When we were in Dartmouth the other day we spotted a poster advertising a boat trip we liked the sound of. It involved a 2 hour cruise on what was billed as the biggest boat on the river visiting some WW2 sites in the area, with full commentary.
When we made our now familiar journey to Dartmouth on the bus today we expected to have time for fish and chips before our trip, due to leave at 14.00. Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the company offering the cruise we wanted. All along the quayside there are kiosks selling cruise tickets but it seems they all work for only one company. The ferry company we wanted - Greenway Ferrys, only seem to have one kiosk which is not on the quayside but stuck on its own further into town. According to someone Lynda asked the kiosk has not been operational this year.
I think that due to a lack of competition the fares for ferrys and steam trains has gone up quite a bit, they all seem to be run by the same company. Just a half hour circular trip round the bay was £8.50 wherease our original choice was just £6 for 2 hours worth.
Across the river from Dartmouth is the town of Kingswear. For some reason we thought maybe Kingswear was the upmarket, posher relation to Dartmouth so we decided to take the short ferry crossing across the river to explore. Kingswear was a real let down alas. We thought we would find a nice place to have lunch but there is hardly anything there. Only things of interest were the marina, dozens of small boats, and the station for the steam railway. A ride on the steam train costs £15 each which was far too much for us, its owned by the same ferry company that has a monopoly on the river of course.
After a quick look at the boats we got the ferry back across the river and went off in search of fish and chips which we enjoyed sitting on a riverside bench, very nice.
Originally we were going to get the 16.55 bus back to the site but luckily we were just in time to catch one 2 hours earlier, saved hanging about for all that time.
Once back at the site we thought we would be just in time for the birds of prey display but we (Lynda) got the time wrong and we were too late. We thought we deserved an ice cream so went to the site shop to see what they had. We got a Magnum each, I glanced at the price list and thought they were going to cost £1 each but no, £2 each!
Back at the van we sat outside in the sun until our good friends the clouds started to roll in.
About to set off on our voyage to Kingswear.
Here we are at Kingwear, 3 minutes after setting off. Disappointment awaits.
This is about all there is, not exciting.
This is the biggest boat we say, Lynda's favourite of course.
We waited quite a while for a steam train to turn up, no carraiges and not all that exciting.
Everyone has to use the ferry eventually!
Tucking into our fish and chips, very nice they were too.
Poor old boy sitting all alone in a shelter.
21st May.
Perfect. Thats the word that best describes todays weather. Bright and sunny first thing and it stayed that way all day. We had originally planned to get the bus to Totnes but instead just hung about the site all day. Lynda had a cleaning frenzy for a couple of hours, I did my bit to help (honest) but in the end I got fed up and went off to have a better look round the theme park.
Its no Alton Towers or Thorpe Park but there is a lot here, mostly aimed at youngish children not surprisingly. Must cost a fortune to keep the place going as there were hardly any paying visitors but they still have to pay the staff.
Back at the van we just relaxed for the rest of the day and enjoyed a glass of wine or three. Lynda noticed something leaking from near the back of the van, I thought at first that the grey waste tank was leaking and I was going to be landed with a large repair bill. In the end I realised there was no problem, the tank was just full up and overflowing. As we want to hit the road quite early tomorrow morning we drove round to the motorhome service point and did the necessary.
Recreation room above the facilities block.
Tractors, great fun for kids.
The tractors follow those tracks through dinosaur country.
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