Weekend In Devon

Last Thursday evening we went down to the Lodge to open it up; the site that it is on is closed from January 15th until Match 15th, this is a Dartmoor National Park regulation. We made good time, just under four hours driving, and when we arrived we found that all was OK. This was greatly to our surprise as temperatures fell to -17 degree Centigrade some nights and many of the other lodges had suffered burst pipes. I think that what helped us, apart from having the heating on low, was that Lawrie and Emma were there early January in the snow and that they were there for some of the coldest nights. They did have to get a tow from a local farmer and his tractor to get them up the hill though. The water supply on site froze when they were there and so they had to melt snow to flush the toilets etc; not quite my idea of fun!
We did find on the Friday morning that somehow one of the double glazed window units had leaked and had half an inch of water swilling apart between the two panes of glass. I have had the seal in units go before resulting in condensation, but have never seen anything like this before; neither had the man who came to fix it!

We spent Friday pottering about, fixing things, giving the place a clean and general tidy up. Saturday we went to Dawlish and a couple of mile walk along the promenade to Dawlish Warren, the ground was too muddy to contemplate walking across the moors, at least it was for us. We had a great day out in overcast, but dry conditions.

Dawlish has a lovely green with a stream running through it and is famous for its black swans.

 All in all we had a most enjoyable day out, nothing exciting just very relaxing. In the evening we or rather I suffered the trauma of watching England play rugby, they played well but still lost!

On Sunday after Mass we went to see our friend Jenny Peel who runs a pub, The Lymmington Arms at Wemborthy. The food there is excellent and reasonably priced, then back to read the Sunday papers, a great way to spend the day.
Monday was spent on tidying things up and driving home in the afternoon, all in all a good weekend.

That Diet!
No doubt you are all wondering how I am struggling with my diet, well I am just about holding my own. The trip to the US and several business dinners have not helped. neither is the fact that I managed to get cellulitis in my big toe. This has made walking very painful and so prevented me (any excuse) from doing much exercise!
A course of antibiotics has helped so hopefully the weight loss will increase, currently I am x stone 9 lbs!