United Kingdom

Set off a little before 11am for the proposed 4h30m drive north to the Peak
District and our stay for the next 4 nights at the Stable at Druids Farm in
Birchover.

With the car packed up we set off on a route to avoid the Dartford Crossing.

This entailed the M20/M26/M25/M40/M42. We had a stop for Reggie to have a
pee and we got a coffee. Plus a Slimming World busting biscuit. Both
between us.

Once we got onto the M42 after pretty much a cruise-control run from home,
it all ground to a stop, then stop/start.

Nissan Navigation seemed to try and avoid the traffic and instead took us
up some dead end seeming road. In the end we made it to the M42 further up.
Southbound was solid for miles.

We made a second stop at Tamworth Services. A chance for all three of us to
have a widdle, and for the humans to get something to eat from M&S.

We then had a magical mystery tour via Burton upon Trent and then to Derby.

The back roads to Birchover took us along quite a few roads where we saw
what we expected to see as the Derbyshire Dales. Rolling hills.

We arrived okay just before 5pm. Met Eileen the owner and unloaded the car.

Reggie had his dinner and as I type is snoring in his bed. Yep. We brought
his bed with him.

So all in all about 6 hours on the road and that includes about 45 minutes
of stops.

After bit of a sit down to relax a bit after driving we went across the road to the Druids Inn pub for dinner. Once again Slimming World hit the deck! We had a superb meal and the pub food is superb and dog friendly.

(This was sent to the blog by email. Not very good line length control. I"ll sort it when I get home.

The museum is located off the M42 in Warwickshire. and it spread over several buildings. There are exhibits that you wouldn't normally find in most car museums, and that's what makes this one unique.

There are prototypes as well as the ugly reasons why many of the British motor manufacturers went bust. If you think the Allegro was a lovely car, then you will certainly love this place.

You may think that the rush to get rid of the internal combustion engine (ICE) is a new fad, but it's not. In the UK we had electric vehicles delivering milk for many years, and then the twisted brain of someone came up with this monstrosity.

There are some beautiful examples of cars at the right end of the spectrum and some that should have been destroyed before they ever made it off the "designers" table.....

Beautiful MG prototype

Jenson FF

More information can be found on the museum's own website.

More photos from the trip.

Today is leap day 2020.

We decided to head into Hythe and walk along the sea shore where the Hythe Ranges is located. Today and tomorrow there is no shooting! When the ranges are closed and the red flags are down the public can walk along the path.

We were expecting Storm Jorge to arrive with heavy rain and high winds. The wind was up but the rain held off

We parked by Fisherman's Beach. There are some boats left but on the shore they have built "luxury" apartments that started at £500k.

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With the reduction in the number of boats some of the equipment they used has begun to rust.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

From here we head east along the beach to the Ranges. With us was our dog, Reggie. The sea was quite rough and I tried to get some photos that showed that.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

Walk along the seashore with Storm Jorge.

It was bitterly cold in the wind. So after about half an hour we turned back and headed for the warmth of the car.

Sunday March 1st.

Today as the Ranges were closed and we thought the wind was not as strong, we went back to walk the sea shore path.

We decided to go to the third Martello along. This one is collapsed. It is so close to the sea that it has been undermined and started the fall apart. The towers are over 200 years old.

The round trip from the car was about 3.6 miles. We live about 600 yards from the sea, but between our house and the sea are the Ranges!!

I took some photos.

Collapsed Martello.

Collapsed Martello.

Collapsed Martello.

Collapsed Martello.

Back to work tomorrow. The Ranges are open for the next few weeks, so walks will be elsewhere.

We were up early again as Reggie was on his early pee and poop regime again.

In the end we left at around 9.30am. TomTom reckoned it would be just short of 5 hours to get home.

If only. First stop at the start of the A303. Three hours for 86 miles.

Heavy traffic. Very heavy everywhere. Holidaymakers in both directions. Wankers having accidents causing more holdups.

We got in the house just before 7pm.

Sadly I had to reset the TomTom earlier in the week and so I have lost the complete trip stats.

So that's it... Another superb holiday top and tailed with terrible driving conditions.

For the holiday I created a Fuelly profile for the Corsa. Only three fill-ups on the entire trip after starting with a full tank at the start of the holiday. I had expected it to be higher, but an overall 45mpg isn't bad considering the traffic jams we were stuck in for about four hours in each direction, where we crawled along in first or second gear!

You can fly from London to New York in less time that this took to drive! It worked out at an average of 35.1356993736952mph!!!

And lastly - even though I took the Canon 1100D I didn't take too many pics! You can see the results in the Flickr album linked on the right.

Day 7

Today our day was already planned. A lunch date with Robin and Mark at their house near Exeter.

They have two golden retrievers and Reggie was okay until they mobbed him and he growled at them a few times.

Lunch was great. Company great.

Tomorrow last day in Devon.

Day 8

Today we decided to stay local as we set off for home tomorrow. It will be a long day in the car for us and Reggie especially.

So our first stop was as ASDA in Bideford to get some cash and fill the car ready for tomorrow.

A disappointing 43.7mpg. I guess all the low gear ups and downs of the Devon countryside.

The next was at Tapeley Park just the other side of Bideford.

Another estate with a garden open to the public. Again it was on the Gardener's World 2-1 offer and seniors we got in for a fiver. The house looks at bit run down but the gardens are very nice. An Italian garden and the kitchen garden are the highlights.

We met Hector who "runs the place" and is actually one of the owners of the site. He was accompanied by his English Bull Terrier called Wayne. Reggie barked at first but they got on after mutual sniffing.

On the way out I saw the field alongside the car park had a herd of Highland Cattle. Reggie barked as a calf came close.

To sound a bit "girly", these are the best looking cattle.

From there, we headed for Northam Burrows Country Park. A little shock at £4 to park although it covers the whole day. There are three entrances and I chose the wrong one really as we couldn't get to the visitor centre.

The place was alive with horses and sheep. Reggie generally ignores them. And until a small group of sheep ran past us. He wanted to chase but we kept him on his lead as always.

We walked across the dunes and rock. The beach is sand and as we walked across towards the sea, we sank about four inches into the sands until we got to firmer ground.

Reggie was let off the lead and went into the sea and ran about free. He loves the sea. Oddly he never tries to get into the canal at home.

We looped back to the car and as it was way after lunch we went on a pasty hunt.

Some success in Westward Ho!

Two large ones from Betsy Buns Bakery.

Whilst in there they gave us some scones as they were closing and wanted to get rid of unsold stock - four lovely ones.

We headed for the cottage and once back Reggie had his dinner and we had the pasties.

Later we had the last cream tea of the holiday with two of the scones.

Some packing completed and we have to decide what time to leave in the morning. TomTom is set for home and claims we are looking at five hours fifty-four minutes on the road from Langtree to home. Let's see how that turns out.