Day 12 - Plymouth (Wotter)

Today we sadly said goodbye to Weston-Super-Mare but I didn't want to leave without one more trip to Mum's home town of Congresbury.

 

So after our yummy cooked breakfast Kyle and I said goodbye to our hosts Linda and Derek and see you later to Tony and Tasha and headed off for a walk to the bus station.  (Oh and sent Tony and Tasha off to the Laundromat to do all the washing!)

 

We made our way back to Congresbury and headed off on the walk to Honeymeade Cottage, Mum's old house.  On the way we met this little fella in the gutter.  Today was a cold, wet, miserable, average English day and obviously he had found shelter from the wind in the gutter and decided to have a little sleep!

 We walked the road from where the bus dropped us off whihc was just near Mum's old school to her old house and I couldn't help but think of how many times Mum had done that walk before me.  Kyl and I spent quite a bit time outside Honeymeade Cottage talking about Mum and I shared many stories she had told me about growing up in that house.

 We also spent some time checking out the old orchards (what we could see of them).

After that we walked back to congresbury library where I spent some time going through the historical records and archives finding out as much as I could about the family history and life in Congresbury at the time Mum was growing up there.  It was a fascinating time and I read about the war years, floods, community events and much more

 Then it was time to head back to Weston Super Mare to meet up with Tony and Tasha...... easier said than done!  Obviously we look super scary as we watched 4 buses go by without stopping before we could finally get one to stop for us!

Anyway... good timing!.... we got back just as Tony was pulling the last lot of clothes out the dryer!  So we raced to the train station and caught a train to our next stop.... plymouth.
Oh with a 50 minute stopover in a town called Taunton as we waited for our connecting train.  We finally made it to Plymouth just after 4:30 and decided on the spot that we would just get a taxi out to Wotter rather than trying to find a rental car at that time of the afternoon.  Boy am I glad we did - those roads are narrow and scary.  Although we think we will need to hire a car for the next few days - scary thought!

Moorland hotel is just beautiful!  The view from our bedroom window over the moors all the way to plymouth and the sea is amazing - the picture just does not do it justice.  Our room is soooo big and don't get me started on the bathtub...... heaven!

 After a short break to relax, unpack, sort out the washing etc we went downstairs to the lounge area to have a drink and wait for Patty when who should walk in the front door!
What a brilliant night - we chatted and chatted, catching up not only on the last 20 years of our lives but also reminiscing about school etc.  Dinner was over way too soon and we said our goodbyes and headed up to our rooms.  Hope to catch up some more over the next day or two. 

I will have to dig out some old photos from school days but I don't think Patty has changed a bit!

Todays tally:
Steps.... well I can't do this one today - I forgot to put my pedometer on this morning.  Oooops :)
Days till Tasha's big surprise:  1
Hedgehogs encountered: 1
Hours on public transport: 4 hours!