Friday's Family Feasting

Friday 22 June 2012  - More touring before a family feast

Day 70 and 89 to go

Friday already and our last full day in Devon. We didn’t get out until 9.15am and then came down stairs. Sharon wasn’t working today so we sat chatting as we had breakfast. We were spoilt with croissants today. Yum!

Sharon then left us to it as she went to the shop. We checked the map working out our day and then we started our drive while the weather was still fine. Our destination were the towns Lynton and Lynmouth.

We parked our car on the main street of Lynton and then walked to the clack railway station that is perched on the top of the cliff. We boarded the carriage and made the descent. When we reached the bottom we wandered into the town centre of Lynmouth. We were fortunate that he rain was holding off and at times we had bursts of sunshine. 

We walked up to the Glen Lyn Gorge and checked out the water coming down. It was flowing quite quickly. In 1952 the Exmoor area had a day of torrential rain. The excess water made its way to the Lyn River that was unable to cope with the volume of excess water and as a result the town of Lynmouth was completely flooded with many people losing their life.

We bought ourselves a pasty then found cover to sit under as it began to rain. We ate our lunch and then wandered on to the 14^th century pub for a drink before returning to the railway and this time ascending the cliff. 

We wandered down the main streets of Lynton checking out the different shops and then returned to the car to continue our drive along the coast. We passed the town of Combe Martin and then stopped at a viewing area as we entered the town site of Ilfracombe. The sea was super choppy today as the wind was gale force at times. It made the water look quite interesting.

After being completely windblown we returned to the car and drove through the town of Ilfracombe before heading on to Woolacombe where we stopped at the pub for a drink and a rest. There were plenty of surfers out trying their luck in the chop.

With a warming hot chocolate downed we drove to Barnstaple where we stopped to do some shopping for tonight’s gathering and then I took Paul to the Golden Lion pub for a quick drink before we finally returned Instow.

Aunty Ruth had already been dropped off by Paul. We sat in the lounge caching up and enjoying a tea. John returned home from work shortly after.

I showed off some of the photos to Ruth and then Paul when he arrived. At 5.30pm Paul’s two youngest boys Ben and Zac arrived with Ben’s girlfriend Katherine. I saw these boys 13 years ago when Zac was only 9 months old. They have certainly grown up.  They both got a slap from Ruth for having various body parts pierced. It was so funny. Zac was the target for jokes tonight from his Dad and uncle so he entertained himself with his soccer ball outside. Then Paul thought it was a good thing to start on me! Nothing like family to make you feel good. 

A close friend of Dad’s and the rest of the family, Ann also came over to join us. She used to run the post office down the main street of Clovelly and I remember visiting her and her husband Tony when I was 9.

Andrew and his girlfriend Helen arrived just after 6. Helen was celebrating as she passed her anaesthetists exam. We then got stuck into all of the food that Sharon had supplied, there was just so much but with plenty of young boys around it wasn’t long before a dent was made.

John entertained us with you tube clips that were making everyone, except Ruth, laugh. She was determined to remain ante saying she could feel her IQ lowering.  We just fed her more alcohol to keep her quiet. She really was in fine form.

We watched the Greece v Germany ¼ final match when it began. It was quite lively in the lounge during the match. I had Paul take some photos of me with everyone before they got ready to leave.

Andrew and Helen went down to the pub at 8.30pm. At 9.15pm Caroline arrived to collect the boys and Ruth. I had a quick chat with her before saying goodbye to everyone and encouraging them all to come to Perth to visit. Ann also left while everyone was heading on.

With the house quiet we got ourselves organised and then walked down to the pub with John to meet Andrew and Helen. The sun was just setting over the estuary and with the tide in it looked very pretty. 

We hung out in the bar chatting and having a few drinks. It was quite busy in the pub with plenty going on. We stayed for a couple of hours but by 11.30pm it was time to head home. As Andrew and Helen had missed the last bus they decided to stay on at Sharon & John’s.

We walked home and hung out in the lounge for a short while seeing the highlights of the soccer. Germany hammered Greece 4 -1.  We then decided it was time to head to bed.

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