Toddling around Devon (and a bit of Cornwall)

So, what do you do when it is very blowy out to sea and you are in Plymouth with toddlers? Simple, you toddle around, consume inordinate amounts of coffee in various coffee shops dotted around the area, ditto lunches and wine. Simple really.

Here is a picture version of the trips for you, without all that tedious text stuff to read / ignore.

Let's start with Saltash,  not a promising place but one that houses an excellent wine bar / coffee stop called Just Be. Unfortunately, we only sampled their excellent coffee and cake but the rest looked promising too. The Brunel bridge is impressive though ( and good coffee is just behind us!):

The local pub is pretty patriotic:

Charlestown harbour was on the list:

Although we saw filming preparation going on for Poldark, there was no chance to get any half naked shots of Ross Poldark for you girls. Remember, here you get something way more special - John's knees. The BBC could never afford them.


Salcombe harbour was as lovely as ever:

Even if the service at the North Sands cafe was beyond slow, the spot is a good one:

Plymouth Hoe was enlivened by lunch at Gary Rhodes @ The Dome and an Estonian waitress with the most amazing English language capability. The sun even peeped out a little:

The award for the dodgiest ferry has to go to the Mount Batten ferry - old, sad and driven by a skipper who qualified on the day we used it. His mooring approach was to ram the pontoon and then power the stern alongside. Sometimes the "ram" was a little enthusiastic too.....

Apparently they are getting some ex-navy Nelsons for this winter. Poor boats.

Patrick, meanwhile, was busy helping the crew play cards:

He really wasn't very good, despite the intent look.