We left the U.K. yesterday, foggy and cold at the airport. Apparently no problem for flying though.
After an uneventful journey to Wengen, we woke up this morning to more cold and fog, and even a little snow. We pulled on our winter boots and headed up to the village for supplies.
Emily popped round at lunchtime, and later on we’ll see which bars are open.
We had a good dinner at the Fortescue last night; Val had chowder and I had a very healthy crab salad. This morning it was pouring with rain again, but we did manage a walk to the nearby hamlet of Batson just before lunch.
On our way home we bought scones, jam and clotted cream, and had a decidedly unhealthy lunch. Salcombe is very quiet – the weekenders have all gone home. We had another amble around this afternoon in between the showers. Hardly any boats left in the estuary now.
A seagull joined us on the Ferry steps. She wants chips; we don’t have any.
Which leaves us with a dilemma regarding dinner. With no tourists we should be able to walk in anywhere and get a table. I wonder where we’ll end up.
On Friday evenings, outside school holidays, the Kings Arms has ‘fish friday’. Fish & chips is £10, and a bottle of Prosecco is the same price, so you get dinner with wine for 2 for £30. Absolute bargain, and we had ice creams for desert.
It was raining and windy when we woke this morning, and the poor weather continued all day. Apart from popping out for lunchtime pasties from the bakery, we stayed at home. We have a table booked at the Fortescue tonight, which thankfully is our closest pub, just 2 minutes away.
Super fruits de mer at the Crab Shed last night.
On the opposite side of the estuary is the hamlet of East Portlemouth. Lots of good walks start here. We get there on a little ferry boat.
Views back to Salcombe.
The beach at Mill Bay – completely deserted.
We’re heading for a place on the coast called Gara Rock. There’s an old coastguard lookout point here. As well as looking out for ships in distress, the coastguards were watching out for smugglers.
The coastal path takes us back towards Salcombe. It’s in surprisingly good condition considering the storm we had on Wednesday.
North Sands, and South Sands.
The wind started picking up later on, and the boat ride back across to Salcombe was pretty chilly. On the whole though we’ve been very lucky with the weather.
Salcombe has 4 pubs, and they all serve food. The Ferry Inn is always tempting.
Eventually however we ended up at the Kings Arms, where we enjoyed squid, fish & chips, and Val had a sea bass. We finished off with drinks by the fire which, with the storm still raging outside, was very cosy.
This morning the weather had calmed down. I popped out to the shops for some supplies while Val prepared for her German class.
We had crab sandwiches from the deli for lunch, before setting off for North Sands which is just around the coast to the west.
High tide – no beach for the kids to play on at the moment.
Despite thunderstorms being forecast, the weather stayed nice for most of the afternoon.
There’s a crab shack on the quay where the fishing boats unload their catches. This being Salcombe, it’s the poshest crab shack I’ve ever seen. We’ve got a table reserved for this evening, so fingers crossed some lobsters were landed today.
We’re doing well getting through the list of jobs we have to do while we’re in the U.K. We’ve even managed to change the car, which we should have done years ago. So, we thought we’d have a little holiday. We drove down this morning and we’re staying in a cottage right on the quayside here in Salcombe. View from our terrace.
Winter is coming, and most of the boats are out of the water.
The weather’s pretty stormy, so we’d better get out to reserve a table for dinner somewhere.
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