Mulie in Devon: The highlights. Part 2

Gosh aren't you glad it's Friday, because I certainly am! Of course, earlier this week I brought you part 1 of the highlights from mine and Matthew's trip to Devon, and today I bring you part 2. 

Dartmouth

Our trip to Dartmouth had started out as a starting point for a wonderful 'Round Robin' boat, train and bus day trip visiting the surrounding towns including Paignton and Totnes. However, by the time we'd parked up and got to the kiosk to buy the tickets, it was too late. Even at 10am. We'd missed our prime opportunity to complete the round robin that day and instead, we opted for a river boat cruise instead. At least then our trip wasn't in vain. While we were obviously bummed that we couldn't do the complete round robin experience, a nice relaxing river cruise on the River Dart didn't seem like such a bad consolation 

The cruise took us from Kinsgwear to Dittisham a few miles down the river. The view of the surrounding boats and countryside was lovely, and the Kingswear harbour is a sight for sore eyes with its houses and naval base all dotted on the hilltop and surrounding areas. We also enjoyed the breeze flowing calmly and delicately through our hair as we cruised towards Dittisham. Me and Matthew being the great listeners and dirty minded people we are, thought that the tour guide announced quite a different location of course and it did make us chuckle. Dittisham or Tittisham- it certainly made me remember the location! Maybe they should use their comedic name as USP for tourism? 

Soon it was time to turn the boat around and head back towards the Dartmouth itself. It was at this point that the calm and delicate breeze flowing through our hair also took a sharp 360 degree turn into a bitterly cold, blowing wind that was quite literally face-numbingly bad. Me and Matthew soon went from taking lots of pictures of the beautiful surrounds to only taking necessary shots as to not expose too much skin to the cold. Did I mention it was cold? 

Despite the bitter winds, we howled on through past where we had got on, to explore the other side of the river, just up to the mouth of the English Channel. It was quite surreal staring out into the English Channel and seeing how it literally is just the same water from the river, just more of it. Ok, that sounds ridiculous but when I think of bigger bodies of water like the Atlantic for example, I imagine them being completely different to the waters around them. I imagine them all having different identities almost. Obviously, I'm just talking purely on the surface here, I'm no marine biologist!

Anyway! Back to dry land now and after our cruise, we decided to see what Dartmouth itself had to offer. We visited a local bakery and got some pasties for lunch and after that, visited the local museum. 

This is where Julie decided to make a prized prat of herself and confuse an older lady. I simply asked if there was a concession rate for disabled guests (as Matthew is classed as disabled) only to be met by a confused face. Did I mumble? Perhaps, so I tried again. This time even Matthew had to chip in. Still nothing. After a few painfully awkward minutes (for everyone) we both got in for 50p! Considering entry was £2.50 each, I considered that the deal of the day- Dickinson would've been proud! Although after that whole debacle leaving her confused and frankly out of pocket, I couldn't look her in the face.

If you thought the embarrassment ended there, you'd be sadly mistaken. Yes, Julie struck again in the first room of the museum and while this one wasn't technically my fault, I did feel very accountable. So, picture the scene; Me and Matthew enter stage right and go to look at all the artefacts including a sedan chair from yesteryear. We then split off and take our own pace looking around. I was taking the hide-from-the-old-lady-you-confused corners of the room while Matthew unashamedly took centre stage. I then got to the other end of the room where there was a row of 3 seats and a film playing. An older couple were sat on 2 seats (one at each end of the row- this is important plot information by the way!) watching, and not wanting to get in their way and sit squashed between them, I stood and watched from behind. My presence must've really stirred the lady as she immediately apologised and went to shift over to the middle seat....

This, I believe, is the part that playwrights would call the 'climax' of the story.

As the lady went to get up, I told her it was fine and that I was happy stood up and watching (and I was only really half watching it anyway and I'd already caused one old lady a headache today) but she insisted on shifting over. 'Was the film really that good?' I thought, preparing to begrudgingly but respectably take a pew. At this point, the lady then proceeded to swift her bum over to the other seat, without lifting off the seat she was in. This is a brave manoeuvre for anyone to make as so much could go wrong. The mechanics of bum sliding across two separate objects is a hard act to master and should be done with confidence. This lady however, failed to bum slide in the most catastrophic fashion leading to her falling ungracefully between the two chairs. 'What the fuck do I do?' I thought, suddenly finding myself helpless in front of a falling old lady. I tried to offer her a hand, then a chair, then I thought maybe moving the chair slightly would give her more room? How wrong I was! By the time I could scramble for anything else, she'd already hit the ground and started to insist she was fine and using the chair to aid herself back up from this ego-shattering (and god forbid hip-shattering) experience. I tried to help, I honestly did but she was a stoic (and also German) lady, thanked me for my help (as if I actually helped?!) and shortly after her recovery, left the room with her partner, leaving me to retreat back to the darkest corner of the room, hiding from old lady number 1 and trying not to burst out laughing about poor lady number 2. I was laughing more at this failed attempt at visiting a museum hassle free and seeming to cause havoc wherever I went. I didn't even touch the old lady or imply I wanted the seat, but still she insisted and nearly broke her damn hip in the process! That was a real Miranda moment for me and all Matthew did was laugh at me.

Bygones, Torquay

Instead of letting bygones be bygones, we decided to visit them instead....at Bygones- the museum all about the bygone era. It's the type of museum that you could take your nan to for her to nostalgically tell you stories about how things aren't the same as what they used to be. And truthfully, they aren't. And I particularly love learning and physically seeing how much things have changed, even down to the soap packets. Just hearing music from the early 20th Century transports my imagination into a black and white, ever-so-posh-British-accent place where having a stiff upper lip and making do really meant something instead of being ironically stuck on a t-shirt. 

You'll find everything here from quite literally dish soap packets, to commemorative coins and crockery from Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897. Queen Vicky is even there centre stage in waxy glory. It's visiting museums like this one that really make me want to jump in a time machine. Even the things we use and take for granted now, someone in 3019 will be gawping at through glass one day. The process of time and history really sends me down a mental rabbit hole and I just wish I could go back and meet some famous people in history, or even just walk down the street and really experience an era myself without relying on documentaries and hearsay. This was quite a big museum and took us until lunchtime that day to go around. If, like me you love history, or you just want to have a nosey at some old-fashioned packaging, I'd strongly suggest giving this place a visit.

Kents Cavern, Torquay

Me and Matthew visited here on a separate day from the Bygones museum and thought it would take most of the day to do. The weather wasn't looking that great so what a better way to spend an indoor day than in a cave! Kents Cavern is a prehistoric cave and is a fantastic example of immersive natural history. You can walk through them like cavemen did, smell them, touch the walls moistened with the rainwater trickling in from the world outside, and even see for yourself the marks made by men, beasts and nature over time. The caves here truly have nothing to hide and you can even see the holes made by Victorian dynamite back when curious archaeologists arrived at the site wanting to uncover secrets. There are not many places where you can literally delve deep into prehistoric history in this way and it's a marvel to behold. Our tour guide was also fantastic, knowledgeably showing us around this prehistoric piece of history and making jokes along the way. It seemed like many creatures, both human and animal came and went from here including various species of human, bears, saber-toothed tigers to name a few. 

As we wandered around the cave at various levels, it wasn't hard to imagine real cavemen taking shelter here; starting a fire for food or to ward off hungry predators. We even saw and learned more about the stalactites and stalagmites that peppered the cave surroundings. Stalagmites are mounds that grow from the ground, and stalactites are formed downwards from the ceiling of the cave. And both these formations are grown merely by water. It's fascinating what water can do. Stalactites and stalagmites are not simply formed overnight. As our tour guide jested while pointing at two of these masses within millimetres of touching, 'if you come back in about 16 million years, these two will be touching'. Better put that date in the diary! 

Whether you're in Torquay on a sunny day or a not-so-sunny day, go and pay a visit to Kents Cavern, you won't leave disappointed.

So, that concludes the (very) miniseries 'Mulie in Devon' I hoped you enjoyed reading as much as me and Matthew enjoyed the trip itself. It's been great to relive the memories with you all. I'll be back blogging again next week but for now, have a great weekend.