Day 1499 a trip to Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth and back to Bristol Airport ✈️

I set an alarm for 7.30am this morning as Helen was coming to get me at 9am. Just as well as I was out for the count last night. We didn’t get to bed until 11pm!

The evening reception started at 5pm until 9pm as we were out on the Stuart Line cruises, cruising the mouth of the River Exe.

Stuart Line River Exe cruises

That link above gives you dome detail on the cruise.

I used Helen’s house as a base yesterday and got ready pretty early. I spent a lovely half hour with her daughter’s new kittens, actually as I say that, I think I posted those photos yesterday.

It’s only a 15 minute walk down to the Stuart Line cruise.

Phone matches the dress!

We leave exactly at 5pm.

It was much cooler, had clouded over and was threatening rain which was a shame.

Leaving the harbour.

We went upstairs on and off but it did start raining about 6pm and ended up lashing with rain by 9pm.

Such a shame after a beautiful day. It didn’t dampen the spirits though as the boat has a warm indoor area downstairs.

I’m making sure there are no photos of the bride and groom!!

Here we are, so lovely to spend time with Helen and her family again…. Obviously we missed Craig but you know me, I chatted to everyone.

Laughed at these 3 bots powering along all tied together.

The boat sailed as far up as Topsham. Helen I had walked up here the last time I’d been down in March. It was lovely to see it from the water.

One of the other cruise ships followed us at one point!

I thought this looked like a sunken pirates ship!

Apparently this happens a lot when boats sink and are just left. The harbour master tried to find the owners but it’s often very difficult to do.

It’s raining heavily now, so this one is taken inside. This is Starcross which is directly across the water from Exmouth.

Well go here next time I’m down.

The water took on quite a roll as we crossed the mouth of the Exe. It was the only time it was bumpy.

So back to this morning…. Helen and Mike picked me up at 9am and we headed to Budleigh Salterton.

I was blown away by these stunning colours. Apparently the sea is always like this. The red sand comes from the cliffs.

What a pretty bench with all the bright red poppies!

Typical English beach huts.

First of all we had breakfast on the beach!

Pretty much right after this photo we got soaked!!

We hid under a tree and you can see the squall moving off.

Lovely war memorial with a view.

The wild flowers are so pretty in Spring and there’s so many of them.

Pastel beach huts and the sun is back out…. We’re trying to dry off.

Loved this church and tree.

Because of the weather we decided to head back down to Exmouth and went out around the harbour again.

The tide is in.

I loved this red and blue boat.

We walked down to it.

The clouds are coming in again.

Helen said this boat appeared about 6 months ago and just sits here.

It’s raining again now but we make it back without getting soaked.

The sun comes out just in time for Helen to hang her washing!!

So that’s me at the airport waiting to board, heading back to see Craigie and the puppers.

There’s a chance I may have an empty seat next to me as Craig should have been in it. 😆

I can’t post the blog now as there is no signal and none of the photos have loaded up.

Just home and it’s 7.15pm. Shattered but good to get back to Craig and the puppets and for these photos to finally load!!

Some great shots of the flight and flying in to Glasgow…

I’m off to get some dinner and put my comfies on.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1498 a lovely day in Exmouth, now ready to go to my goddaughter’s wedding!

Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances, Craig has had to get an earlier flight home to look after the dogs.

Please don’t worry, we’re all ok, obviously I was gutted to see him leave at 7.30am and he’s only just landed back in Glasgow at 2.30pm, it’s just not my story to tell.

After he left, I sat out in Helen’s mum’s garden and enjoyed the lovely weather. It says it will only reach 14°C today, but it feels way warmer than that to the ode of us from beyond the wall!

The flowers are beautiful!

I love the early morning sunlight.

We woke at 4.18 and I tried to get back to sleep but not sure that I did.

This is the lane that the house is on! Typical Devon high hedged lane.

We left just after 9 to head down to Helen’s. I will wonder around Exmouth for the day and come back to Helen’s to get ready.

You know me, I love a wander, especially in the sun!

I got to have a sneaky peak at the beautiful bride to be, Mother, Grandma and sister of the bride before I headed out.

This is the view on the way into Exmouth.

The harbour is looking beautiful in the deep blue sky and bright sunshine.

I love the colourful houses.

The tide is in, but starting to head out, it looks positively tropical.

I think that’s the boat we will be on later, sir the Reception.

I walked along here to the beach.

The water seems so clear.

It’s nowhere near as busy as I expected but there a good few boats and yachts out.

The tide here flows out really fast.

This is an upside down photo.

I love the wispy clouds…. It’s to rain later, it’s hard to see that in the sky.

This is the start of the main beach in Exmouth which is huge.

I stopped and got an ice cream at the Sea Shore Ice Creamery. It’s a bubblegum waffle with Turkish delight AND a flake. The guy said it was “a bit out there”. 😂

I surprised it’s not heaving for bank holiday weekend.

Spotted all these Scotland flags 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in the English sky!

I love these cliffs, part of the Jurassic Coastline.

I found a wee path to save me walking in the sea.

The contrast in colours is stunning.

Random big rock.

So quiet.

I wandered around here for a while.

I love that the photos don’t really show the folk that were there!

Heading back into Exmouth.

The current here is so strong and it’s like the clouds are mirroring the speed!

The clouds are starting to roll in.

Back to the boat we are on tonight.

And the harbour.

The sun shone all day.

I came back to Helen’s and got ready. Here I am sitting with my other goddaughter’s beautiful kittens.

I’m glad I ironed my dress!!

They are soooo lovely.

Right I best dash, finish off and get down to the boat!

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

Day 1414 Exmouth to Sidmouth by Stagecoach bus!

Slept like a log from 9am until 5am and then was awake on and off until sleeping beauty finally awoke at 8.33pm… that’s my friend Helen, not Craig 😂

We went on a bus trip from Exmouth to Sidmouth today.

This was like a step back in time…. In a previous life I wrote the spec for these buses and checked them all through build.

This bus one was one of my contracts.

Stagecoach selfie!

So yeah… off to Sidmouth.

It’s now 8.23pm and I am shattered. A mere 15,724 steps so far, a lovely lunch out, hot chocolate and cake out and a chippy tea with Helen’s mum and daughter Anna. I’ve had the loveliest day but I’m a bit too tired for words…. I am in my element exploring, walking and taking lovely photos in the sun. Here are a few.

Here we are at the mouth of the River Sid. We walked right up the river through the Byes.

The ford was closed as it was too fast flowing.

We are the two shadows on the left 😂😂

When we got back down to the beach there was a storm rolling by. It was really dramatic.

Models own T-shirt…. Pres from Craigie for my trip!

Helen’s mum picked us up and took us to Budleigh Salterton where we caught this lovely sunset.

Off a a wee overnight secret adventure tomorrow that definitely involves Lyme Regis! Exciting!

All of this is what makes me tick.

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

Day 1413 a lovely walk from Exmouth to Topsham for lunch

As suspected the flight was absolutely fine and all anxiety was gone by the time I landed.

It was such a clear night. This is us over Bristol.

I slept like a log! We got to bed about 11.30pm last night after Helen met me in Bristol and we drove back down to Exmouth.

Woke at 6.33am and back to sleep until 8.33am (what is it with the 33’s?!?!)…. When someone called me and woke me up… now who would do such a thing?!? Surely not Craig 😂😂😂

Anyway, it was worth it as it got me up and moving!

By the time we showered and had hot cross buns for breakfast if was after 11am before we got out.

This was the planned walk today from Exmouth to Topsham.

If you follow the black railway, that’s exactly what we did… I took this at the “you are here” sign.

The tide was in, in the estuary for the whole walk.

Here we are setting off.

We’ve done nearly 26k steps today!!

This bench was a memorial to Joanna O’Toole. Here’s the link to the FB Joanna O’Toole Foundation. She dedicated her life to saving animals around the world and died on Ethiopan Ailrines Flight ET302 on 10th March 2019. She was only 37 years old. So sad…. A beautiful bench modelled by Helen!

It was lovely weather with a few rain showers along the way. Much better than forecast.

TRAIN!!!

Lympstone Village is almost half way and is really beautiful with tiny streets. Don’t know how you would get your weekly shop to your front door!!!

We walked along the beach.

And saw this lovely boat. I love the colours.

Someone lives here!!!

Train AND rainbow.

Thatched roof, so very typically English.

The sea on the estuary is all churned up just now, full of sand.

We had a wee seat on a wee bench. I seem to be rocking a combe over 😂😘

The clouds came over just in time for lunch!

Topsham was lovely too. Lots of money in those houses too!! again… with the parking?!? I couldn’t live here 😂😂

But it was very beautiful!

Met this wee guy!

Then we went to The Café in Topsham and had avocado toast.

AND clotted cream scones.

We got the train back to Exmouth. I was too full to walk anywhere!

The tide is out in the estuary but the reflections are lovely. All of these are taken from the train window!

We then went to visit Helen’s eldest daughter and her grandson before he went to his first school disco. He was all dressed up as Spider-Man bless him, such a cutie.

We then went for another walk down the harbour.

The heaven’s opened after this so we headed back to the house.

We now have our feet up on the couch with Helen’s youngest daughter and we’re having a girls night in watching movies!

I’ll be asleep in an hour. 😂😂

Off to Sidmouth tomorrow.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1265 a bus trip, 17k steps around Exmouth and Bristol to Glasgow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✈️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I am shattered!!! It’s nearly 3pm and I’m in Bristol Airport awaiting my return flight to Glasgow at 16.55.

I made the mistake of checking the weather back home and am freaking out about how windy it is. 😱 To be fair I’m so tired, I think I’ll be out for the count the minute I sit in the plane.

I’ve had the best weekend. 🫶🏼

Slept like a log again and we woke just after 7 and decided to head out for the 9am open top bus around Exmouth. The forecast wasn’t great so there was no open top bus, just a Stagecoach double decker! Those of you who know me, will be very aware that a Stagecoach bus is a huge part of my previous life. I used to be a Contract Manager in a bus building factory, and Stagecoach were my customer. I then went on to manage the team of Contract Managers, but that’s a lifetime ago.

I actually helped them design the Stagecoach Gold bus that we were on this morning. It was my job to help them source all the colour matches to their spec requirements back in around 2012. It was a huge investment into their fleet.

This bus was a huge trip down memory lane.

HUGE…. But I don’t live that life anymore. The gold spec looks a little worn on this particular bus.

The bus went back out to Sandy Bay, where we walked to on Friday.

It looked very different today. Actually, you can’t see the beach from the bus so it just looked very cloudy and windy. It was lovely to see some of Exmouth that we wouldn’t have managed on foot. This is the restaurant we had lunch in on Friday.

We got off the bus in the centre of Exmouth and walked all the way back along the beachfront again. It was super blustery but lovely to see it all in different conditions. It was meant to pour this morning and it’s actually been dry all the time, which was a bonus.

We had a lovely breakfast in Aby’s Café down on the sea front. We had scrambled eggs and avocado on brown toast. It was really lovely.

We set off at 12.30 for Bristol Airport as it’s quite a trek.

Walking into Bristol Airport.

I’ve found a wee quiet spot in a very busy airport and I’ve managed to get my feet up. I tried to have a snooze but it doesn’t seem as easy on my own. 😆

I’ve brought a plastic bottle with me, you get it through security, empty and every airport has water fill stations now. I used to spend a fortune on bottled water at the airport. I didn’t spend a small fortune on some sushi and crisps. 😆

A really lovely weekend but looking forward to seeing Craigie and the pupsters for a few days before I head off to Turkey. Don’t worry, I’m knackered at the thought of it too, but it will be super relaxing when I’m there…. And sunshine…. There will be wall to wall sunshine!!

I still have an hour to wait but surely that will be taken up by finding my gate etc… then I can sleep.

Thanks so much to Helen and her family for the best weekend!!

Stay safe everyone 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿✈️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Day 1263 exploring Exmouth in the sunshine ☀️

I have done 27,150 steps today and we’re not done yet! I will sleep tonight!!

We’ve had the best day exploring Exmouth. It’s been lovely and sunny with the odd passing squall. We didn’t even get wet though. So lucky with the weather.

My flight was perfect last bight. We took off early and landed early. I was there before Helen!!

We got to Exmouth at 1am and were both out for the count….. we’re sharing a bed and apparently I never moved all night!

So up at 8am and out before 10am and we have walked and walked and walked and walked and talked and talked and talked. I have some stunning photographs.

I’ve met up with Helen’s lovey daughters Zoë and Anna, after way too many years and met her cutie grandson.

We’ve had dinner with Helen’s mum and are having the loveliest chats. It’s been the best day!!

I’ll just share some quick pics just now as I am shattered!

I’m now at 27,943 steps. My sore knee is doing pretty well, considering. I’ve been on ibuprofen and paracetamol all day but it’s really helping.