Tavistock, Okehampton and Exeter

Two full days in the UK under our belts and a third on the way. The weather this morning is just amazing, as it has been since we arrived. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures have made for perfect sightseeing and walking conditions.

Our second day started with a drive to Tavistock, about 20 minutes drive from here. There is a small market there every day, with Tuesdays given over to antiques. We had a bit of a look in the market and walked by the side of the river for a bit before heading back to Lyndford, a small village about half way between us and Tavistock. There's a ruin of a 12th century castle there which was used as a prison in the Middle Ages. As luck would have it, there's a pub right next door where we could stop for a ploughmans lunch (with side of cheesy chips) and Phil's first pint of ale. We sat outside in the pub's garden right under the walls of the castle.

We then decided to take a walk to Okehampton down a path known as The Granite Way, which goes right past our villa. We walked about 3-4 miles along the edge of Dartmoor next to an abandoned railway line and past the largely ruined Okehampton Castle. We were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we got to Okehampton and, shamed to say this, we caught a taxi back to the villa since we couldn't face the walking distance back in the heat, and this time all uphill.

Finished the day with a quick drive to Exeter for no other reason than to fix up Petra's Internet access so we could continue to blog and post on Facebook. Nice drive though and it was good to get our first  view of Exeter. We're going back there in a few days to see more.