This was my last 24 hours of real travelling. I knew by the next day I'd be back in London for 2 nights, with the rest of my belongings, feeling like I was on my way back to Israel for my last week of being abroad. Wow, last week of being abroad. It sounds strange to say it, but it's true. The time has come. Lots of mixed emotions to say the least.
Well let's recap the last 24 hours out of respect for keeping up with the blog - we can get to the emotional mumbo jumbo later. Dawn came to meet me at the Newton Abbot train station after I spent over 6 hours on the train. Boy was I happy to see her! She informed me that Liam (aka Lemur, from CEL 2010) was actually supposed to be coming in to Newton Abbot too, around that time, from Plymouth, but that it was meant to be a surprise. Well he wasn't there and she wanted to wait for him so she had to bust the surprise and tell me. (I actually had a feeling he might have planned a bit of a surprise visit.) As it turned out, he wasn't there at the station; he also didn't arrive on the next train in from Plymouth (we waited for it) so we decided to leave. Dawn brought me to her house, where she lives with her mom, dad, and grandfather. Her grandfather was the first member of her family that I met, after we pulled in to the driveway. He was so cute! He shook my hand and everything; Dawn told him that I am one of her friends from America. I was led inside and shown to my bedroom (seriously, English folk have some major hospitality going on!) and met Mom and Dad Wylie - Paul and Kris. The whole family was SO lovely! Lovely, that's a word I've definitely picked up here.
I told Dawn I was absolutely tired, so I wasn't going to be too much fun or up for too much of a party...thankfully she understood and had planned not so much anyways. We drove into a little village called Cockington, walked around a bit of a park/estate, saw some beautiful magnolia trees and the property. The sun was going down and it started to get a bit chilly, but it was the earliest we could have gotten there, so no regrets. We couldn't have planned it any differently. Once we got back in the car, we drove over to the coastal area (man, there is a lot of water around this area!) for dinner. When we approached the restaurant "Beefeater" I got a little worried. "Dawn, you know I don't eat any meat, right?" "Right, and I don't eat any red meat, just chicken." "Well I don't even eat chicken; will there be something here for me to eat?" "Yep no problem I've come here before and there are plenty of vegetarian options." Feeling a bit better, I gladly hopped out of the car and walked down the hill to the entrance to the restaurant. Finding out it was a 45 minute wait to be seated, we decided to go to the bar side of the restaurant, where we could seat ourselves immediately, order at the bar, and have our food brought to the table. That's how our dinner went down! I find it interesting that over here (here being England), I've ordered food at the bar and had them bring it to the table more than once. Maybe it's to prevent run-offs and ensure that customers pay up for their meals. Maybe it's so they don't have to hire a large wait staff. I don't really care why, but it's definitely something unique to this part of the world, at least that I've found.
We drove back to Dawn's house, got ready for bed, sat in our jammies and watched the CEL Reprise video from 2010 and all the FNL weekly videos, for old times sake! I hadn't seen the Trail or the videos since I was away all year so I saw the Trail for the first time at Jon's house, and now the video at Dawn's. It was so nice to have all those memories flood back. I was finally and truly ready for bed, so I politely said my goodnights and drifted off to dreamland for the night.
I had some trouble sleeping the last few nights, waking up before my alarm. This morning was only slightly different. I woke up well before my alarm, but fortunately fell back to sleep for at least some time. It was nice actually being woken up by an alarm clock instead of just having to turn it off. I hopped out of bed, to collect my clothing that was washed last night, and dried on the radiators overnight, so I could pack up my backpack for the last time (thank goodness!). I had some cereal for breakfast (just like usual!) and brushed my teeth to head out for the day. We drove to some of the coastal areas and took the ferry to Dartmouth (not the college although I'm sure this is what it's named after and now I have seen the real thing) to see the famous castle there. By the way, this means that I have added a method of transportation to my travels - A BOAT! I had planes, trains, and automobiles down. Now all I need is a bike...hmmm.
The weather was a bit hazy so photos didn't come out the best, but it was definitely beautiful scenery, and any chance the sun was out was a treasured moment. WWe did a combination of driving around, parking, and then walking around, and then back to the car to drive again, park again, and get out. Our last stop of the day was lunch. We really didn't know where we'd end up but we parked in Dartmouth and decided to walk around until we found something suitable for both of us. We ended up in a place called the Sloping Deck Restaurant, which was definitely a building on a slant; we could see it and feel it while sitting upstairs. It was definitely an experience. The food wasn't the best but it was good; I think we both enjoyed our menu selections.
It was time to get back to the car and on our way to Newton Abbot; my visit was over and time to head back to London. We had about 30 minutes of spare time once we arrived at the station which meant...time for hot chocolate! I enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate that I brought with me on the train to keep warm. I said my quick goodbye to Dawn as the train approached. Only 60+ days until we see each other again. It's so soon! There is good in the world :)
Next stop - London. Two more nights; one full day, hopefully with some more camp faces that I am excited about, and then my flight from Paris on Monday. The adventures are truly coming to a close. I will have to make some space and time to blog about that at another time.
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