Appledore from Instow...

Backblipped 26.07.18
 
And suddenly it is the last day of our holiday. 
 
I haven’t felt this sad about a holiday coming to an end for a long time.  Usually by this stage I am ready to head home and get back into our usual routine, but I could easily stay here for another month.
 
We had a discussion at breakfast about what we wanted to do today and where we wanted to go.  There were a number of places we hadn’t quite managed to get to but some were to the north of Barnstaple and some were to the South so we had to decide which direction to take.  We chose south for the most ridiculous of reasons…
 
All the time we’ve been here we’ve had a giggle whenever we see the town Westward Ho! mentioned on road signs or on traffic news.  It’s the exclamation mark at the end of Ho! that does it.  Whenever David pronounces it, he says Westward in his normal voice then shouts HO-O! adding an extra “o” as befitting the exclamation mark.  Makes me laugh every time.  Anyway, for that childish reason we decided Westward HO-O! had to be included on our itinerary. 
 
We headed off, down to Barnstaple, over the Torridge Bridge again at Bideford and soon enough there was the sign proclaiming Welcome to Westward Ho!  We giggled again.
 
I am not sure what I was expecting in Westward Ho!, an old fashioned port perhaps?  But we found something we weren’t expecting, lots and lots of regeneration turning the sea front into what looks to be, a very modern resort.  There are still lots of older houses but a huge amount of building work has taken place and is still ongoing.  Not sure how long it will be until it is all completed but I hope am sure it will all turn out well.
 
We stayed long enough to stop at a pet shop to buy Lola some pressies (message update with photos from Evelyn this morning shows Lola is having a great time!) then on to Appledore for lunch as we knew there was a John’s at Appledore café and having thoroughly enjoyed our lunch at John’s at Instow last week, we felt it would be a good bet for a tasty morsel.  We were right.  Toasted panini with West Country cheese and ham, spiced pineapple and mustard for me and five West Country cheeses with fig relish for David.  Delish.
 
Afterwards we enjoyed a wander in the sunshine along the lovely front at Appledore, which has beautiful views across the Torridge Estuary to Instow. 
 
Once we’d seen all we wanted to seein Appledore, we decided to end our afternoon in Instow.  As we drove past the car park we’d parked in last week, we spotted Alan’s car so realised he must be in Instow with Christine and Jordan.  We parked on the road adjacent to the small but beautiful beach (and handily just behind an ice cream van) got out and sat on one of the many, well kept benches looking onto the beach and the opposite view to that which we’d just enjoyed, this time from Instow to Appledore.


There was a plaque on the bench in memory of a couple who had been married for over sixty years and had spent many of those years enjoying the very view were were enjoying now, and I’m not sure if it was due to this being the last day of our holiday and already feeling a bit melancholy, but I got a little teary eyed sitting there thinking about this couple, who’s existence I had no knowledge of until we’d sat down.
 
After a while David set off for a wander and to find a loo and left me sitting there lost in my thoughts.  A few minutes passed when I was jolted from my day dreaming by a woman asking if I was saving the rest of the seat for anyone.  I saw she had an elderly couple with her and would say the man was easily well into his nineties and the woman in her mid to late 80s so of course I immediately said they were welcome to join me.
 
It transpires the couple were her parents, and as she and her friend went for a wander down to the water’s edge, the older couple and I struck up a conversation. On hearing my accent the old gentleman asked whereabouts in Scotland I'm from.  When I told him, he knew the area I was referring to.  It turns out that although he was brought up just outside London, his mother was Scottish, and at the end of her pregnancy she travelled all the way back from London to Glasgow to give birth to him.  “I lived in Glasgow for the first five days of my life!” he announced proudly.  “I take it your mother was Scottish?” I asked him.  “Oh yes!  Many generations!”
 
He went on to tell me that his maternal grandparents lived in Largs and he was evacuated to them there during the war and enjoyed many boyhood adventures exploring Largs and the Isle of Cumbrae.  His wife was originally from the midlands and still retained a bit of her accent.  She told me she’d been evacuated to five different places during the war.  “I should be severely psychologically damaged by it, but we just got on with it” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
 
We talked a little about Instow and how they live just an hour away and have spent lots of time here over the years.  They made me think of the very couple the bench we were sitting on was in memory of. 
 
Their daughter and son in law returned from their wander at the water’s edge (having narrowly missed standing on a jellyfish!) and suggested an ice cream before heading home “for your nap.”  “No thank you.  Wouldn’t sit well with the cottage pie I had for lunch” was his reply accompanied by a wrinkling of his already wrinkled face. 
 
As he shuffled to the edge of the bench to stand up, he turned and gave me a beaming smile, patted my hand and said “It’s been lovely talking to you.”  I smiled back, and resisting the urge to give him a hug for fear of snapping his old bones replied “and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking to you.”
 
I watched as he stood up, so frail, looking shrunken in his clothes, the skin of his arms hanging loose, and thought of the young boy still inside him, who he’d brought to life as we chatted.  I felt privileged to have shared that space with him and his wife for just a little while.
 
David returned and we indulged ourselves with goodies from the ice cream van.  A lemonade ice for me and a tub of ice cream for David.  I had texted Christine to let her know we were in Instow.  She and Jordan arrived with Alan.  They’d been in a café further along the road.  Alan was full of the joys.  They left to carry on their adventures and David and I sat a little longer, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and the view (and trying not to think about the long journey tomorrow.)
 
Back at the Barn, David, Alan, Jordan and Christine went for a last dip in the pool.  Just as they were about to get out they noticed Alan had a rash on his chest and shoulders.  Once out and dried they investigated further and were a little alarmed that it was the kind or rash that doesn’t disappear under the glass test.  He was fine, showing no other symptoms of anything but as a precaution I texted two friends who are nurses and sent photos of the rash.  They both gave the same reply, which was that they didn’t think it was anything to worry about, to keep an eye on him and any change, phone the local Out of Hours service. 
 
We chatted about it, checked his temperature (normal) asked him if he felt ok (yes) but decided that since we had a long journey ahead tomorrow, we would play safe and have him checked out. And of course no family holiday of ours would be complete without a visit to a local hospital *rolls eyes*
 
I rang 111 and spoke to a lovely lady who after taking all the info, arranged an appointment for Alan at the GP Out of Hours service at North Devon Hospital for 8.30pm (it was 7.45pm as I spoke to her so that was impressive.) 


We got there just before 8.30pm and saw a lovely GP who examined Alan (Alan laughed and blethered throughout the consultation) and his conclusion was the same as our friends’ – no sign of infection and the rash should fade in a day or two.  Phew!
 
We drove back to the Barn via Ilfracombe stopping for fish suppers and a last look at the harbor just after the sunset then back for the last of the packing, then bed!