When I was a child, I was always encouraged to take the road less travelled, or at least to consider the possibilities. Due to the excessive amount of rain, there have been warnings all across the southwest. Fog and rain leads to flooding. These are things that on google maps, you can attempt to plan around. We rose early and headed out. Bournemouth to Poole took an unbelievable hour. Already sensing the way things were going, I face booked my friend in an attempt to let her know that once again, the roads swerve conspiring against the travelers.
The other thing that you cannot plan for is traffic. We had the luck to have a lovely view of hay floss flaying at the windscreen from behind a tractor. There were lots of opportunities to admire the sunshine and view over the moors as we watched the back end of a lorry go 30 below the speed limit. This is English driving at its finest. This was all along the A35. In an effort to avoid some of the traffic, I found some little side roads along the way and directed the car through them. Theoretically, two cars were supposed to fit. You could see where the road had been flooded and there was a delightful stone bridge somewhere near Whimple.
Eventually, Exeter loomed on the horizon. We stopped at Killerton House for the twelve days of Christmas. We spent a delightful 45 minutes on the grounds, trying to solve the clues provided. It was a lovely decorated event. The also do the same things in the grounds but we didn't have time. For the family, this was a favorite for me. There were activities everywhere, you could run the grounds and they allowed dogs. However, I was supposed to be meeting a friend so we had a car boot lunch, and drove off.
Except the traffic in Exeter decided to have its own way again. 8 miles took a ridiculous amount of time. We crisscrossed over the motorway twice, trying to find her way down. There were traffic snarls that just didn't move. One way streets that diverted you away from your destination and car park signed tat suggested there were spaces when there were none. Yes, being on time was a none event. Add to that getting turned around while on foot and you have a recipe for disaster. Finally, we found the museum.
The Exeter museum is a wonderful place. Free admission was unbelievable as it is state of the art. Lovely coherent displays with plenty of interactively, toys and play areas, open storage and lots to ad and see. It was amazing. Two hours did not seem long enough. However, we also wanted a skim of the cathedral. It is a lovely church, but does have the proverbial scaffolding along the front.
After much discussion, we decided on pub fare for our last meal. We stopped at the hunters lodge on the A35 and cruised infor the best soup ever. Tomato and roasted peppers. Yummy. It was great for children too. The girls were in the play area for most of our stop.
We finished off the day with a ride on a double decker bus from Poole to Bournemouth. The girls lit up and it was a great way to end the day. Canary Islands tomorrow.
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