Prior to departing we said our goodbyes to the farm animals, and then to Simon, the owner of the cottages, promising him 'home safe emails'. We set off in two cars in the direction of Woolacombe, a coastal town that is known for having a 'blue flag' beach.
Woolacombe Sands
After finally finding parking spots, we strolled down to the beach and set up camp armed with chairs and a wind break, buckets & spades at the ready! Olivia's first item on the agenda was to drag Ian to the bouncy castle that she had noticed as soon as she had reached the bottom of the steps down to the beach. Following that Cath & Ian took her for a ride on the boat swings prior to lunch.
Cath, Olivia & Ian on the boat swings
Lucy & I had spent this time either lunching, or simply relaxing in the sunshine, building the odd sandcastle. After everyone had eaten, Lucy, Cath, Olivia & I took a stroll down to the sea to dip our toes in the water. I took that a bit further by dipping my knees in the water, before retreating upon the realisation that any spare clothes I might have had were neatly packed away in the boot of the car.
Lucy, Olivia & Cath on Woolacombe Beach
Iain enjoys the moment
Olivia takes a running jump into a puddle
Olivia's final ride of the afternoon was on the spaceship with her dad, shortly before we packed up our belongings and headed back to our vehicles. After cups of coffee & tea we headed out of Woolacombe in the direction of the M5 and the 285 mile journey back home.
Ian & Olivia ride on the spaceship
We stopped for a bite to eat at Frankley Services then said our goodbyes to The Blands, before continuing our journey, arriving home at 10pm ready for a chilled glass of vino (thank you Mumps Skellern!) before retiring for the night.
We would like to offer a special thank you to Cath for taxiing us around for a whole week, often up and down some pretty precarious country lanes.
well must be my last comment of the 2009 Devon adventure, thankyou one and all for sharing with us it was almost as good as being there. xx
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your tireless blogging throughout our time in Devon Uncle Iain. And especially for the soft-focus approach on the last day. I mean who really wants to read about the volcanic strops that resulted in not one but two unscheduled detours onto the hard-shoulder..?Let's keep those deleted scenes between ourselves!
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