DEVON AND SOMERSET
FRIDAY SEPT. 13TH 2019
IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE THE RUGGED AND WILD COAST OF CORNWALL TODAY.
I had to decide if I would be taking the Southern route down to Penzance and make my way back along the coast through Falmouth. I decided to take the more Northern route up through the counties of Devon and Somerset. No big cities to contend with. Much less cars to run me off the road. The map showed a nice route, A39, going almost into Bath, a city that many people told me I would like. So off I go leaving Cornwall at 9:30 this morning.
The GPS started me off ok but kept directing me to the more "country" roads like the A39 isn't country enough. By the way---it is! So I followed the GPS' directions taking me on the B3223 and the B3224 which are basically farm roads through fields and fields of rolling hills and sheep, cows and a few horses. If I had any perception before coming here what the English countryside looked like, this was it. Every corner I took, the scenery got more and more beautiful. But the one scene that was the best was coming to the top of a hill and before me was rolling hills with animals and beyond that the Bristol Channel and beyond that... Wales. How wonderful to be able to see all that in one view. This was in the town of Lynmouth.
Further on was Exmoor Nat'l Park with windy, much too narrow roads cut into the mountain with a gorge straight down to a river. The road ended in a town called Watchet with a park, stores and restaurants. Why the GPS brought me here is a mystery. I had to go the exact road to get out.
I started taking pictures of all the dogs I saw but had to stop. Just too many.
I was still quite a ways till Bath. Although not many miles between destinations, many of the roads I could only drive 20-30 mph and mostly in 2nd and 3rd gear. By the time I got to Bath it was about 3pm and I could not wait to get out and back to the country. That city although old and beautiful as it may be totally confused the GPS and brought me to one road where it told me to go right. I looked at the road before turning onto it and it was so steep I just could not do it. And I've taken some really steep roads before. This was the worst. So I spent my time in Bath trying to get out of Bath. Once I did I actually recognized the road I was on just outside of Mells and on my way to The New Forest again. Being that it was starting to get dark, I saw a lot more animals along the street and crossing the street than before. And I saw a herd of deer and a donkey with its baby. Maybe being the time of day, all the animals have a favorite place to gather and hunker down for the night which would explain so much more movement in and around the road. I never get tired of seeing the wildlife anywhere.
As I was coming around the last corner before my place in Milford, I saw what could have been a full moon on the horizon. Beautiful ending to a perfect day
IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE THE RUGGED AND WILD COAST OF CORNWALL TODAY.
I had to decide if I would be taking the Southern route down to Penzance and make my way back along the coast through Falmouth. I decided to take the more Northern route up through the counties of Devon and Somerset. No big cities to contend with. Much less cars to run me off the road. The map showed a nice route, A39, going almost into Bath, a city that many people told me I would like. So off I go leaving Cornwall at 9:30 this morning.
The GPS started me off ok but kept directing me to the more "country" roads like the A39 isn't country enough. By the way---it is! So I followed the GPS' directions taking me on the B3223 and the B3224 which are basically farm roads through fields and fields of rolling hills and sheep, cows and a few horses. If I had any perception before coming here what the English countryside looked like, this was it. Every corner I took, the scenery got more and more beautiful. But the one scene that was the best was coming to the top of a hill and before me was rolling hills with animals and beyond that the Bristol Channel and beyond that... Wales. How wonderful to be able to see all that in one view. This was in the town of Lynmouth.
Further on was Exmoor Nat'l Park with windy, much too narrow roads cut into the mountain with a gorge straight down to a river. The road ended in a town called Watchet with a park, stores and restaurants. Why the GPS brought me here is a mystery. I had to go the exact road to get out.
I started taking pictures of all the dogs I saw but had to stop. Just too many.
I was still quite a ways till Bath. Although not many miles between destinations, many of the roads I could only drive 20-30 mph and mostly in 2nd and 3rd gear. By the time I got to Bath it was about 3pm and I could not wait to get out and back to the country. That city although old and beautiful as it may be totally confused the GPS and brought me to one road where it told me to go right. I looked at the road before turning onto it and it was so steep I just could not do it. And I've taken some really steep roads before. This was the worst. So I spent my time in Bath trying to get out of Bath. Once I did I actually recognized the road I was on just outside of Mells and on my way to The New Forest again. Being that it was starting to get dark, I saw a lot more animals along the street and crossing the street than before. And I saw a herd of deer and a donkey with its baby. Maybe being the time of day, all the animals have a favorite place to gather and hunker down for the night which would explain so much more movement in and around the road. I never get tired of seeing the wildlife anywhere.
As I was coming around the last corner before my place in Milford, I saw what could have been a full moon on the horizon. Beautiful ending to a perfect day
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