What a day of travel we've had today Starting on Foot, proceeding to steam train then river ferry and finished up with a health dose of automobile.

Yes today we caught the steam train from Paignton to Kingswear and then the river ferry across to Dartmouth before being picked up by Bill and couriered to Lustleigh to view some of the best thatched roof cottages in the area.

The steam train journey was beautiful albeit short!! Apparently the track was supposed to cross the river to Dartmouth and keep going, however apparently they got a little ahead of themselves and built the railway station at Dartmouth BEFORE the funding for the bridge linking Kingswear and Dartmouth had been approved ... and guess what ... IT WASN'T so all Dartmouth has is a railway station that is serviced by ferries ... very "Yes Prime Ministerish"
Its not all bad though .. the ferry trip was great and it all adds to the character of the township.
We also found a train carriage that was named after Sari ... picture included in the photo albums. Yes sari .. you've finally made it big time!! You've got a train named after you

Whilst in Dartmouth we were reunited with the Arnold Swartzenager (sp?) of seagulls. For anyone that is familiar with our Australian seagulls, these British beasties are the steroid taking, weight lifting, 100LAT loudness, bouncer mentality of the seagull world.
These things come to the top of your knee in height and trust me .. if they come knocking on your back door for a chip ... you better get dressed, go down the street and buy them one, otherwise they're going to smash your windows and crap on your car for the rest of your life!! These are one evil set of birds!!

From Dartmouth we headed off to Lustleigh, a beautiful little village that is well known for the quality of its thatched roof cottages. It is also know well known (in my mind anyway) for the quality of its clotted cream ... How happy am I!! With a serve of fresh scones, clotted cream and of course the gratuitous cup of tea under our belts we headed for home. Richie also associates Lustleigh with the best ever chicken and mushroom pie he has ever had
For anyone who is interested in making some clotted cream, here is a recipe
http://www.greenchronicle.com/connies_cornish_kitchen/clotted_cream.htm
I can guarantee I'll be giving it a try when I get home.

On the way home we stopped off at another art gallery ... richie was so excited ... NOT But we were both very impressed with some mosaic art and some fused glass work that we saw. I'm always on the look out for what I'm going to do when I live on the boat so am very curious about different artistic styles. I'm thinking glass kilnes may be out of the question, but hey .. you never know!!

Tonight we took Mum and Bill out for dinner to the Hare & Hound pub and had a wonderful meal. Its amazing how cheap food is over here .. provided of course you don't try to convert it to australian dollars ... then its just downright scarey!! So with a fully belly and a soft comfy bed calling for us, we are now heading to bed.

See you all tomorrow ... jacq & Richie xxx

Ps .. I forgot to mention ... Happy Birthday Pedro ... hope you had a great one and that you have a great trip home in anything but ecconomy