Torquay, the English Riviera

12th - 22nd September 2012

Page 1 ¤ Page 2 ¤ Page 3 ¤ Page 4 ¤ Page 5

For our second proper holiday of the year, and our third with Daisy (ignoring jaunts to Scotland), we decided to head down to the south coast of England, to Torquay, in search of good weather.  And that's certainly what we got, as we timed our trip to enjoy the only 10 consecutive days of decent weather of the year.  Lucky us.

It was a chunky old drive of just over 250 miles, although mostly motorway, taking around five and a half hours (including an hour or so stop at Strensham services, incidentally where we stopped for our trip here).  Daisy was a bit moany towards the end but she was pretty good considering she was stuck in a car seat for so long with little in the way of entertainment (we were forced to endure her CD of popular children's songs, more of which later).  As we got closer to Torquay, we hit some heavy rush-hour traffic (a number of signs by the road tried to encourage car-sharing - it was clearly a chronic problem) and it was apparent that it had been raining reasonably heavily during the day.

We eventually arrived at our destination, a three-floor townhouse on Meadfoot Sea Road, part of a terrace of such houses (this was taken on a subsequent day, when the skies were gloriously blue).

Ours was one of the thinner houses on the left; number 5 to be precise (which Daisy delighted in spotting each time we arrived back).  The floor you can't see is on top, built into the roof with a sloping ceiling.  On the ground floor, we had a small room at the front with little use (it was a putting room - you just put things in there but not much else), and a long kitchen and breakfast room combo, with an enclosed patio at the back.  And a toilet, one of three in the house.  The second floor comprised the living room, bathroom and a spare bedroom, whilst the top floor boasted a main bedroom with en suite bathroom, plus a further bedroom (which Daisy claimed as her own).

When we arrived, there was some mild stress as we found no constructed cots.  There were two, one a travel cot, but both were in pieces.  However, a little amount of perseverance later and the travel cot was assembled.  Crisis averted.  After an evening sortie for beers (by me, obviously) and breakfast provisions, the obligatory first night curry was ordered (happy in the knowledge that there were three toilets in the house) and we settled back to enjoy our extended break.

The beach at the bottom of Meadfoot Sea Road was all pebbles and stones, so not really suitable for baby or buggy, so with the sun blazing down on our first full day on the south coast, we packed up the car and headed for Paignton, home of many sandy beaches.  We settled on the main beach, Paignton Beach, which boasted its own pier.

I love being by the sea so was very happy to take Daisy properly on to the beach for the first time.  She wasn't entirely keen, though, as the cleanliness passed on to her by Lynne (either genetically or by imitation) manifested itself in a discomfort with the very presence of sand granules on her hands, not particularly conducive to movement or full enjoyment given she is not yet able to walk.  Instead, she just sat in the same place for the entire time and played with the newly acquired buckets and spades.  Her look on this photo betrays the slight apprehension that she had.

Right on the beach there was also a pleasantly old-fashioned refreshment huts, its location no doubt contributing to the slightly bulky prices (or maybe that's The South for you).  I particularly liked the warning about greedy albatrosses upon receiving a Cornish pasty (when in the place next door to Rome...).

It was a very convenient beach - all beaches should be designed like this - since just behind there was a children's play area and lots of grass, which is great for de-sanding a small child (it turns out).

Daisy particularly liked the grass verge, down which she could bum-shuffle to her heart's content before shouting "gen" (translation: again) and crawling back up (or requesting a carry for speed).  What's so delightful about this photo, aside from the impish look that she is giving me, is the fact that she has a chip in each hand (only of which you can see, but the other is there I assure you).  Those who say we are not good parents should henceforth hang their heads in shame.

And that is all I have to say on the matter right now since it is late and I owe you nothing mor

I've been rather busy of late, hence the lack of updates.  But it is now time.

After de-sanding ourselves, we headed for the playground area, from which Daisy escaped through a tunnel - this is her on the way back after Lynne went to cut her off at the pass.  The inside of the tunnel was slippy so she slid slightly from side to side (what alliteration!).

More fun, though, was the discovery of the slide, which she clambered up and excitedly paused at the top.

She was never in complete control as she swooshed down, but she certainly enjoyed herself as it prompted multiple cries of "gen!" and she was pretty upset to have to leave.

After our exertions of the day, we went to Amici's, a nice-looking Italian at the bottom of (the other side of) our road.  Daisy perused the menu and chose a three-course option, the first of which was dough sticks with a garlic mayonnaise dip.  Amusingly, she would repeatedly dunk the sticks in, despite not liking the dip and consequently passing them to us to bite the tip off, so that she may have a bit herself and then start the process again.

Daisy then tucked into her first full pizza, which she didn't get anywhere near finishing.  Nowhere near.  She still doesn't have a massive appetite.

There are few points available for guessing what Daisy had for dessert - ice-cream obviously.

The next day, I was given a vision of the (not-so-distant) future when Daisy hopped on to one of the spare beds and I tucked her in.  I'm sure it won't be too long before she has a bed of her own.

We were up and at 'em on the Friday morning, heading to Living Coasts straight after breakfast, which was located down by the harbour.  It was a cloudy day, but no matter.  It remained dry!

Daisy was determined, at every juncture, to get out of the pushchair.  Inside, we let her crawl around and she soon pulled herself up to look at the diving birds through the glass.

She was back in the pushchair, though, as we headed outside for some penguin action.

We waited a while for feeding time, and as the fish were produced many of them waddled over to where their lunch was bring distributed.

Some of them got a little distracted, or were already satiated, and one decided to get up close and personal with Daisy and me.

Another seemingly had no interest in food (although they were probably being fed in the water, having said that), satisfying itself with standing on one of the divers' heads.

Daisy looked on, cool as a cucumber.  She digged those birds.

One of the information boards gave a useful picture of the Torbay area, although bear in mind that the south-west in this picture is in fact the north.

Moving further round the coastal zoo we spotted a couple of otters, alongside a helpful sign suggesting where they might be hiding (they were at first, but one of them braved the surrounding area).

One of the indoor shots came out surprisingly well, displaying all manner of fish, starfish and sea anemones in vivid fashion.

Daisy patiently waited for her mother to catch up.

After lunch back at the ranch, the afternoon weather was pleasant enough to justify another trip to Paignton beach, where Lynne left us to it.  I managed to overcome Daisy's reticence of moving around on the sand by building a sandcastle just out of range.  She was sufficiently motivated to crawl over to it and bash it to the ground, thus convincing herself that getting covered in sand was a satisfactory side effect of being able to explore every nook and cranny of the beach.

She immediately impressed by scraping her own name in the sand.

Of course, this was not her handiwork, which, apart from anything else, you can tell by the fact that she would not finish with the 'D'.  She was actually in the process here of scrubbing it out, generally favouring the destruction of any construction.  As noted previously, she was soon getting around.

At one stage, she became sufficiently curious of the sea to approach it, not suspecting its tidal power could envelope her in water with little warning.  A particularly adventurous wave lapped at her feet (I took the photo slightly early, deliberately, but now I wish I also had one when she got her feet wet).

Her boldness knew no bounds as she speed-crawled over to the roadside of the beach (ignore the slightly slanted nature of the photo - there was no slope except in my delivery - but I couldn't be bothered correcting it in Picasa).

She then discovered some smooth pebbles and, unable to walk, her method was sound, although I tried to recommend not sticking her tongue out given the windy conditions.

I think it's probably time for a second page.