Photo Gallery

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging after today, so I thought I'd share a few photos that didn't make it into the blog.

Best Improvised Sleep Mask:

Best Action Shot of J. being Rear-Ended:

Best Promotional Photo:

Best Modern Art Photo:

Best Fish and Chip Shop in the World:

Best Jewelry Store Guard Dog:

Best Tasteful Nude:

Scenes from Marathon Golf Day

Yes, I completed 36 holes of golf in one day.

Can you spot me? I am now an expert on timothy, crabgrass, buttercups, dandelions, rabbits, and all other things that you don't find in a boring place like a fairway.

One hole to go...

The reward.

Ilfracombe

In preparation for the golf marathon tomorrow (2 rounds of golf in one day), we drove to Saunton Golf Course, a club with, count 'em, two championship golf courses. It costs 40 pounds to golf one, but only 50 pounds to golf both. We like a good deal! I was going to send Don off to golf alone, but when I got out of the car and had a look at the course, I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss. I may not be able to do all 36 holes, so I'm taking my IPad with me. I've just started reading Game of Thrones, and I have all four books, so I won't be bored. If my bones aren't too weary after the first 18 holes, I'll try to muster up the energy to play the second course.

After scouting out the golf course, we hopped back in the car and headed for Ilfracombe, a seaside village. We parked near the top of the village, and spotted some tunnels that led down to the seaside. Apparently miners in the early 1800's created several tunnels thorough the cliffs so that bathers could get down to the "pools" below. There were originally two pools--one for men, one for women. The women's pool still exists. Here's a photo. Behind me you can see the tunnel through the cliff:

Another pastime for seaside visitors is "rock-pooling." This involves seaching for interesting rocks and shells in the pools of water that form when the tide goes out:

Our time in Bideford is nearing an end. Tomorrow is marathon golf day, and Friday is "clean the cottage" day. We leave early Saturday morning for Leyland.

I'll blog later tomorrow. You'll have to wait to see if I survived two rounds of golf.

I couldn't think of anything to blog about until...

Okay, so we golf, we eat, we watch t.v. Not very exciting, but VERY relaxing. But that doesn't leave much for me to blog about, does it? I could tell you that British t.v. consists of two genres: buying houses and hunting for antiques. (That's not strictly true: the history programs are really well done and I'm usually glued to the set.) Anyway, I've spent enough time telling you about t.v., food, and golf, so I was going to take a day off from blogging.
I went out to the shops (it's a beautiful day today, by the way) and who do you think I spotted walking amongst the crowd?

 Yes, it was a duck with a green bow tie!!!! I just HAD to get some more snaps:

The duck was out shopping with this dude who was collecting money for charity. I threw in a pound and snapped away. Apparently the duck was on the national news yesterday, but that could have been an advertising ploy. Who cares, the duck had star quality and I'd put him on the news!

Whew, that's enough excitement for today. I've convinced Don to golf all day on Thursday so I can do some souvenir shopping here; it didn't take much to convince him.

Olympic Torch Relay

Today was an exciting day for  Bideford. The Olympic Torch, on its way to London for the Olympics in July, passed through the village. The torch will travel 8000 miles in the U.K. and be carried by 8000 torch bearers. Here's a photo with me in front videotaping the runner on my IPod. I was hoping to upload the video to this blog, but Apple is not cooperating with me:

Well, in one week we fly home. Knowing how nostalgic we'll be in a week and a day, we decided to have another cream tea. This time I didn't eat BOTH scones. I "kid-napkined" it and hid it in my purse to be enjoyed later in the day:

Don and I have only four days left to golf, so I won't be suprised to see him do 36 holes in a day. He was out at 5:15 this morning when the sun was just coming up. I decided to stay home and sleep in:

We'll try to get in a few more day-trips and pub lunches before Saturday when we head to Leyland to visit relatives. So many pubs to visit, so little time...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Calories

The perfect day: Golf at 5:30 a.m., nap from 10 a.m. to 12, and then Sunday Roast. Life is good. 

A trip to the big city

Today we decided to check out Exeter, the biggest city in Devon. I was particularly interested in visiting Exeter Cathedral, and it didn't disappoint.

Exeter was badly bombed during the Second World War. It was a miracle that the cathedral remained unscathed while the area around it was flattened. Today the rebuilt area is full of shops and pubs, but the city planners maintained the narrow cobblestone streets and medieval feel. Here are some shots. The second and third pictures show the memorial to John Graves Simcoe, a name familiar to Ontarians:

Tomorrow is Sunday, so that's "Sunday Roast" day at all the pubs in England. We've missed out so far, but tomorrow we intend to find a Sunday Roast and gorge ourselves. I guess I'll have to golf first to work up an appetite!

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Location:Exeter