited.

Well that all changed on the 26th July! After a quick look around a craft fair in Seaton we drove over to Sidmouth. 

Soo and I loved it, it was a lovely mix of beautiful architecture and sandy beach and bustling high street. I was also delighted that it hadn’t changed very much from how it looked in Sleeping Murder or Monkey Paws as Himself and I refer to it (if you know you know.)

 

We bought a local paper so I could recreate the scene where Joan Hickson sits in the beach front shelter reading the local paper. We had to walk past a couple of times before the seat was finally free then I dived in!

We spent the rest of our time wandering around and going into any shops that took our fancy. 

I saw a set of bedding on sale in a shop window but when I dived in to check they only had king sized left, boo. I took a picture to look it up when I got home and see if I could find it anywhere else, then as we left the shop, I spied another set in the corner of the window and yes it was a double! I rushed back in and had the poor shop assistant clamber in the window to retrieve it. She was very gracious about it and even said it was meant to be.

We found another route back to the carpark that had the added bonus of taking us through some beautiful gardens so had a stroll through those before heading to the car.

 

 

By late afternoon we headed back to Seaton. Seaton has a wetland, and Soo was keen to go and see what birdlife was there but wasn’t sure when we could fit it in. As the weather was so gorgeous our plan for the evening was to walk to Axmouth to find a pub for a drink and maybe some food. I insisted we would have time to detour to the wetlands to spend an hour or so there before Axmouth, so that’s what we did.

 

When we got to one of the hides there, I think we were being a bit too loud for the gentleman who was already ensconced inside because he grabbed his bag and left as soon as we came in! oops.

Soo got to see a curlew which made her very happy, we were also delighted to find the Seaton Tramway went right past the front of the hide. 

Soo and I got very excitable and waved madly as the trams went by. The theme song became Kelly Marie’s Feels like I’m in Love (you had to be there.)

Once we had had our feel of birds and trams we walked back into the town and crossed the river to then follow it from the other side to Axmouth. 

Another very pretty village with a couple of lovely pubs. 

We settled on The Ship Inn for a drink and found a table in the garden, where we also stayed to eat because the food everyone else was eating out there looked so good, I can confirm it was delicious.

Once back in Seaton we thought about going to another pub but sadly it’s one thing Seaton is sorely lacking in. Instead Himself plugged his laptop into the soundbar by the TV and we listened to some music and chatted with a beer.

 

The next day our plan was to jump on a bus and visit Lyme Regis, but it turned out they had cancelled the Sunday bus service. I felt bad because it meant Soo had to drive again and our original plans had been to use local transport. With hindsight we should have done the two days the other way around.

It was a grey morning and by the time we parked the car and walked down to the cobb it had started to rain. Lyme Regis is somewhere I have also wanted to visit for a while now, partly for its association with Persuasion my favourite Jane Austen book. 

We decided to walk the cobb first but I quickly decided it was not for me. I really did not like the fact it is angled to slope towards the sea and that they had taken the railings away at some point so if you were to lose your footing there is nothing to stop you falling straight in! Combine that with the fact there were quite a few other people on it and the wet surface and I started to feel a bit panicky. Frankly, I got off as quickly as I could.

By the time Soo and Himself joined me the rain got heavier, so we found a pub for a drink in the hope it would ease up by the time we were done, and thankfully it did. 

The rest of the morning we just ambled about calling in at a few shops before buying an ice cream to eat as we walked the length of the seafront. Himself decided he preferred Lyme to Sidmouth, but whilst I enjoyed both, I think Sidmouth had the edge for me.

We had no set schedule for the day but had decided if we were back in Seaton with enough time we would go on the tramway to Colyton and walk back via a route along the river that Soo had found on the OS map.

As it turns out we were back in time so did exactly that. The tram was great fun with some lovely views including unexpected dinosaurs alongside the track! 

Colyton was lovely and similarly to Beer, somewhere I'd like to revisit on a weekday when everything is open. The sun finally came out during our walk back, though there were some torrential showers too. 

One hit just as we reaching Colyford so we took it as a sign and dived into The Wheelright Inn. By this time, it was sort of getting to dinner time and again the food that came out to the table next to us looked delicious, so we decided to stay and eat. 

We could have the table until 7pm which worked out well. The landlord made us feel very welcome and told us that someone had complained about the ploughman’s because there was too much cheese and 'huge slabs of ham'!?! Youhave to wonder about some people. Soo had the ploughman's, did not complain and ate the lot. I had the gnocchi which was yummy.  

Replete, we basically waddled out and definitely walked more slowly for the last part of the route! 

 

This took us back past the wetland and nature reserve, it was lovely to see lots of activities for all ages and plenty of people walking and cycling and generally making the most of the beautiful evening.

 

Back at the apartment we took it in turns to shower and started packing up our bits and pieces. Soo and I watched the first part of a documentary exposing the Jesus Army. There used to be a house on the Woodstock Road in Oxford and one of my colleagues when I was at the Bodleian was a member at the time. It was pretty eye opening and shocking, I now understand why my colleague’s mother staged an intervention to get her out. I remember hearing she then went to Wales so wondered if it was to the same place that help's people become free from cults that was on the programme.

 

The next morning, we set off right on time and were doing great in terms of the journey home when we hit a huge tailback. Google maps took us and half the people in the queue on another route through some tiny villages and thankfully we managed to get through where big lorries had to turn back but it was a tad hair-raising watching the bigger vehicle in front of us negotiating between the traffic coming towards him and some parked cars on a very steep hill.

 

All in all, a wonderful break and somewhere we all said we would go back to, there is so much to see and do and lots of gorgeous walking on that part of the coast. We did so much it felt like we had been away for a week rather than a weekend and I loved every minute of it.