Rouen

Our first stop after leaving the ferry was Rouen, the medieval city where Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) was matyred. A towering cross and a garden of flowers marks the place where she was burned at the stake in what is now the Vieux-Marche.



We also walked down and admired the town clock and magnificent Cathedral before driving to Versailles. An exciting but tiring day.

Over from Dover...

Our adventure began yesterday, with an early start and driving to Dover to catch the ferry to Dunkerque. Dave found a scenic route driving through a pretty village, with a view of the Channel Tunnel. Yay for sat navs...



I don't remember much of the ferries from when I was in Europe as a toddler, so it was interesting to watch as we pulled away from the port.



The crossing was very calm and smooth and the time passed away pleasantly with a picnic lunch and reading books. The white cliffs of Dover were great to see as well!



Lots of ferries leave from Dover, some go to Calais.

Wednesday Meet-Up

Usually at least once a fortnight I meet up with the crew at the Nag's Head pub in Covent Garden. English pubs are fun places to meet friends in, lots of atmosphere. Yesterday was a special one as everyone is off in different directions for the summer! Kate and Rel are off to travel all around Europe for 7 weeks, while Ben is going to try his luck working in Ireland.



Luckily Jamie will be around a bit longer before he goes off for further study at home in Newcastle and Alix will be back and forth between London and France. Have a great summer, everyone!

Thunderstorms in Eden

The forecast was for rain, so we headed across to Cornwall to the Eden Project, hidden in an old quarry in Boldeva. It's an amazing architectural structure, I must admit I had it a bit confused with the Biosphere 2 experiments but it was fascinating to visit a man-made rainforest.



While we were there, a thunderstorm erupted overhead and it was phenomenal how loud the rain was on the roof, the water coming down like a torrent over the domes.



Here are the towering clouds responsible for all the drama!



Inside, there are two biomes; a rainforest and a Meditteranean garden.

English Riviera

Saturday was bright and beautiful, we headed down the coast to sight- see around Torquay and Paignton. We stopped off at a few little towns and villages and enjoyed some summer sun.




Above, clockwise from top left: the crookedest little chimney I've ever seen, a village under water, VW by the sea, Dartmouth castle.



It was a very good day for boating.



We even went across on a ferry from Kingswear to Dartmouth.






We had a clifftop walk from Salcombe towards Bolthead with wonderful views. The landscape turned black and white as we watched the boats heading in to the marina and the fog enveloped the land and sea.

Dartmoor

We escaped to Devon over the weekend to explore some of the coast and countryside. Devon is lush and green, even the roads are walled in by miles and miles of verdant hedgerow. Dartmoor National Park was amazing with its windswept moors and rocky outcrops called 'tors'. We got our bearings in Princetown, then went on an afternoon walk to Kingtor, the rows of standing stones and the old quarry.



The wild ponies on the moors are fun to watch. The foals are quite bold and mischievous, and the adults will go for a gallop at a moment's notice.





Some ruins near the old stone quarry. Dartmoor Prison in Princetown used to supply the local labour, French and American prisoners of war. It was a misty, funny kind of day. Quite atmospheric but we did try to avoid the spots of rain!



At the end of the day, we explored Plymouth and had fish and chips beside the marina.

Devonshire Pubs