Rain, rain go away
A poem which evokes rainy childhood days, days when there was much more fun to be had outside than in. I’m not so bothered about being outside now (except in summer), but since we’d driven nearly 150 miles to spend the weekend in north Devon, we thought it would be, well, nice to be able to enjoy the countryside without the car windows getting in the way.
Having decided to eschew the delights of the motorway, we set out across Somerset, crossing it almost entirely from Bath in the North-East corner, beyond Minehead and into Exmoor and out the other side — almost all on the A39. On the way, we stopped for lunch at Watchet and briefly at Dunster, a place that requires some further visiting. We eventually arrived at our destination — The Blue Mushroom, in Lee, near Ilfracombe — at 2.30pm.
Saturday’s weather wasn’t great, so we headed out in the car to explore the area. We drove down to Lee itself, then out the other side, up some (normal for Devon) very steep, narrow and twisty roads. We stopped in Mortehoe for a walk, just making it back to the car before the heavens opened. We then drove through Woolacombe to Saunton, where we parked overlooking the sands below and ate lunch. There were scores of surfers, canoeists and kite-surfers making the most of the strong winds and ample waves. After lunch, we headed on through Braunton to Barnstaple, where (given weather considerations) we decided to go to the cinema. We saw Chicago. It was entertaining enough, but took a while to get going.
We didn’t need to recite the poem in order to make the rain stop; the weather forecast said it would be better on Sunday. And it was. With the sun shining, few clouds in the sky and the wind firm but fair, we headed out on the North Devon Coast Path to Ilfracombe. Much mud, sheep poo, hill ascent and descent and an hour and a half later, we arrived. Quick — Somerfield for groceries, Co-op for the Sunday Paper (a holiday treat) and then down to The Landmark Theatre for coffee/hot chocolate and cheesecake. Mmm — cheesecake.
Monday saw the rain return, and we drove back across Exmoor on some, shall we say “interesting” roads (including a [deep ford](http://www.devonfirst.co.uk/exmoor/tarr.htm The Tarr Steps") that we didn’t attempt) as far as Dulverton, then on the A396 to Tiverton for a pasty. With the weather so bad, we decided to get home as quickly as possible, which meant — you guessed it — going on the motorway. But it sucked. The spray was intolerable and we did Burnham-on-Sea to Bath on A- and B-class roads only. Back at 3pm — not bad.