Weekend at Cornwall & Devon (Part 3)

dAy 3 (sUn, 28 OcT)

Weather forecast for Sunday: Foggy in the morning, clear by afternoon.

This was really accurate. It was foggy when we left Padstow, but amazingly as we drove further North and as the afternoon arrived, the skies became clear and vivid blue! We left Cornwall and drove into Devon - which was lush and beautiful! I guess the bright sunshine brought out the colours and the scenery more. The geography in Devon is more hilly. At many points there are deep valleys, topped with farms dotted with sheep and cows.

Interesting sight on the drive to Devon - 'aero dynamic' trees! The wind is so strong in the area that many of the trees are 'wind-swept' in one direction!












The beautiful roads we drove on. Like the kind seen in car advertisements! The autumnal colours added to the beauty of the place.








Our lunch stop was at Lynton, North Devon. It's a hilltop town with pretty houses and lovely gardens.










Down the hill is the town of Lynmouth. Connecting the two is a Victorian water-operated railway which has been running since 1890! There are 2 trams connected by a cable, and the ascend/descend according to the amount of water that is in their tanks.











Lynton/Lynmouth overlooks a beautiful bay area. In the bright sunshine, the wildflowers really stand out on the hillsides.










Lunch was at the cliff top restaurant overlooking the bay area, and we had a superb meal! I had 'Sunday Roast' of roasted lamb with roasted potatoes that were great, almost caramalised! Jon had grilled lamb, which was equally flavourful.

In the course of stealing each others food, we realised that if you don't really like strong lamb smells/tastes you should go for roasted lamb as the flavours are more muted and subtle. But for a full kick of lamby goodness, grilled really brings out the flavour of the meat. I find both cooking styles yummy though :)

Anyway, back to the trip.

We were planning to head back to the highway to take a scenic drive to Porlock. But God had other plans for us :) He knew that though we had seen a ton of his wonderful handicraft, he had something really amazing to show us yet! We somehow ended up at the Valley of Rocks in the Exmoor National Park. And wow. This place is truly astounding. It was simply gorgeous!! Plus the bright sunshine brought out the colours so beautifully! Blue skies, red and yellow wildflowers, blue-grey waters, brown hillsides, grey craggy rocks, green grass...It was just breathtaking. You have to be there to know what I mean. Photos can't quite capture it. I could almost hear God saying "you kids thought you saw beautiful things this weekend? Well, you ain't seen nothing yet!"




















Then we saw the mountain goats! Yes! Haha, I've never seen wild mountain goats before! They were just roaming about the place, very much at home :)



















There was the "papa" goat which had super long horns. There were some which were climbing the very steep hillsides (almost cliffsides!) foraging for some yummy delicacy - why else will they be roaming the steep hillsides? :) Anyway, these mountain goats are really sure-footed. If I were to attempt to walk the hillsides, I would almost certainly perish.

The place was a wonderful find, but we had to leave and head back to London. We eventually ended up back on the scenic highway we had planned to take. It passed through hilly countrysides, with the sea in the distance. Again more sheep, cows and horses. Such beautiful scenery - what a great way to end the weekend road trip :)










A long drive back to London, with all radio stations playing Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love"* (we must have heard it at least 5 times on the way back), we finally made it home to St Marks :)




(*Not sure if its playing back in Singapore, but Leona Lewis is the winner of last season's X Factor - something like American Idol, but British - and its something of a hit now. But oh man, talk about overkill. Every station playing "you cut me open and I...I keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding love..")

- End Day 3-

Well, it was back to monday, so had to return the car. And how nice, we had to drive over the iconic Tower Bridge! :)










Anyway here's a link to more of the photos I took during the trip :)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=r2ctt29.7x0xgt9d&Uy=-2x8jk9&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0