Hello dear reader. Welcome to my travelogue. A few months ago my mother and I decided, quite spontaneously, to take a trip to England. Our first week's destination would be Dartmoor National Park, which I've been to as a child, but whose beauty I didn't appreciate at the time. Now that I'm older and obviously wiser, I'd like to go back to it. The second week we decided to explore an area in England that was new to us, namely The Cotswolds. England is not the most popular holiday destination, because of the climate in my opinion. Understandably, many holidaymakers prefer to go further away from home, where the sun is constantly shining and the warmth embraces you. Yet I am a lover of England, because it has character and because it really has beautiful areas. I hope I can make you a little curious about this land by sea, but enough chitchat. On to the travelogue.
It is Friday May 20th and the car is packed with our bags. Our sweet Jack Russell gets a last pat on the head and father, brother and sister wave us goodbye. Our journey has begun! In Calais we make the crossing to England via the Eurotunnel. This is fantastically quick and easy. We will be across the street in 30 minutes. Then you are suddenly in England where it is an hour earlier and people drive on the left. With full concentration we drive past the huge KEEP LEFT signs. For a long time, all drivers are kindly reminded of this. We will spend the night in the town of Sandgate. It's only 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but my mother and I like not to make things too difficult for ourselves. So it's time to recover from our "long" journey. In Sandgate we spend the night in a Stunning Sea Views apartment, where, as the name suggests, we have a beautiful view of the sea. In Sandgate no house looks the same and some houses are very characteristic. That's why it's nice to walk around for a while. That afternoon we decide to take a look at the chalk cliffs of Dover. The National Trust maintains a nice public foot path over the tops of the rocks, from where you have a nice view of the harbor and the rocks. We also enjoy our first cream tea here. yum!
By carBy car
Chalk Cliffs of DoverChalk Cliffs of Dover
The next day we continued our journey towards our second address in Ashburton, a town on the border of Dartmoor National Park. The apartment, Petit Boo, is adjacent to the home of the friendly owners. It is wonderfully clean (BIG plus!) and the heating is already on, so that we immediately feel at ease. We can easily last a week here. During breakfast we are often greeted through the window by a duck and his chicken friend. Good. Time to explore Dartmoor. Driving through this colossal nature reserve, with an area of almost 1000 square meters, is no picnic. The roads are often wide enough for one car, but are two-way roads. There is also little to no overview, because the roads are mainly located between hedges and stone walls. One big advantage: there is almost no chicken. You regularly drive over a cattle grid with next to it a sign with the following pun: Please take Moore care. I liked that idea of the British. Anywho, so in many parts of Dartmoor the animals graze freely and walk the roads. I think that's fantastic. Cows, sheep and horses also walked freely on the roads in the Netherlands. That would make my world so much more beautiful. It is not the intention to stroke, kiss or cuddle these animals. They're not what I call trolls. We drive to a number of old bridges, including the Post Bridge and click away with our cameras. It starts to rain, as can be expected in Dartmoor. Fortunately it stops within 5 minutes and shortly after our great friend, the sun, comes to warm us up. We drive around a little further in this beautiful rugged nature reserve and spot the first Dartmoor ponies. We keep a safe distance while shooting. Further on, two calves are sunbathing and as I photograph them I get a very spirited and dangerous look from the giant mother cow. I make a deep, humble bow to her before walking back to the car, avoiding eye contact. If you ask me, it's almost as exciting as going on safari in Africa. When we arrive home, we drink a cup of tea in the sun in our backyard. We read some, we eat some. That evening we want to admire the sunset on Haytor Rocks, a gigantic granite mass in Dartmoor with the highest point 457 meters. We soon discover that we are not the only ones with this brilliant idea. A number of local youths have already gathered on the large stone heap. Some have even crawled under a blanket. Unfortunately, we are just the thing for the most beautiful moment of the sunset
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