Road Trip to Anywhere

This past weekend a friend, T, from the States, and I rented a car from Gatwick Airport and start driving South. We had no destination in mind other than to find adventures. We'd rented a compact car but on a stroke of "luck" were upgraded to a mid-size SUV (normally upgrades are wanted but on this trip we actually wanted a compact car).

Now this plan could have really flopped and to be completely honest, I expected it to. We bought a map that offered suggestions, put a Cornwall location in the car's navigation system and started driving. Somewhere along the A3, while sitting in bummer to bummer traffic, we determined we'd stop for dinner in Exeter and then booked a place to stay in Plymouth during dinner. I'll give more details on where we stayed and what we discovered at the end of this blog, but right now it's story time. After exploring Plymouth the next morning we got in the car and started our journey to Cornwall. We had read about an adorable little fishers’ village named Polperro and wanted to check it out. Driving across the bridge into Cornwall we started to feel our excitement building and when the roads began to narrow and wind I couldn't help but feel a bit smug that we hadn't put my name on the driver list for the car so I could look around. England has always amazed me with all its different shades of green and the wet, cold, misty weather of the day insured all of natures’ colours were in top form.

We knew we were coming into Polperro, but the hills around us caused the navigation to delay and we missed the turn. We continued straight up a street so narrow the brush branches scraped down the side of our car. At the top of the road we came to a T. We knew the village was to the left and decided to ignore the homemade sign reading "No through way to Polperro." I mean, what did that sign know? The navigation said it was okay. We only met one car on the way back down the hill into the village and by then the road was wide enough for them to easily pass. We continued on our way until we started to enter the little town. The road was so narrow we almost had to pull the mirrors in to keep them some scraping the houses which lined the streets. There was a sharp left which we quickly realised we couldn't complete without doing some three point turn "magic." A nice man helped direct us backwards and forwards until we were finally able to keep going. It was then we noticed the large mass of people in the road in front of us. As we inched forward people squeezed to the side to let us through. I turned to T and for the first voiced what we'd both been thinking. Me: "I'm not sure we're supposed to be here with a car ..." T: "Yeah ... but no one seems concerned." Me: "Guess they are just used to it ..." By that point we'd inched through the standing crowd and made the second tight turn. Whew, we were in the home clear. Just up this one straight stretch and we'll be back on the main road. "Let's get out of here ..." had barely left his lips when we heard the bag pipes and only seconds later we saw them. And they were coming straight towards us leading the beginning of the parade. The parade we later found out kicks off the beginning on the Polperro festival. T: "What do we do?!" Me: "Back up! Back up!" They were walking faster than we could back up but we finally found a little lot to the side of the road we could pull into in order to let them pass. "Front row seats!" T exclaimed. About 20 minutes later the parade had passed and the locals helped us navigate our way out and up to the parking lot. Embarrassed or not, we parked the car and made our way back down into the festival via approved trolley transfer and enjoyed a few hours traditional dancing, Cornish beer and window shopping. It was only as we walked through the little street that we realized we'd completely missed the big (upside down) "Way Out" painted on the road. T is adamant that we should come back next year, but avoid the dramatic entrance. More details on the rest of our "Road Trip to Anywhere" adventure below.

Exeter We stumbled upon the Waterfront area and picked an up class pub called "On the Waterfront." Tucked away under the arches of what I believe was an old bridge, this little restaurant could sit many and offered settings for all different types of dining from table service to bar tables. The food was delicious. The service was superb by pub standards. The view was really beautiful. As we were walking back to our car, German music pulled us in the direction of a traditional German pub. A quick peak inside proved that the spot was full of life and looked like buckets of fun! We had already made plans to drive a bit farther which left me wishing we'd have made the decision to stay in Exeter for the night instead.

Plymouth We spent our first night at The Crown Plaza across from The Hoe. The next morning we made our way down to the Barbican for breakfast. We walked up and down the little allies and finally settled on The Tutors Tea rooms. We both opted for the full English breakfast and were not disappointed. The food was great and the atmosphere was better. We opted to sit in the spacious back garden but the tea rooms looked just as adorable. If you're in Exeter I was definitely recommend The Tutors Tea Rooms for high tea!

Polperro This brilliant little fishing village can only be described as picturesque. If you're in the area in early June, make sure you check out the Polperro festival!

Bristol We spent our second night in Bristol and sadly didn't get any time to explore. However, we did eat a really lovely dinner on the water. If you're looking for a little bit nicer dining on your trip be sure to check out Riverstation Restaurant.

For more pictures from the trip check out my Facebook page here : https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.270299820105450.1073741833.155738834894883&type=1&l=d43e953d6a

#England #Cornwall #Polperro #Roadtrip