Sunday 15th October – Dad’s friend

 

 

Rather weirdly for a holiday, an alarm clock went off. This is rather unusual and I wondered what it was for. Mum and Dad packed up rather quickly and off we went downstairs for breakfast. My mum was very happy when she was given her English Breakfast. Apparently, it was a proper breakfast with egg, bacon, sausage, fried bread, beans, mushrooms and tomatoes. Dad wasn’t as pleased as he had hoped for more than one sausage and one rasher of bacon as he didn’t like egg. Still all three of us were full and so, dad went out to fill the car with our bags before paying for the stay.

 

Mum and I went out to meet dad at the car. He had just finished packing and was talking to three people; a man, a woman and a little girl. I thought dad had done very well to make friends so early in the holiday however, I listened intently and discover that this man – Andy – was my dad’s old boss. The lady was his wife, and the girl his daughter. They all lived in Minehead. We got into our car and they into there’s. We then followed them somewhere. Dad said that Andy was a very good driver as he was easy to follow.

 

The road went up and up. I pushed up from my car seat to get the best view possible. It was as if we were on the top of the world, with the sea to one side and rolling forested hills to the other. The weather was superb too … clear blue skies. I didn’t know it but, we were deep inside Exmoor national park. We stopped within a car park with a superb view of the coastline. We got out and went for a short walk with spectacular views of the national park.

 

What goes up must come down. We went all the way down, past our hotel, and off to a place called Dunster Castle. This was a national trust place and was lovely. We stopped in a café and Andy bought us all a drink and cake. I said thank you and tried to grab a piece of his wife’s cake but she was too quick. We ventured around the grounds. Sadly, we did have to go inside the castle. I didn’t want to do this as there was so much room to run around outside. I therefore wouldn’t walk around the castle and kept sitting down. This did speed up the viewing of the castle and soon I was outside.

 

We then left the castle and headed into the village of Dunster. It was very pretty and only consisted of one main shopping road. We were not there long and soon we returned to the castle and our car. Dad and Andy said goodbye. Mum gave their daughter a box of chocolates, which she was very excited about and which I was looking forward too. We then drove together for a little while, and climbed up a very steep hill with more excellent views. This is where Andy pulled off to one side and we kept driving. To a place called Lynmouth.

 

We didn’t stay long in Lynmouth. Mum bought dad and her a pasty. They were so hot; dad drove for another hour before finding somewhere to eat it. We then drove again for hours and hours and I wondered if we would eventually be in another country. The drive was spectacular though; it was very hilly and coastal. I decided not to go to sleep and enjoy the view.

 

It was now getting dark and finally we approached a caravan park just outside of St Ives. The time was bang on 6pm. We drove to our chalet and I stepped in. To say that all of us were disappointed was an understatement. In Dad’s words, it looked as though we had just walked into 1972. The sofa was flowery, the carpet was red and the tv was microscopic. Still, it was dry, warm and had hot water. Also, there was no one else in the caravan park therefore, I could make as much noise as I liked.

 

As it was a Sunday, all shops were shut and we didn’t have any food. We went to a petrol station to buy milk before heading to McDonalds for tea. It’s been a while since we were in a McDonalds and it wasn’t that great however, we were all full.

 

Once back in 1972, we were all warm. It had been a long day therefore; we all went to sleep.

 

So apparently, I have now arrived in Cornwall.

 

Toodle Pip!