After leaving Southampton in a "pea soup fog" we headed west following the A31 travelling beside The New Forest. We hadn't gone far when we discovered a roadside stall selling strawberries - naturally we had to stop and compare the merchandise with the strawberries grown by our son Steve in Stanthorpe. Steve, yours win hands down!

First stop was on the Isle of Portland. This area was the venue for the sailing during the 2012 London Olympics. We parked beside a jetty and then explored the D-Day Experience museum which was next door. Many people were dressed in uniforms and there was a good collection of World War II vehicles and memoribilia. We then stopped at Weymouth for lunch. Weymouth has a long promonade and real sand! There were donkeys taking children for rides along the beach and people enjoying the sunshine and eating ice-cream. We then drove on to Bridport.

Our reason for a stop in this pretty seaside town was motivated by a TV series called 'Broadchurch'. We wanted to check out the cliff at West Bay. In the TV series a young boy was discovered dead at the bottom of the cliff. The village was very busy with tourists doing exactly what we were. However, most of the other tourists were walking to the top of the cliff - we were definitely NOT doing that. The series is worth watching if you haven't had the chance yet.

We continued on our way and finally ended up at Torquay for the next 2 nights. When we checked in to The Southbank Hotel the owner asked us what had bought us to Torquay. I think he was a bit confused when Greg stated that it was because of Fawlty Towers - I mean, why else would you go to Torquay?

After checking in to our room we watched The Grand National on TV. We were delighted when Tiger Roll won the Grand National - not because we won a heap of money but because it was owned by Michael O'Leary, being the name of Kerrie's long deceased grandfather. After dinner in a nearby pub we returned to our room to find that Fawlty Towers was on the telly so of course, we watched a few episodes.

As we have two nights in Torquay we set off next morning, in the rain, to explore this area of Devon. After a circuit of Torquay we headed south to Paignton and then further along the coast to Brixham. We drove around the town in the rain stopping to take a few photos of a replica of the Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake's galleon which is permanently anchored in Brixham Harbour.

We then headed off to Dartmouth through narrow country roads with barely enough room for two cars to pass. We had to catch a vehicular ferry across the Dart River to get to Dartmouth. This town is the home of the Britannia Royal Naval College which was attended by Prince Charles. We had lunch in town and walked around for a while as the rain had finally stopped. We decided that Dartmouth qualified as a 'pretty spot'.

Our drive took us further south to the fishing villages of Kingsbridge and Salcombe before heading back to Torquay via Totnes. The sun has finally come out - it is 4:30pm!

The scenery today was a mixture of fenced pastures, quaint fishing villages and stone walls. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?