On the Saturday of the Easter weekend (19th April) we set off early to go to Fremington near Barnstable to have a couple of nights with Biddy and Geoff. The journey down passed without a hitch and we arrived around 1 pm after a 3 ½ drive.
We had our usual introductory chat after Geoff had hooked me up to his charging station for the car. Geoff had promised me he would do this so I was glad that it all worked so very smoothly. We ate a spot of lunch and then headed out for a walk in the local area passing through Fremington Nature Reserve and around the river and returning via Muddlebridge Cottages and the main road.
Biddy had cooked a nice meal for us and we then settled down to a game of bridge. I now remember why I don’t want to play with Maggi at our local club. Her bidding isn’t too bad but her play needs a lot of improvement.
On the Sunday the Briggs had organised for us to take the bus to Westward Ho and walk to Bideford partially around the headland and through Appledore. They have completed this path several times before but it was new to Maggi and I.
The 21 bus arrived and we climbed upstairs where we could have a good view of the sites on the way. The bus took us to Bideford where some of the noisy locals descended. They had spent the journey up to that point talking in very loud voices about absolutely nothing.
We arrived in Westward Ho and dismounted at this was the end of the line. The place swarmed with day trippers and you could smell the stink of stale chip fat in the air. We passed the crazy golf course and the go-kart track and made our way to the open spaces that also double up as a golf course.
The large flat are is called Northam Burrows Country Park and was originally used as a common grazing area for the local community. In 1864 the gold club became established and is one of the oldest clubs in England. The flat nature of the land means it suffers from marshy land with frequent flooding.
We crossed the Burrows and then along a part of the coast until we arrived in Appledore. Here we stopped on the quayside where we bought sandwiches and sat in the sunshine.
The final leg of the trip took us past the Appledore shipyard and some industrial works and then along the banks of the Torridge River and its mud flats until we arrived in Bideford.
We caught the same bus back to Fremington and after dinner had another game of bridge.
Monday we drove home setting off before 10 but still became entangled in the traffic jams on the M5. The journey took over 5 hours. Horrible.