Holiday in Devon

We had a wonderful holiday last week, based at Goodrington Sands, Paignton.


Saturday

We had a good train journey and arrived at the holiday apartment at about 3pm, so all we did was settle in, go get some shopping, eat, swim and try out the hot tub.

Meals of deli stuff, fruit and bread, eaten at the table on the terrace, enjoying the view over the bay, were regular features of the week, along with playing Professor Layton on DS and swimming and hot tubbing. The absolute highlight was seeing F get to the point of being able to swim (just) with armbands on.

We all went in the pool every day, sometimes twice a day, and her progress was brilliant to see. She quickly took control of the whole process and it was one of those real 'autonomous learning in action' times, when you can very clearly see how that works. She was very specific in her instructions to us and we were largely obedient and useful, I like to think.

Swimming is obviously one of the areas where F's difficult arm and leg make it slightly harder for her than other children, so she had to find her own way of doing some things and may not swim as well as others, but basically she is doing it and we were completely thrilled to see her get there. J managed to take a few short films of her gradually gaining confidence and ability too, which are a fab record to have, for her especially I think.

Sunday

We had arranged to catch up with one of J's ex-colleagues, who left J's work a couple of years ago and moved down to Plymouth. They've been in touch online and regularly play XBox or PS games together. After a slightly misdirected but very beautiful walk up around Roundham Head, we managed to catch the train over to meet up with R, his wife C and their daughter, little R (14 mths). We had a lovely afternoon, walking around the harbour area and having some pizza/pasta. Little R was cute and funny and they were good company.

We walked up over the Hoe, stopped to listen to some very cheesy crooning at a waterside cafe, and managed to buy F a float (which turned out to be not very useful but maybe it served a brief psychological purpose). Nice to spend time with them, wandering and chatting.

Back at the apartment we had a late swim and hot tub. F used the float a bit and we could already see her confidence and determination growing.

Monday

In the morning, after breakfast on the terrace, J and F went for a walk along the beach, leaving me to have a long soak in the bath with my book.

When they came back, we got the bus to the zoo and had a lovely day there, seeing elephants, giraffes, lions, a tiger, crocodiles, huge pythons, ostriches, peacocks and many other beautiful animals.

The elephants were gorgeous - they go in and out via a weighbridge so always a chorus of excitement as the LED numbers flicker up and up. They were 2 females, one Asian, one African, and had lived together for years and years - we wondered if they ever discussed their ear differences. The lions were wonderful - a pair and they were quite playful with each other - the female came up to the male and bopped him one to start a chase. Some goats were playing 'let's each stand on top of our own pile of rocks and see who can shout loudest about it' (conference time again). The baboons were fascinating - a huge colony of them there and interesting to see the biggest, oldest males keeping an eye on the fights that broke out when they were fed. A tiny baby was on its mother's back and they were clearly 'allowed' to share one of the older ones' food, with no challenges from others.

Usual concerns about zoo spaces aside, it was a good day out. F did some climbing she wasn't sure she could do in the playground, too. Whilst there, I managed to call old friends to arrange meeting up with them.

Back at the apartment we had more swim time, think we watched something on i-Player and played some Professor Layton on DS.

Tuesday

We had a pottering-type morning, bit of swimming (F definitely setting challenges for herself by this stage), socializing with the holiday cat (he was like some kind of Westworld robo-cat, perfectly catlike, auto-miaow function, repetitive rolling on back, inviting tummy-stroking, etc.) and playing more Prof. Layton.

Then we walked up to Goodrington station to catch the steam train - quite a nice ride, not really worth the money, but pleasant and scenic enough. If we'd gone earlier we might have combined it with a riverboat cruise, which would have been good, but we just did the train to Dartmouth/Kingswear and back.

When we got back to Paignton, our plan was to have some Italian food - well we trudged and trudged around Paignton, googling and GPSing determinedly, but found only one Italian restaurant open in the evening and that was very tiny and didn't do any options that we liked between us.

So we ended up with chips and then went to the cinema to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was fun.

Back at the apartment we had a late swim and J and I watched a bit of a film - it was weird having Sky on holiday as we've not had it at home for a few years - oh my goodness what a high percentage of shite there is at any given moment! Definitely good for the odd thing though, especially films. We didn't really watch much, except for a few old episodes of Fawlty Towers, appropriately for our location. F watched a bit of Nick Jr, nostalgically, a couple of times.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, after breakfasting and swimming, we headed off by bus to Torquay and went to Kent's Cavern which was very good. Think F would have liked a bit more 'stone age stuff' but it was very atmospheric and the guide was excellent, with a mixture of educational, informative and entertaining content to share, well presented and enjoyable. The caves are huge. The best bit was experiencing the complete darkness, far underground, hearing about all the different animals that had lived down there (cave bears, hyenas...), then seeing shell candles bringing light to a small area of the cavern. Also liked seeing a mammoth molar and hearing about the woolly rhinoceroses.

Afterwards, a short bus ride took us to Torquay harbour area and we had a lovely pizza and pasta dinner there, before getting our bus home for a lovely coastal ride as the sun was setting.


Thursday

We had planned to do the steam train/river cruise/bus ride trip, but we decided to have a pottering day instead, with our friends coming over that evening. We swam and had a lovely leisurely walk along the beach, picking up shells, paddling, looking at rock pools, etc.

Then we had a snack and went in the small amusement arcade to waste some money - J and F played arcade games, racing each other and teaming up against various enemies and I went on the slots mainly, think they had more fun by far!

We went to the supermarket and stocked up on a few bits for the remaining couple of days of the holiday, then went back to the apartment and swam again - F was really swimming by this point, still wanting one of us close by but getting better and more confident all the time. Fantastic!

Our friends arrived earlyish at about half five. J and F were still hot tubbing and I'd just about got out of the shower! It was lovely to see them and catch up (and to have a curry delivered from a really good Indian takeaway place, Cilantro - really special food, we loved it). We hadn't all been together for a few years, so lots to catch up on. We've known B for about 16 years and it's funny that her lifestyle hasn't changed that much in all that time really. Consequently she is about twice as well-preserved as the rest of us, I think!

F had pizza and went to bed (at least 3 times).


Friday

Our last full day and we headed off on the bus to Woodlands Park to go on water slides and other such delights. Had a lovely afternoon there and the water slides were definitely the highlight - we wished we'd taken more clothing or waterproofs to go on more times. They are brilliant fun, never been on anything like that before!

Also, F went on some indoor slides and a few other things and we all went on the swing ship. I got off after 1 go, but J and F stayed on for about 6 or 7 I think.

Back at the apartment, we had a final swim and hot tub, I cooked up the leftover curry and F had pizza again.

And that was our holiday! Journey back wasn't so good, delayed for rather tragic reasons in Somerset and nobody had any helpful information for over an hour. Although fresh veggie sausage sandwiches from the cafe on Axminster station were fairly remedial.

Since we got back I've had a 'sticky eye' and F and I both had rashes (pool? hot tub?) but are improving now. J also has a cold/cough and joint pains. So we're not a great advertisement for it but did have a really excellent holiday. Pictures are here.