Friday 19th August 2022

Another sunny seagull-sounding day.  I went to Sheldon after posting 2 more DVDs, it started to drizzle while I was walking along the seafront so I went back and fetched a brolly.  the Met office has all this technology, yet they still get the damned weather wrong!

I stopped at an antique shop which has a few cuckoo clocks and also a Navy Colt which had engravings on the barrel.  It's more of a showman's weapon than used in battle, there was a rifle which the lady said wasn't real, but I think it was. I picked up the spirit of a man who used to live there during the 2nd world war, Teignmouth would have been a very different place then.  He kept talking about bombings, Teignmouth was badly bombed during the war because of the Morgen dockyards.

I got the ferry to Sheldon, which is the oldest ferry in the UK, the ferry started in the 1500s, but I don't think the boat I went in is that old!  I sat next to a man who had a huge Sheltie dog, It is £2 each way to cross the water.  I went to the smugglers' tunnel which leads down to a beach, last time I walked the tunnel the lights went out and I was in pitch blackness.

Some people were on the beach, I used to come here with my parents for the afternoon; seems such a long time ago now.  When I look out my window I can see the old Redsands hotel where we used to stay, we stayed in the attic and once on the first floor.

I had some lunch in the Clipper cafe, no room outside so I sat just by the door.  They have put a cover-up outside, probably because the seagulls were a pest divebombing people's meals.  I put my unused tea on the plants and went for a wander, some of the gardens are very pretty.  

I caught the ferry back to Teignmouth, just as well I sat on the left, as people on the right (including a small lad). were splashed with sea water; it's all part of the adventure.

Walking along the seafront, some people were giving out newspapers about climate change and greedy companies. if we don't save this planet there will be no one left alive to benefit.

Got a bus to Dawlish, they have their carnival at 7.30 so the roads will be closed at 7.00.  I saw a riot van going along the road, so they are expecting the trouble it seems.  Wandered around some of the shops and stopped at a cafe called Susie's, bit humid inside but it was even hotter outside.

I found a bathroom pull in the shape of a beach hut for my parents, for only £1.99.  The park is very nice with coloured lights going through the middle, Dawlish is famous for the black swans.

I didn't stay for the carnival as it will be too busy, I hope we don't get another Covid spike,  I got the Paignton bus back to Teignmouth and had a teacake at the diner, sat round the backwater watching the sunset.  Then it vanished behind a cloud, so that was that then.  Getting too drafty sitting on the bench, I hope to visit Brixham, Paignton and finish in Torquay tomorrow.  But it all depends on the buses, they are hit and miss and the damned trains are on strike again tomorrow!