Our first port of call was thanks to Mrsrev, who recommended the very nice Fremington Quay Heritage Centre and café. Fremington Quay is now a pleasant pitstop on the Tarka Trail,
But back in the day it was a working port where trains brought clay from local mines and loaded it on to ships for onward transport. Some clay was also used locally, and the centre had examples of local plates, etc. Then we had a cup of coffee and a cake in the very nice café before heading on.
We have not been lucky with museums this trip - I don't count heritage centres - as we were to date for the one in Wimborne Minster, the one in Blandford Forum was closed on Wednesdays and the one in Okehampton yesterday! And we will never know whether the one in Barnstaple was open, as there was nowhere to park. The museum car park was being resurfaced and what was left was employees only, and the other one we could see had a height restriction! So we called it a bust and headed on to Lynton where we had lunch, bemused by the appearance of a German Rotel Tours bus in the car park - they are more at home in African deserts, we thought.
Anyway, after lunch we headed for the Cliff Railway, which is water powered - the carriage at the top fills its tank with water while the one at the bottom empties its, so the heavier one goes down and the lighter one comes up!
When we arrived in Lynmouth we wandered about and went to an exhibition about the Lynmouth Disaster in 1952. Then back up the railway in nice time to have an ice cream before driving across Exmoor (one word: don't!) to here, outside Minehead. The Swan Whisperer has gone for a walk while I recover from the drive, and then we are going to eat in the pub in whose back yard we are parked for the night.
UPDATE: No, we aren't. They laughed at the Swan Whisperer when he went in to book - no need to book on a Monday, duh! And when we went over to eat, they were fully booked and all, "Oh, you should have booked!" Well, bugger that for a game of soldiers!
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