Our next stop on our tour was North East from Newquay crossing into Devon – Hillhead is situated just between Dartmouth and Brixham. The campsite had a heated pool and a bar and we found ourselves a quiet pitch in a small grassy area with no other neighbours.

 

We mostly stayed around the local area exploring Torquay, Paignton and Brixham – However on Wednesday 6th June we booked ourselves on what is known as the round robin tour. This consisted of a local bus down to the port of Kingswear, then a foot passenger ferry over the mouth of the river Dart to then board a 140year old steam ferry which took us on a leisurely sail up the river Dart to the historic Town of Totnes. After a lazy lunch and wander around the shops we jumped on an open top bus to Paignton followed by a steam train which took us back to our starting point. All day the weather had been beautiful, the tip up thr river was for me the best part and we ended the trip with a pint of local Devon pilsner in the Ship Inn.

 

Our last full day in Devon we set out to explore an area around Slapton which was just on the coast on the opposite side of the river Dart, however  to get there we had to either board a small car ferry or a longer drive North around the river via Totnes, we we decided on the drive for the views. Anyway the reason for this visit was we had originally booked a camp site here but after news that one of the roads had been closed due to erosion by the sea we decided to go to plan B and stay at Hillhead. We had originally chosen Slapton for its extensive stretch of beach and the lakes surrounding the area. It also has historical significance as its beaches were used by the Americans to practice the D-Day landings on Utah beach in France were we are going to be visiting in several weeks time. There is also a tragic story of a practice going wrong and many US tank crew died when their landing craft sank – A tank has been recovered and acts as a memorial to all the men.