Visting Ruth

Tuesday 19 June 2012  - Visiting my Aunty

Day 67 and 92 to go

With a good nights sleep we were up and about at 8.30am as the demolition workers were out on the block next-door and banging around. We helped ourselves to breakfast before getting our things together and getting out while the weather was fine and the sky blue.

Our first stop was over the water and into Bideford. We parked up along the front and then went for a walk through the town. The town was again covered in English flags and flowers in hanging baskets. We had a laugh as we walked past a local pub called Crabbie Dicks. Who in their right mind would want to drink there? Apparently this is the pub where John goes and was to drag Paul to tonight to watch the soccer. 

After our wander around the streets we drove on to Barnstaple where we would catch up with Aunty Ruth. Her home is right on a narrow street so it was a bit interesting getting the car in. Once we were there we weren’t going to move it in a hurry.

It was terrific to catch up with her again. We had a tea and biscuits, which seems to be customary here in blighty. With the drinks finished we walked into Barnstaple centre and had a walk around.

I was able to put my broken sandal in with the cobbler while we continued our walk along the waterfront and on to the Wetherspoons pub for lunch. We found ourselves a table by the window overlooking the river and continued chatting while waiting for our meals. I had salmon that was delicious while Paul enjoyed the gammon.

When we finished our meals we made our way back out into the town where I returned to collect my shoe and then we walked back to Aunty’s place. We had more tea while we chatted and watched a little TV. It was great to be able to share some time together and try and convince her to come to Perth again, though I don’t think it will happen. 

At 4pm we left Ruth and decided to drive on to Appledore that sits almost opposite Instow on the opposite side of the estuary. This is obviously a holiday spot where people come to enjoy the quiet sea-side location. We stopped for a Hockings ice cream on Dad’s recommendation and wandered along the front as we ate it. It was worth stopping for. 

We then wound our way into the small town centre, passing two dos on patrol and then walked into a small pub for a pint.

While it was still fine we continued our walk further around the point checking out the small houses and the narrow lanes before returning to the car and back to Sharon and John’s.

We pulled into their driveway at 5.20pm. John was already out cleaning the BBQ and Sharon was in preparing food. We sat around chatting about our day while enjoying a drink. We were even able to sit in the sun. Yippee. At 6pm Paul and Liz joined us and we began diving into the feast of food that had been prepared. There was just so much we thought there were more people coming along.

 We enjoyed our meal immensely, including the banoffee pie Liz had made with Paul. YUM! By 7.45pm the boys disappeared to watch the England v Ukraine soccer game while we continued chatting until it became too cold to sit out and we joined the boys in the lounge watching the soccer.

It was quite entertaining and early in the second half Rooney finally scored and from there the team managed to maintain their lead and take the win.

At the end of the match Paul took Liz home but returned shortly after with his dog Timmy who was looking for a biscuit. We stayed up and watched the news before calling it a night.

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