Prior to departing Australia we were often asked “what do you want to see in England”? Our standard reply was always “visit Port Wenn (Isaac)- you know, where Doc Martin was made”. Well this week was all about making this a reality. The plan was to jump in our little VW Golf and head south-west. The itinerary – Cheddar Gorge, Dartmoor, Port Wenn (Isaac) before finishing up in Glastonbury.
So Monday morning nice and early (about 9 am) Darryl, Pierce and I jump in the car, struggle with the sat nav and head out of Reading. It doesn’t take long to get a full grip on the quirkiness of British road travel. Apart from the main motorways (M roads) – all the other roads (A and B roads) appear not much bigger than the road into Mullum. That is apart from the roads marked in grey on the maps. These roads are pretty much a nightmare. Tiny narrow lanes flanked by huge hedges. Single lane thus reversing required if you meet any oncoming traffic. These roads we would have avoided but for our malevolent sat nav.
Then you get the roundabouts – and there are certainly a lot of them. You can be guaranteed that no-one will use their indicators and if you exit where you intended too then its a bit of a bloody miracle.
Despite the quirkiness of their roads you have to give it to the Brits. There is either a road or some form of public transport to every square inch of this island.
Monday afternoon finds us arriving at Cheddar Gorge Somerset, checking into our 200-year-old accommodation before heading out to explore the nearby Cheddar Caves (at least Pierce and I did). Home to Cheddar man (Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton) the Cheddar caves bought back childhood memories of exploring these caves as a child with my family. As an aside – Cheddar is also where a cheese of the same name originated.
After the obligatory full English breakfast it’s off again the next morning heading further south into Devon. At Ideford we had lunch with some old family friends before arriving in the pouring rain (yes its summer and it’s always raining and I always have jeans and jumpers on) at Dartmoor Lodge. A lodge currently undergoing renovations on the edge of Dartmoor.
Another huge English breakfast and its up up up and over beautiful desolate Dartmoor. At least we think its beautiful and desolate. Unfortunately due to the absolute thick fog we pretty much saw bugger all. At one point it did dissipate slightly whereby I jumped out of the car and quickly snapped some lounging sheep. Once over Dartmoor it was a quick stop to check out Tavistock before heading deeper into the Cornish south for lunch with my cousin in an ancient pub in Truro.
At Pendoggett we check into our 16th century roadside inn. Built as a coach house, located on a main road we had non stop traffic roaring past but it didn’t matter – it was an ancient coach house!
Grabbing the keys and quickly checking out the room it was back to the car for the penultimate aim of the trip – visiting Port Wenn. At this stage the sat nav once again decided to do its thing and sent us on the most ridiculous goat tracks through the Cornish countryside. So horrible and scary were they that I was too frightened to take my eyes off the road in order to take a photo of what we were travelling on.
Ten minutes later and what did it matter if I was still sweating and shaking – we had arrived in beautiful Port Wenn (or Port Isaac to go by its correct name) and biggest thrill of all – filming was taking place for the next series of Doc Martin. This was absolute total unforseen luck. To make it even more amazing – the Doc himself was due to arrive shortly. Pinching ourselves with glee we wondered around the gorgeous little town, watched the filming (Morwenna featured heavily), had a beer in the pub before sighting the arrival of Martin Clunes. Before being whisked off to commence his scenes, he availed himself to the waiting crowd for photo opportunities. When it was my turn – the conversation was about Byron Bay, hippies and the nearby town of Clunes!
Next morning and its northwards to Tintagel – legendary home of King Arthur. Here we explore the ancient remains of a castle on the bleak Atlantic coast of Cornwall. The sea is rough, its wet, cold and windy but its lovely. Before departing we partake of that Cornish staple – a Cornish pasty! Next stop is the seaside town of Bude before heading towards Exmoor. Final stop for the day sees us in Glastonbury where we absolutely exhaust ourselves climbing the majestic Glastonbury Tor.
So final day of our whirlwind tour of South West England. It’s a quick visit to Bath where we marvel at the 2000 year old Roman baths but also moan at the number of people. School holidays start today and boy is it obvious. We take the A4 back to Reading – it’s also called the Bath road and is the original road between London and Bath from Roman times. It’s a good idea as the motorways are jam-packed with school holiday traffic.
So that’s it – our week exploring the foot of England. Full of cream teas, English breakfasts and history. But best of all – we went searching for someone and against all odds – found him.
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