Now...when my youngest son was two years old, one afternoon we took him to Blackpool Sands. After and hour or so of watching him throw small handfuls of pebbles into the water we walked slowly along the sand, with each parent holding one of our sons hands as he toddled along happily, enjoying the occasional arm 'swing' as we went. I was walking closest to the water, but was at the time more than 6ft away from the waters edge as we were heading towards the back of the beach, where we had noticed some dunes. The water was calm and our son had been paddling in the tiny wavelets a short time before, with myself beside him holding his plastic bucket and spade. As we walked along the beach as described, in my free hand I was carrying my camera...when suddenly an unexpected wave crashed to the shore, knocking me sideways and taking my son and my camera away with it! Both of us grabbed our child out of the waves, with sand already pouring from his mouth and nose. It was one of the most terrifying times of my life.
Badly shaken, we had immediately returned to the guest house where we poured out our distress to our host...who told us that her husband had been walking on this same beach several years prior, when he had been suddenly and forcefully hit on the chest by a wave...which was akin to what we'd experienced. He had afterwards been off work for months and could still feel pain in the affected area now and then. He and his family hadn't visited that beach since, and nor will we.
On our way to Dartmouth we stopped at Trago Mills. This is a massive shopping arcade, surrounded by ice cream, fudge and bagel places. All of it rather tatty. The only things I could find of note were three male peacocks...one of which stood to face-up with me. I took this as being a potential photo opportunity, so asked him to fan out his tail for me. He refused...so I explained that humankind can make a small fortune for flashing their tails to the camera...in the hope that he'd get my drift. He did. He clearly indicated that he wasn't prepared to flash his peacock for peanuts...and that was the end of the matter!
Upon our arrival at the Dartmouth campsite we found it to be clean and tidy. It was near a coastal path that led down to Blackpool Sands, and soon after our arrival we took the dog for a walk along there...whilst choosing to avoid the beach itself.
I've visited Dartmouth many times, but on this occasion we were able to park (free of charge) right on the quayside (at 9am). The town was clean and very pretty, with lots of interesting buildings, fresh fish shops, cake shops and bakeries. I could've stayed there all day...but after stuffing our faces we decided we'd best find a stretch of beach where we could walk off our excesses.
The next morning we woke early, having slept well (as we also had the previous night in fact)....then after a lazy breakfast drove towards home. One the way back we stopped whenever the mood took us...finally arriving home mid afternoon. All very leisurely! The weekend now lies before us, so we feel that we're still 'on holiday', which is nice : )