Devon

Sitting out in the grassy beer garden beside the Old Malt Sccop in Lapford, rural Devon. Overcast, fairly cool.  Our first morning here, 7 days into England 2019. I should have gotten my hoody, but Sharon is still sleeping, or semi sleeping, since I made some noise trying to get out of the room, 

The cattle are honking at the farm next door, the sheep are grazing peacefully 100 yards away. A light rain just now chased me onto the patio, semi-covered.

The pace has been fast, so this is the first chance I’ve had to scribble some notes. We’ve done somewhere north of 1300 miles so far, and we’ve done pretty well hitting sites. A few missed due to time or distance, or simply choice, but overall we’ve done well.

The driving has been exhausting, especially the medium sized towns where the roads get tangled and the GPS gets confused, which has happened more often than I remember from past trips.

Today is Exeter, at least at this point that’s the plan, and we’ll be taking the bus.

The hotel here is a pretty nice facility – an obvious community drinking spot, appears to be part old coaching inn and part reformed farm house. Already chatted up with some locals – where are we from, dogs, travel logistics – and everyone is friendly, and a little curious. I’m not sure many Yanks find and stay at this place. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

More notes to come.