FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: June 2019

Our roadtrip through the Southwest of England continued today. From our readings, we concluded that the things to see at Dartmoor National Park were ponies and tors (essentially granite outcrops). One could easily spend a whole day or more exploring but we did not have the luxury of time. The visitor centre didn't open until 10am and so it was that we choose a singular spot that captured the essence of the moor but that was also enroute to our final destination. That lucky place was Buckland Beacon. Navigating the narrow English lanes to ge there when it was busy would have been a nightmare....

As cold as it was, our walk across the open moor to Buckland Beacon was enjoyable. The air was invigorating and the panoramic views atop the Beacon of the surround area spectacular. If you do plan to visit, a little bit of reading beforehand would be handy as there is a lot of history behind the rocks. Otherwise it would seem like a random walk across fields to see random rocks!

The narrow lanes opening up

Ancient dry stone walls in the moor

It was cold in the morning!

Looking down onto the farmlands

Buckland Beacon...apparently a good setting to make action movies

Help me!!!

Wait...let me pose first

The views seem to go on forever

The commandment rocks. W.A."Moses"Clement carved them in 1928. He was commissioned by William Whitley of Wellstor to commemorate the parliamentary rejection of a new version of the bible that was considered too "papist".

We thought we captured a shot of a wild moor pony but it was not to be. This one was tamed according to Grandpa

This one, however, is definitely not tamed.

Dartmouth Castle made it onto our list as it was one not related to royalty or noble families but for defence. The drive to get there in a 7 seater van though, was stressful! Entry was covered with the English Heritage Overseas Visitor Pass. We enjoyed the history behind the castle and the gorgeous views both out to sea as well as back towards Dartmouth. If we had more time, it would have been great to do some of the coastal walks or even a boat trip to get a photo of the spectacularly situated castle.

The surrounding coast

The "new" gun tower now the entrance

Protecting the harbour

Lower level where the harbour chain was located

Dartmouth

Polperro was next on the list and we were expecting a quaint fishing village. It was actually a little underwhelming and run down. Other seaside towns such as Fowey and Dartmouth were much prettier. One tip of note: Malcolm discovered that the local public toilets will accept Malaysian coins. At the time of writing the 20p entry price would equate to 1.05MYR. He only had one 20 sens coin and no pence so he gave it a go. The machines recognised a 20sens coin... but as 10p! That's 5 toilet trips for the price of one! Unfortunately he was still 10p short which meant no p. Some lucky punter will get a cheap toilet entry in the near future...

A walk through the narrow streets of the village. The three pilchards was the oldest pub

Finally the water

The family still in practice for "selfie with 7"

From Polperro, we drove to Bodinnick where there was a ferry to Fowey. This saved us having to traverse tricky narrow lanes back to the main road and saved some time. The ferry ride was short and before long, we were driving round and round Fowey with road diversions and restricted area making it difficult to find parking that was a reasonable walk to the actual town centre. By this point, we were all tired and decided that the dinner of the famous mussels would have to wait for another day. Fortunately the drive to Par where the Britannia Inn was only took 10 minutes. We watched the rest of the cricket and enjoyed dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel to end another long day!

The ferry for cars, bikes and passengers. It took cash or card

Looking back to Polruan from Fowey

Pub downstairs? Grandpa is happy!

Leaving the Inn at the crack of dawn

The first child woke up at 4am, followed by the others shortly thereafter. By 4:40am a declaration was made that everyone was starving and that they HAD to eat. McDonald’s was the only place open 24/7 and so sausage mcmuffins it was for breakfast! Little did we know that this would end up being healthier than the dinner that was to come. Our first destination was Stonehenge. We were there so early that we made friends with the security guard whilst waiting for the gate to the carpark to open. An hour later, we were finally let in!

Hello McDonalds!

My breakfast

Parked right outside the gate. First car in line...

Stonehenge needs no introduction as one of the world's best known prehistoric monuments.
After researching how best to visit the attraction, we decided to go with the general admission. Inner Circle Sunrise or Sunset Tours, which needed to be prebooked, were unfortunately not available on our dates. We also considered the "free" option of seeing Stonehenge - some reviews reported that seeing Stonehenge wasn't worth the admission price as you could get close enough on public land. It was amazing what you could find on the internet, detailed information was rife complete with GPS coordinates, directions and instructions of where to park

Armed with knowledge that the amazing online photos may be misleading and prepared for a possibly underwhelming sight as well as crazy crowds, we decided to visit the stones. Overhyped or not, we had a "must-see" to tick off our list!

We decided that we could afford not to be cheap and so booked a 9am visit time which was the first available during the summer months of operation. Just in case you were wondering, the carpark opened at 830am. Stonehenge is one of the attractions included in the English Heritage Pass Overseas Visitors Pass. We were so excited that the family ticket included 3 children! Finally!

Once you have your tickets, there is a bus that takes you to the actual stones. The admission price included an audioguide via an old school device or a free app. The general consensus from the family was that we were glad we went. The history behind the stones were incredible and the stones themselves were quite breath-taking. The children noted that they were a lot bigger than they expected.

The visitor centre

Because we had to take a photo of something...

The buses to take you to the stones

Stonehenge at 9am

The audioguide was quite good

Elliot a reluctant participant. Pushing didn't work...

...let's try pulling. Lara massaging her charge

Then showing him how it is done

The original plan had us visiting Salisbury. It was fortuitous that we discovered that there was a big military event in the city on the day involving many road closures. We wisely chose to skip Salisbury and head straight on to Bournemouth. Here we rendevoused with Nana and Grandpa, who had been galivanting around the English countryside, before heading onwards to Corfe Castle. The entry fee was included in the National Trust Touring Pass. As with the English Heritage Overseas Visitors pass, do check inclusions to see if there are sites you would visit and do the maths. Once again, the family pass included three children!

We wanted to avoid a castlethon so we have picked out limited castles which seem different to each other in various ways. Corfe castle was to have a mediaval falconery demonstation so it made the list. We walked from the carpark and had a tasty, good value lunch from the bakery in the cute village outside before heading up to the castle.

The walk from the carpark around to the village and entrance

Cows along the way

The village outside the castle

There was a tea room right at the entrance as well

Nana and Grandpa now with us!

Corfe Castle

Playing with our new gimbal

The ruins ar the top

The view back down to the village

Watching the falconry demonstration at the castle grounds

Gorgrous bird

It was a magnificent day! The warm weather with sunny blue skies saw many people out and about. Whilst it was pleasant at Corfe Castle, it wasn’t so at Durdledoor. We were certain that every man and his dog were there. We bailed when we saw the long line just to pay for parking…instead I will attach a photo of what we would have seen. We’ll just have to add it to the “next time” list with Salisbury.

This was the line for paying for parking!

What we saw...

What we should have seen....note this photo is NOT mine and taken from the internet

We continued west along the Jurassic Coast to the seaside port of Lyme Regis famous for fossils and bookshops, as well as being an important shipping port. Our reason to stop though was for the fish and chip store rated number 5 in England. This English culinary experience was to make up for McDonald's in the morning, however it turned out to be a major disappointment. The chips were ordinary, the batter on the fish heavy and hard. It didn't pass the English mother-in-law test... Malcolm labelled it the worst fish n chips he'd ever had.

We ended our long day with ice-cream along the beach and drove to Exeter. Our home for tonight was Hampton By Hilton Exeter Airport, again chosen because it was conveniently located and reasonably priced. The super comfortable beds were a big bonus and the included breakfast was excellent!