It's a wonder I survived today. Paul took me on (yet another) forced march in the (yet more) rain. Our first stop for the day was in Cockington. They have a lovely town with a forge (to make horse brasses), a country manor, and a few shops. The road there looked like this:

This is actually a two-lane road, although it's only wide enough for one car for about 80% of its length. Good thing there wasn't a lot of traffic! The road widens out at various points where two cars can go through. If you're lucky (and we were) you only run into other cars at the wide points. Otherwise, someone ends up going in reverse until you do.

In Cockington, we enjoyed walking around the grounds of the country manor. Most of the manor had been converted to public gardens and a craft area. There were different types of crafters (a blacksmith, glassblower, leather maker, printmaker, etc.) on hand making their crafts, and selling the final products. There were some really lovely things there. After walking around the manor and having a look in some of the shops, we went for tea at the Rose House. We had a traditional Devonshire tea, which consists of a scone, clotted cream, and jam (usually strawberry). Clotted cream sort of tastes like really light, milky butter. It's lovely with jam on top (or on the bottom - there apparently is quite the debate about the order of jam and cream on a scone).

The scones were warm, and the tea was hot. This was good, because it started raining during our tea, and we were sitting outside under a largish umbrella. As long as we sat in the middle, we stayed relatively dry. We still were better off than the poor fellow playing piano for our entertainment in the gazebo, in my opinion.

After our tea, we drove to Torquay (pronounced Tor-key). It's known as the English Riviera, and is a great place for Agatha Christie fans to visit. It was a little damp when we were there, so the Riviera comparison didn't quite fit today. By this point, it wasn't raining anymore, so we decided to go for a walk along the seashore. The tourist info center said it was about two miles, but did not tell us anything else. Little did we know that this was not just a pleasant walk by the shore, but a hike up and down hills and steps. I protested.

But, we kept on going, because Paul dragged me along the shore, promising me fish and chips if I behaved myself. I'm a sucker for fish and chips, so I soldiered on. The views at the end (Thatcher's Point) were outstanding, and we saw at least half a dozen ships on their way into (or out of?) the harbor. They seemed to be standing still, so maybe they were just taking a break.

After the hike up and down and all around, we followed the road back, and were back in town about 20 minutes later. We shopped all around the quay for an authentic fish-and-chips shop. We didn't want to eat at a pub, and we wanted to find a local "chippy." I also wanted a view of the quay, since it was starting to brighten up a bit. We found a place, and put our order in. We had fish and chips (Paul had cod, I had haddock), mushy peas (sort of tastes like split pea soup without the soup and ham), curry sauce (excellent for dipping chips into), and a pickled egg and onion for Paul. You can see my joy at finally being able to eat after being forced to march in the rain.

We had some tea after supper, found a newsagent with another crafting magazine, and had an uneventful drive back on larger roads than the way in. Paul is now pleasantly napping, and my feet are pleasantly sore. The end of another day in our adventure!