Day 21

 I have the feeling I repeating myself...  Sunshine again today!  

As it is sunday morning, we start our day even more slowly.  This morning, we took another boat to go to the village of Dittisham.  Dittisham is a picturesque riverside village residing on the west bank of the River Dart.  It is a nice cruise of about 30 minutes.  

We climbed a very steep road because we searched for the village.  We never found it, but we ended up at a beautiful foot path.

We came back near the quay and looked for a place to have lunch.  It was not possible as all the tables of the 2 restaurants were already reserved.  We walked around a little bit and sitted to watch the animation on the water: crab fishing, paddle board, swimming.

We took back the boat at 13h.  We grabbed a lunch from the bakery and ate it in the park.  

After a rest, we got back on our feet to visit a Tudor fort, built by the borough of Dartmouth between 1522 and 1536.

We then had an apero on the river side, watching fisching crab, that seem the most popular activity on the river side.  We saw so many family, with young kids, fishing those little crab.  Many people just put them back on the river but others keep them.  I guess it is the crab we saw on many menus in town.

For supper, we had a reservation in one of the oldest pub in town, called The Cherub Inn.  The meal was like casual home made food.  Delicious!

We didnT walk that much today, only 11 725 steps, but many on a hill, so I guess it should count for double.

Day 20

 Another wake up with full sunshine.  Does it rain sometime in England ?

Our plan for the day was to ride the steam train from Kingwear to Paighton.

First, we had to take the ferry to Kingwear.  It is a nice short ride of 5-10 minutes.  

Kingwear is situated just in front of Darthmouth but it is much quiet. We walk around before the train arrived.

The Dartmouth Steam Railway is a 10.8 Km ride between Kingwear and Paighton since 1864.  

It is mostly used bu tourists in summer time now.  On the train, we met a train attendant who worked for the company for 49 years now.  Not quite in a hurry to retire!  

It is a 25 minutes train ride that give us the opportunity to see beautiful landscapes.

Paighton is a beach city.  The beach is long and nice but the rest of the city is very kitsch and without interest for us. Game arcades, cheap souvenir shops, fast food restaurants... Everything I don't like. Hopefully, we found a nice cafe call "Our Katy" taht serve nice homemade scones with Devon cream and jam.  It comforted me.

We came back in de mid-afternoon and fond an art craft market is installed in the park near the tourist informations.  We peek a look before our afternoon break.

For dinner tonight we didn't had reservation.  It is a problem here in Dartmouth, especially on a saturday night.  So we walked a little bit further to find a pub.  It wasn't fine cuisine, but at least we can sit and have a view at the marina.

Even travelling by ferry and train, we managed to do 15,042 steps.  

 

Day 19

 After a good night of sleep in our flat in Dartmouth, we are fresh and ready to go explore our area.  

This morning we went to peek a look at the old market.  It is mostly art crafts.  

After the market we headed to the path that leads to Dartmouth castle.  It is partly on the side of the river and parly on the road.  There is many point of view all the way.  

It is a walk of about 30 minutes.  Near the castle there is a small cafe.  We stop there just to feel the wind in the sun.  

We came back from the castle by the river in a small boat.  It is a nice ride of 10 to15 minutes.

We had lunch in the market and we went to the tourist informations.

We walked some new streets and got back to the flat for an afternoon break.

Before dinner, we went for a walk on the river side.  It was so peaceful to sit there and watching the boats sailing!

We had un apero with a view, of course.

It is very difficult to find a place for dinner without reservation.  We finally finded a place at Taylor.  Another upscale restaurant...  with a view.  Oh well... we just enjoyed it.  After all, we are in vacancy.  

It was a 14618 steps day.  

Day 18

 Day of moving.  Today was a marathon.  

To resume: Bus to Victoria station. Tube to Paddington.  Train to Totnes.  Bus to Dartmouth.  With suitcases and bags, it was a marathon.  But we arrived at good port.  The term is right because our accomodation is near the marina of Dartmouth.

The bus ride from Totnes to Dartmouth was particulary spectacular with the landscape of hills and valley in all shades of green possible.  We passed paths so narrow...  Lise know what I am talking about.   It reminded us of when Marcel had driven in England.

The flat is just as we expected it to be.  It a small flat but each and every places is well used.  We even have fresh flowers and chocolate on the table at our arrival.  Nice touch!

Before dinner at Andria (étoilé Michelin) we went for a walk.  The marina of Dartmouth is absolutly beautiful, especially at the sunset.  We saw many young peoples fisching crab.  It seem to be hobby around here.

Andria is a very upscale gastronomy.  Each plate is so surprising and so tasty.  The service is attentive and efficient.  It was a special night for us :  52 years ago, we kissed for the first time.  

Who could have predicted where we would be after all this time...  

We finished this nice day whit a messenger with our lovely grand-daughers.

How lucky we are to live such wonderful days!!!

Only 12090 steps today as we have been in transit a long part of the day.