Friday 28th August – Friday 4th September
Friday 28th August
Our annual trip to Salcombe over the Bank Holiday week to meet and have a jolly time with friends.
As we travel on a peak holiday week, we normally split the outward journey often staying at Portishead, just after Bristol. It was a grim journey this time – 5.5 hours to do 178 miles; short-cutting across Bristol to avoid the jams.
Our first mistake, in these Coronavirus times, was not to book dinner in advance but, no worries, the Brewer’s Fayre next to the Premier Inn could fit us in! We were placed in an area where there was a very, very noisy man talking ‘at’ another couple. He was so loud, so self-obsessed and, in truth, somewhat sad. We managed to discretely negotiate a move to another area of the restaurant. The staff were doing a great job with Coronavirus protocols and with a cheery outlook. The downside of the anti-bacterial spray they were using was that it made the tables very tacky; the paper menus were actually sticking to the tables.
Saturday 29th August
Today the traffic was much easier and we made it down as far as Totnes in a couple of hours. As we are not allowed into our property this year until 5.00pm we decided to re-visit Sharpham Vineyard https://sharpham.com where they produce award winning English wine and cheese as well as offering a café and a beautiful walk around the vineyard contained in a loop of the River Dart (aerial photo in the link above) – beautiful.
On arrival in Salcombe we were able to ‘camp-out’ in the Foxes’ rental house while they were enjoying the sunshine on the beach. We got into our flat an hour early at 4.00pm. There are some improvements on last year, in particuar matching crockery(!) and the WiFi, which was awful but is now amazingly fast, much better than we can get at home.
Sunday 30th August
Sunday morning did not start well. An e-mail from Morrisons had arrived at ten past midnight saying my £221 food and household items order had been cancelled due to a problem with my credit card. After two frustrating phone calls, the short version is there is nothing wrong with my card, Morrisons blamed John Lewis Finance; John Lewis Finance blamed Morrisions; no-one could fix it so we had no food!
Therefore instead of having a jolly day, we set off for Tesco in Kingsbridge to replace the missing shop. It wasn’t too bad, although the store still have the one-way system in place causing holiday shoppers – who obviously don’t know where anything is – to go up and down isles more times than is necessary, thereby giving the opportunity to spread the virus to extra people. Oh and Tesco sold us some Egg Mayonnaise Sandwich Filler which was 3 days out of date on the day of purchase. I’ve sent them my thoughts on this!!
We had a nice coffee outside and strolled along Kingsbridge’s quay, which can look a bit grim when the tide is out, but today, in the sunshine, looked great. We reached the end and found a bench to sit on to take in the view; as we both sat down the whole thing gave way slightly – raucous laughter!
Having dropped the food shop in the flat, we decided on a quick walk into town, which grew into a lovely stroll along the estuary to North Sands.
At North Sands – an opportunity for an ice cream from The Winking Prawn. http://winkingprawngroup.co.uk
Then, as we sat admiring the view a weird thing happened, especially in these Cornavirus times, a young guy swooped over and handed us his 3 year old daughter and asked us to look after her whilst he went on a mission to retrieve a couple of her toys that had fallen down between some rocks on the beach below. He hardly waited for us to say yes before disappearing on his mission. She was a lovely child and not at all pertubed to be left in the arms of complete strangers for a few minutes. Daddy retrieved both toys and she was full of delight.
Monday 31st August
The Kingsbridge-Salcombe Ferry has struggled over the past few years with one year when it was not in service at all. I was glad to see that it is sailing again but this time with a new, smaller boat – The Lady Mary – and crew. We booked on their harbour cruise – a perfect evening for it. https://www.kingsbridgesalcombeferry.com
Tuesday 1st September
A beautiful day for a walk; unfortunately neither of us were feeling in tip top condition so we settled on a coffee at the old Port Light Hotel, now the super-modern Oceans Restaurant – https://oceansrestaurant.co.uk. After that, a short stroll along Bolberry Down cliff top until we could look down over lovely Hope Cove. Back to the car and we simply sat on the fold-up chairs on top of the cliff eating our baker’s Devon Pasties like old foggies! This may have also happened in Cromer!! 👵🏻👴🏻
Later we drove into Hope Cove for a wander – lots of activity on the beach and in the sea – a great family resort. We must try the Lobster Pod Bistro next time. https://www.lobster-pod.co.uk/public/index
Dinner at the flat for two this evening.
Wednesday 2nd September
Today into Dartmouth – I normally love the drive via the Slapton Sands route but it became a little stressful with buses, tractors, bikes and lorries at various pinch points. Having miraculously found a place to park in the centre of Dartmouth, we had a beautiful looking/tasting coffee.
We then got the passenger ferry to Kingswear and a train on the Dartmouth Steam Railway into Paignton and back – running along behind the same beaches Em, Teddy and I had been sitting on just recently.
Dartmouth was entirely decked out in bunting for the Mayflower 400 Commeration (apparently the Mayflower sailed from Dartmouth in September 1620). Everywhere was bedecked with home-made bunting; many contributed from the USA, The Netherlands and other parts of the world. https://www.mayflower400uk.org/news/2019/august/colourful-pennants-from-around-the-world-to-decorate-mayflower-town/
Thursday 3rd September
I have no idea what we did today!! There is no photographic evidence so I can only imagine there was nothing worthy to report!
The Salcombe team did all have a socially distanced meal out in the evening at the Island Street Bar & Grill, so that was very nice!
Friday 4th September
Most people are going home today and, even in Coronavirus times, we managed the traditional Captain Morgan’s departure breakfast sitting outside on Whitestrands in the sunshine.
We weren’t actually leaving until the afternoon so took the ‘Happy Ferry’ – my name for the South Sands Ferry as it always looks very jolly and is a fun ride meeting the tractor in the sea at South Sands – see photos.
Sea Tractor en route to meet with the Happy Ferry
After years of planning issues, they’ve finally knocked down all but two walls of the Tides Reach Hotel and are building a new hotel and apartments around the existing two walls (something to do with planning permissions – it makes it an alteration not a new-build).
Husband decided to walk back while I sat enjoying the view returning via the Happy Ferry. We purchased crab sandwiches from the ‘always unsmiling woman’ at the fish shop for lunch on the way home and Devon pasties from the Baker’s for dinner on Saturday evening.
Salcombe – it’s been a blast!
TiddleyOmPomPom on Tour 