Our Transport for the Holiday

On Monday 12 June 2017 32 Let’s Go Stroke club members began their annual summer holiday in Devon.  This is the first year where we had travelled down on a Monday morning and we were all rather anxious over how long the journey would take.  Luckily, we once again had the services of our Anthony’s Travel Coach Driver Mike whoes steady and smooth driving made the journey time pass by so easily.  Our rest break was in the beautiful town of Tewkesbury and the majority of us nipped into the local Wetherspoons’ The Hop Pole for refreshments.

A Meeting of Souls, Tewkesbury

The Royal Hop Pole

From there our journey proved to only take a couple of hours before we arrived at the Babbacombe Hotel.  The weather proved to be hot and sunny for the whole week and the accommodation and food had once again improved over previous visits.

View from outside Hotel

Babbacombe Hotel

Our first day out was to Trago Mills and then onto Buckfast Abbey.  We had lots of fun looking for bargains and then spent a lovely afternoon enjoying the peace and tranquility of the Abbey and it’s gardens.

Trago Mills

Buckfast Abbey

Our second day was spend in Sidmouth,  everyone’s favourite, and then onto Dawlish.  Unfortunately our Dawlish visit was made difficult by the unwelcoming attitude of a traffic enforcement officer and a local cafe owner.  This somewhat spoiled our visit as we were all concerned if we would experience further problems when the time came to leave.  The Club Secretary has taken some photos of the disputed loading area and intends to make an official complaint to Dawlish Council.  Serious consideration will be taken as to whether we will ever visit Dawlish again as current facilities are inadequate for members needs

Update 08/08/17

Re Dawlish Incident: We would like to thank Ann Tipper – Town Clerk, for her support in investigating what actually happened that day. As a result, we have been invited to have a cream tea with the Mayor at Mansion House when we next visit in June 2018. An offer has also been made for the warden to give a talk on the wild fowl in the area. During the proposed visit suitable accessible parking will also be provided. We fully appreciate how seriously the Authority has taken our complaint and how active they have been in trying to prevent any further occurence. Our thanks to all involved. See you in 2018.

Sidmouth

Dawlish

Mike, our driver had his rest day on the Thursday and everyone found their own entertaintment.  Several used the opportunity to use local transport to visit Torquay and Paignton and also to discover the delights of Babbacombe and St Mary Church.

Our Friday trip was to Dartmouth and then we crossed the River Dart on the chain ferry a were all treated to a lushious cream tea at The Berry Head Hotel overlooking Brixham harbour and marina.

Dartmouth

We visited Looe in Cornwall for a few hours on Saturday and also visited Tavistock on the way back to Babbacombe.

Looe

As we had been so busy and adventurous all week, on the Sunday we spent just a few hours in Exeter viewing the sights and shops.

Exeter Cathedral

Monday was our journey home.  The weather had been so wonderful, none of us really wanted to leave.  We were treated to another rest break in Tewkesbury before finally getting home with our over loaded suitcases and our unpacking to look forward to.

Stop In Tewkesbury

Our holiday exceeded all expectations and we have already booked to return next year on 11 June 2018.