Devon

The view over Dartmoor from our caravan site on our first morning in Devon was not only stunning but also very welcome. I say very welcome because our journey to the west was not without event! All was well until we missed our exit off the A38 and the gentle mist turned into a thick fog where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, let alone any helpful road signs!  

Oh well at least we had the sat-nav…………although in hindsight I should have remembered it didn’t know we had a caravan behind us! I’m not sure if many of you know how narrow even the major “A” roads in Devon are, but let me tell you the minor roads are mighty narrow. They are so narrow in fact that small cars often have to pull their wing mirrors in when passing cars coming in the opposite direction, so you can imagine the fun I was beginning to have whilst following the roadworks diversion signs.  You know the road is narrow when the driver of the dustcart coming towards you (which is behind an articulated lorry) gets out of his cab to guide you through the gap between the hedge.  The truck driver then says “you’ve got about 4 inches from the hedge on the left”, and when you look out your window on the right-hand side you can clearly read the make of the lorry tyres, which are only about 6 inches away from your nose!

Then things really went from bad to worse, a left turn took us down a single track road, and the sat-nav said we only had 3 miles to go………what are the chances that something would be coming in the other direction in this sleepy little back water?

Well, very high as it turns out…….and then this is where we were saved by our guardian angel.

Our saviour was Cathy Tor from Markstone Farm, and she saw what was going on outside her gates and set about directing the traffic, enabling me to reverse up the road and then turn around in a field in her farm. Not only that, but she then led us to our destination along far wider roads!

An hour or so later Kev and Val turned up at the site with a story to tell………they had been led to safety by Cathy as well….what a small world!

I am very glad to say it was worth all the effort!