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Friday 10th July 2009 At the beginning of 2009 I wrote a list of 50 things that I wanted to do in 2009. One of them was to visit Torquay as I remember my parents brought me here for a holiday when I was about 15 and I wanted to see how much I remembered (the answer was: not much!). I left earlier than intended at 9.45am and the traffic was steady on the M25 until near the M3 where there was congestion so I took the A3 turning instead and picked up the M3 further south. Around Stonehenge, as usual, there was a long queue which meant a delay of about 20 minutes. After that I fancied some lunch but everywhere was packed (one place didn’t even have a parking space!) so I continued until about 3pm before stopping. Arrived in Torquay by about 4.15pm but as I drove into the hotel car park, the owner came out and said that we’d been moved to the hotel next door as one of his guests was having to stay on. He did say it was a better hotel and it was as it had an indoor pool and spa. The owner of the second hotel said he didn’t know anything about a swap from the original hotel but then he found a note from his wife in the book. He then took quite a while to find a room as they are busy tomorrow evening. I got the distinct impression that he wasn’t too keen (as we’re getting it at a cheaper rate) and had a real attitude problem so we named him Basil (after Basil Fawltey)! He liked it even less when I asked him about where we could have dinner in the area as it meant that we weren’t using his restaurant!
 The room is nice enough and has a good Wi-Fi signal which is always important to me. As I’d been sitting all day, I went out for a little explore and there were a few local shops and restaurants nearby. We’re also really near Kent’s Cavern (some prehistoric caves) so we’ll go there tomorrow.
 I got back to my room at about 5pm and went for a swim. Unfortunately the pool is only open from 10am until 6pm so it’ll probably be my only chance to swim (I really like an early morning swim). The pool wasn’t too long so 20 lengths didn’t take very long. I also used the Jacuzzi. After a shower we left for dinner at about 6.30pm and walked back to the local shops to a lovely looking Italian there. Unfortunately the chicken dish that I wanted came with vegetables so I asked if I could have pasta with it instead and I received a straight “No”! She said that they don’t change dishes, even when I offered to buy some pasta too! It was only after we said that we’d just pay for our drinks and go that she decided that yes she could do it after all! I’m not sure that customer service has reached Torquay yet! In the end it was a lovely meal but not a place that I’d go again as it made me feel uncomfortable. We got back to the room at about 8pm and saw EastEnders and then the finale of Torchwood which was just brilliant! I can’t remember when I’ve last enjoyed a mini-series as much as that this week. I got to sleep at about 11.30pm. Really living it up in Torquay, eh?!!
Saturday 11th July 2009
I had a delicious full English Breakfast and thankfully the hotel owner’s wife was charming. Left the hotel at about 10am and walked to Kent’s Cavern. The next tour was at 10.45am (£8.50) so just wandered around the shop and browsed through a book about how to escape from a well and how to resist alien abduction! You never know when you might need to know those!
The tour of the cavern took about an hour and was very well organised. The cave has been used since prehistoric times (it’s advertised as Britain’s oldest home) and has all the usual stalactites and stalagmites. There was one that was only about eighteen inches tall and he said it was 50,000 years old. To put that into perspective, he said that the English Channel is only 10,000 years old! Another interesting part was when he turned all the lights out – it was SO dark in there that it’s hard to see how our ancestors lived there! We all waved our hands in front of our faces and couldn’t see any movement.
 After that we went back to the hotel and collected the car and drove down to and along the seafront as we hadn’t actually seen it yet. We then drove into Paignton and onto Brixham These three towns make up Torbay which consists of 19 beaches and stretches for about 25 miles. They are known as the English Riviera due to their slightly warmer climate and more sun (although not today!) and there are loads of palm trees along the seafronts.
 We then headed inland as we wanted to visit Dartmoor Prison and the Museum. (The museum is closed for an hour at lunch which I thought was so quaint!) It was only about 30 miles but took about 90 minutes to drive as it’s mainly twisty country roads - in some places you had to give way to cars coming in the other direction as the roads are so narrow! At one point, we joined a queue of traffic that continued around a corner. As the cars had their engines off, I assumed it was for a level crossing (for a train) but when we started off, it was to board a ferry to cross the river Dart into Dartmouth! I had no idea so that was a lovely surprise. The crossing only takes about 5 minutes and the road just leads into the ferry. I got out of my car to take some photos and then a steam train went past! Priceless!
See how the road just leads onto the ferry and the steam train is going past 
 Part of the journey was across Dartmoor. It was drizzling by then so it was very atmospheric. I stopped a few times to take photos as there are sheep, cows and horses wandering around the moor. At one point we had to stop as there were sheep on the road and later some cows!
 Dartmoor Prison was fascinating! It used to be a prison where they did hard labour so there was a quarry display set up there. Now it is downgraded to holding prisoners who are less likely to flee and there was a great documentary about how their lives in the prison are nowadays. It rained all the way back to Torquay so I was really glad that we choose today to see those two things as tomorrow we’ll be walking more. Rather than finding a place to park in Torquay and then somewhere to eat, we just bought a Chinese takeaway (as I’d packed plates and cutlery – I’m so well organised!) and ate it in the room. We just watched some stuff on iPlayer as there wasn’t much on TV and had an early night.
Sunday 12th July 2009
 We then started to walk along the seafront but the road train came along at just the right time so we hopped on that (£3 for the day). It took us right along the seafront to Tor Abbey where we disembarked. Tor Abbey was a working abbey from about the 1100s right through until when Henry VIII closed all them all in the 1500s. The Carey family then bought the property and built a house into the original building. It has been restored over the years and is now mainly used to house art exhibits.
 Our luck or timing held just as we arrived just as the morning tour was about to start so we joined that but that was just after someone said that they had a spare money-off the entrance cost coupon and would we like to use it! The tour lasted about an hour and a half and was very interesting as the guide really knew her stuff. They don’t allow you to take photos inside the building but I could take a few of the views out of the windows.
 We then went to the Spanish Barn where there was an Antony Gormley exhibition. It was of 40,000 pottery figures all laid out in the barn. They are only a couple of inches tall each but it was an amazing sight. The Spanish Barn was named as 397 Spanish sailors were held there for two weeks in 1588 after the Spanish Armada failed. Obviously 397 people in that barn (with no windows) and little food meant very unhealthy conditions so lots of them died. There were also a few women there and there are reports of the ghost of one of the women being spotted there since.
(Taken at a different location)  We then had a much needed up of tea and our Devon Cream Tea that we’d promised all trip! (Without the cream for me as I don’t like it.) A Cream Tea consists of tea, scone, cream and (usually) strawberry jam. We then caught the land train back to the harbour area but going back it took an inland route around the town which was interesting. We then had a quick wander around the seafront of Torquay before collecting the car (we had to pay with a plastic token which I haven’t experienced before!) and driving to Paignton.
 We managed to park on the road and had a wander around, including going onto the pier. There was a music festival on a large grass area behind the pier with loads of guys on motorbikes there but it was a lovely atmosphere. The band were playing the popular punk songs of the 70s so I knew lots of them. Beside that were donkey rides for the children so it was an unusual mix.
 There is a video from the view at the end of the pier (panning from Torquay on the left across to Brixham on the right) here. It was quite windy at this point!
 We then drove into Brixham which is a very old town built around a small fishing harbour. They’ve recently built a marina which we walked out in the late afternoon but most of Brixham is concerned with fishing. We had a long wander around and then had a sandwich for tea. Just as we were at the marina, it started to get dark and rained for about 10 minutes but soon brightened up again. A video from the marina is here. 
 The Brixham Ghost Walk started at 7.30pm and we met at the statue of William Of Orange (who landed at Brixham). The tour was fascinating and I preferred it to the Isle Of Wight one as it was just a walk around the venues with stories and no creatures jumping out to scare people. Some of the stories were scary enough! Afterwards, as we were walking back to the car, we saw some people looking over the harbour wall and there was a sea lion there! Apparently he is quite a regular sight. We got back to the car at 9.15pm and drove back a slightly longer way through Paignton and Torquay to look at their lights, although they weren’t all that impressive!
 We left Torbay at 9.45pm and drove home. The traffic was light, although the first part was single track roads but it was faster when we got on the motorways. We stopped briefly on the M3 to stretch our legs and got home at 2am after a really great, relaxing weekend! Roll on my next trip!
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