Monday 9 June 2014

Devon Wanderings


Well, Dartmouth was quite relaxing, and seeing cadets from the Britannia Royal Navel College brought back memories from my own days as a midshipman at HMS Conway in Anglesey in the late 60s. The Dartmouth midshpmen cadets had been let out on Saturday evening and were accompanied about town by their parents, with the cadets walking, in a highly embarrassed manner, several steps ahead of mum and dad.

Came across this beer brand in a local hostelry from the Wild Beer Company near Shepton Mallett.



Now I'm no great beer drinker, but this stuff was truly superb! A wide range of flavours and strengths.

Watching the seagulls soar above the River Dart, it struck me that you don't need to buy your kid a kite - just get a seagull, dip it in shellac and you have a ready-made kite.

On the way down on Saturday morning, Hay subjected me to Radio 2, where Brian Matthews was playing hits from the 50s and 60s. These songs with lots of shoo-wop-de-boops and rama-lama-dingdongs were a load of tosh, weren't they? Just an excuse for having no words to go with the tune.

From Sunday's newspapers it seems the Scottish referendum hinges on Andy Murray's decision as to whether he considers himself to be Scottish or British. Deep stuff!

Papers are still full of this Qatar World Cup nonsense with Milliband weighing in on the issue. I just wish at least one of the party leaders would say; "You know what? I don't give a toss as to who gets to host the World Cup." However, that would be a bit like a US presidential candidate saying they were atheist.

Spotted this painting in a gallery in Dartmouth (click to enlarge):


6 artists had cut up leonardo's Last Supper and given their own spins on their allotted section. I particularly like the inclusion of Dobby.

Called in on Totnes on the way back - again quite a nice place. Additionally called in on Teignmouth - hideous!

On our next weekend jaunt I'm going to see if I can persuade Hay to go somewhere further north - getting a bit tired of the southwest coast - see one river town and you've seen them all. They are all fast becoming yachting brands, with expensive Joules, Crew Clothing, Fat Face, Weird Fish, etc. outlets. I'm yearning to see an Edinburgh Woollen Mill outlet....


3 comments:

Lee said...

Quite a tour, thank you.

A Heron's View said...

Just be careful about what you say about Teignmouth, that's where I was schooled back in the day. Tho' to be honest I have not been there for 40 yrs or more. Dartmouth BRNC is where we used to camp in the summer holidays & row their whalers in the regatta as well as winning the prizes. You might like Kirkcudbright in Dumfries & Ayrshire and further up Oban too.

Chairman Bill said...

I tell you now - you don't want to be going anywhere near Teignmouth - it's dire! Glad to get out of the place and come home a few hours early.