The M5, A30, A39, B3266 and Roundabouts!

Yesterday we drove to the Jurassic Coast via Dartmoor National Park. We've been driving several hours each day in order to be stationed at Snappers each night, and be able to see all the wondrous things in Cornwall.

 Driving here is a little but like those car commercials where it says at the bottom "closed road, do not attempt". Every road is windy, and about one and a half lanes wide.  There are hedgerows that have grown tall with trees so that you can't see around the next corner.

Driving here is also like being inside a packet of IKEA directions. You know how you buy something awesome at IKEA and get it home, and there's and entire booklet of directions that contain no words? None of the road signs here have words! Well, that's not true. We saw one yesterday that said, "Sheep Lying on Road".  😂 And it was true!

Driving here is also an exercise in circular driving. No kidding, the highways here do not have exits as much as they have roundabouts. I think the longest we have gone without a roundabout is about 12 miles.

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And finally, driving here is so...friendly! It is common practice to come around a corner, and slam on your brakes when you find a tractor, or another car in front of you. You end up playing chicken with the oncoming car backing up and maneuvering around each other. There is swerving around in the roundabouts and passing on small lanes. And everyone you pass, no matter what you have done with your car, smiles and waves. There is no horn blaring our angry looks; there is no road rage.  If only it worked like that everywhere!

Dartmoor National Park is quite unlike Exmoor. True, it is moorland, but it does not contain the type of private farming that Exmoor does. We were there on Saturday, and observed gobs of people in their hiking gear enjoying the park. There are many tors to be climbed, and ancient ruins to explore. There are remains of the Bronze and Iron ages in Dartmoor. We're talking BC!  We discovered this "house" on our way up one of the tors. 

At the top of the tor were these beautiful  rock formations. The view was amazing, and we could see the circular enclosures of several pre-historic communities. Plus, it was just fun climbing around!

If there is one thing this country has a lot of, it's sheep! And all different kinds! I'm sure some of you already knew that, but my sheepdom is limited. :) Even cuter than all these sheepies are their babies! It's lamb season and they are are so adorable.  

If you were impressed with the BC part of the Bronze Age, then the Jurassic Coast will knock your socks of.  It's about 100 miles of coastline that has rocks and fossils from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. We chose Charmouth Beach as our destination because it is common to find fossils there. The cliffs are high, and fossils apparently just fall off with erosion and are commonly found on the beach.

We didn't find any fossils, but we did find imprints of them. 

Upon arriving at the beach, this beach girl popped off her shoes and socks, because that is what one does at the beach, right?   Apparently this is why all the other beachgoers had wellies on! It wasn't sand, but tiny, pokey, pebbles. It was not long before the shoes went back on!

And then back in Camelford we had our first real English dinner, the dinner I had been worried about. You know, the one where I read the menu (twice) and wasn't sure what I would eat.  As you well know, I am an insanely picky eater.  The English eat a lot of meats that are in my "no" category, and this menu was full of them! I survived dinner, as did Louise (barely -- her scallops had extra parts 😳), and we were rewarded handsomely with amazing desserts. I had belgian waffles with toffee-nut sauce. Delicious! Mom and an extremely awesome berry crumble. And while the food was weird, the people were, again, so awesome. The patrons and the wait staff could not have been more friendly. That alone has made this trip so enjoyable. 

Tomorrow: St. Ives!