It was a slow start this morning. Couple of spots of rain while we were having breakfast. We headed into Barnstaple this morning as we needed to get a memory card reader for Jo’s camera. Mine and the kids all take SD cards, but Jo’s uses xD cards. I had grabbed my SD card reader, but forgot to pick up Jo’s before we left, oops. A quick trip to Jessops in Barnstaple got a multi card reader and so Jo would be able to download her photos to her laptop. While we were in town we had a look around the shops and ended up getting some books in the Oxfam shop, a 1867 copy of volume 2 of The Waverley Novels by Sir Walter Scott and a copy of A Child’s Garden of Verses by R.L. Stevenson.
After this we headed down to Great Torrington to Dartington Crystal. We got there just after 12, so would be able to go on the factory tour, which restarted at 12. We looked around the visitors centre at the history blown glass making and the history of Dartington Crystal. Some of the engraved pieces were very impressive. While we were looking round it started raining and continued on while we ate at the restaurant and then visited the shop.
When we got back to the cottage I taught everyone a card game called Switch, I know this isn’t the name that I knew it as, but cannot remember it. The idea is to get rid of your cards by placing the same name or suit card as is on the pile. 8 causes the next player to miss a turn, Ace allow you to name the suit, Jack changes direction, 2 – you have to place another 2 or pick up two cards or 4 if two consecutive 2s are played etc. This went down really well and many hands were played before we went out for the evening meal.
Our plan was to head to the pub in Littleham, which is only a couple of miles away, but somehow I missed the turning, don’t ask! We headed across to the next village with a pub using the ‘yellow’ roads on the OS map. These are apparently roads generally less than 4m wide. Yep, they were, they were so narrow that there was grass growing down the middle. I met a car coming the opposite way on the first bend and had to back up a bit to the nearest passing place. I didn’t meet anything else, which was just as well. When we reached the A39 in Horns Cross, the Coach and Horses pub was directly across the road. We had a very pleasant meal there tonight and then headed back along the A39 instead of the country roads.
Kids wanted to see the bats tonight, and weren’t disappointed.