Travel down to Strete in Devon for Part 8

I woke up at about 5:15am. I'd already packed most of the camping stuff in the boot of the car on Sunday, so I finished packing my clothes bag and set off early and pick Steve up. We set off on our way at 6:38 a.m. The traffic was ok and the motorway was not too busy. We seemed to miss the rush hour in most places the forecast was for heavy rain moving in from the West. Not great when you're going camping in the South West!

When you want the weather forecast to be wrong it inevitably is correct, and the rain started as we travel down the M5. We stopped at two service stations on the way down, getting drenched at both, and made it to the campsite by about 10.30am. Luckily the rain eased off a little bit while we erected the tent.

The original plan had been to go and do some of the walk before setting the tent up, but with the forecast being so bad, we’d decided we wouldn't start walking until tuesday. Once the tent was erected and everything put inside we went to explore the facilities (in the car because it was so wet) and then drove through the village thinking we would go and find a cafe for some lunch. We noticed in the pub..the Kings Arms in the village had closed down and was up for sale. Typical! We turned left in the village heading towards Dartmouth and called in at Blackpool Sands on the way by. We went the beach cafe there for a drink...and used their wifi.

The beach at Blackpool Sands on a grey and miserable day before going to the cafe for a drink

We then got in the car and carried on into Dartmouth to have a look round in the pouring rain. It's a pretty place, but much more pretty in the lovely sunshine! We went into a pub near the market, who’s menu looked quite nice, only to find that it was quite rough inside, and the menu that they advertised outside wasn't the one that was on offer for lunch. We ended up just having a pint and then went to a fish and chip restaurant for food instead. I bought some cans of lager for the tent. It was going to be a long evening if the rain kept up like it was! We also bought two pasties each, one for tea and one for breakfast or lunch the next day.

Looking out across the River Dart in Dartmouth.. not soooo pretty on a gloomy miserable day!

Steve leaning up railings around the floating harbour in Dartmouth

Instead of going back to the campsite we decided to drive along Slapton Sands to try and find pubs that might be open while we are here. We sat in the car park half way along for a while, wind and horizontal rain hammering at the windscreen. The waves were not particularly impressive despite the wind.

At a loss as to what to do next, we headed back to the camp site with the aim of sitting and listening to music, but with the windscreen wipers, lights, bluetooth radio transmitter, fan to demist...the battery ran down...first noticed by the bluetooth radio transmitter giving up the ghost. No more James Arthur. Panic!!! I switched everything off. Tried turning the engine over….it turned over slowly...second time more slowly… then...nothing third time! Good grief….what a mess! We sat discussing how we might fix the situation...no signal on phone to call RAC when steve checked!

A miserable view from the car while listening to music before the car battery drained!

I decided to try once more after a bit, and the engine fired…!!! We decided to go for a drive to charge it up a bit...but will need to get a new battery while down here as it shouldn’t run down that quickly! Grrrr we got lost in the narrow high hedged lanes for a while...going through two floods! Returning to the campsite we got into the tent...with a beer or two...expecting a long night...the wind raging beyond the hedge we are tucked behind! The rain did stop a few times before bed as I wrote up the diary.