Small goats and rabbits

Set off from Farnham at 10:30, deciding not to stop for a lunch break at the park like last time. Instead we sped off, passing the park, passing Odiham (wondering as we passed why we no longer go to Next Door at the George) and onto the M5 for a few junctions.

The whole journey was very smooth and traffic free. Even Stonehenge whizzed by. We stopped a few times (once to buy milk, once to have a very late breakfast at Little Chef) but made very good time. It was just as we reached Dartmoor that Mirinda decided she needed a break – the fact that she was dropping off to sleep at the wheel was a bit of giveaway.

We left the A30 and headed down a small road looking for a little pleasant village. Eventually we found a turnoff to Castle Drogo – a National Trust property – and figured they’d have a nice place to have a cuppa. Unfortunately this little track, primarily meant for small goats and rabbits, is the main route for the Moretonhampstead bus (the road is so narrow that the town name, Moretonhampstead on the front of the bus, has to be written as “Mo’ed”). We would never have known this except we almost ran into it at the top of the hill. Naturally he wasn’t going anywhere so poor Mirinda was forced to reverse all the way down the sunken, twisty, turny, lane – fortunately we didn’t meet anyone else coming up – until we reached a small gate, with just enough room to squeeze Sidney in.

Naturally Mirinda was not very pleasant about the stupidity of any bus company to use a track for a route. Anyway, we had a cup of tea then climbed back into the car, managed a 15 point turn and drove back to the main road.

We arrived at Caraharack and followed the amazingly descriptive but deadly accurate instructions to find the cottage. We managed to locate the well hidden key and decamped from the car to the cottage.

The small house was once a tinner’s cottage, though it was a lot smaller then. The entire back half of the cottage has been added – that will be the bathroom and the kitchen. It was bitterly cold because the whole place is just four walls of stone. Think cave and you’re on the right track. We lit the fire and it started (very slowly) to warm up.

It was then off to find some supplies. We ended up at a Morrisons where we spent far too much on stuff we’ll never use. Then back to sup on lovely roast chicken and salad finished off with a custard tart.

The TV isn’t very good – it depends on rabbit ears – and the inbuilt DVD player refuses to play the DVDs I recorded before leaving home. Bugger. I prepared 11 DVDs so we’d had enough to watch. I also tried using our portable DVD player but, again, it refused. Damn stupid technology.

Fortunately the radio DOES work so we sat and listed to the Moral Maze then some programme about Easter – good old Radio 4.

The cottage supplies a hot water bottle which is very hot and does not really need boiling water as it scolds the feet. We heaped about 30 blankets on the bed and soon snuggled off to sleep.