She Sells Sea Shells by the Sidmouth Shore

Two trains, a long hilly walk, a bus, and no lunch after we left Bath, we were in Sidmouth.  The longer of the two train rides was hilarious.  We were stuck in the standing area, there being no seats left, along with a ragtag group of other people including a young mother with her smiling baby, Charlie, a very fit looking older man crammed into the bike compartment with his bike, two young girls with a box of cupcakes and a large and raucous group of young to middle-aged men, all holding beers, apparently not their firsts of the day, despite it being 11 am. It turned into a veritable party in the little compartment, the men trying to weedle the cupcake holders into giving up their sweets (“Oy, are those cakes for me? They’re my favorite!”), and the young mother trying to get in touch with her own mother on the other side of the crowd, with everyone else boisterously joining in (“Mother!” “Where’s her mother!” “Bring the mother!”), while I wedged my foot under baby Charlie’s stroller so he wouldn’t roll into the cupcake girls or me.  Who needs seating anyway, turns out standing is way more fun.

Sidmouth is a perfectly picturesque seaside Devon town.  Totally without meaning to (must be that bank holiday thing) we had arrived in the midst of a celebration weekend.  As our bus teetered into the tiny town, we were accompanied by a procession of limping, costumed, three-legged-race competitors.  It looked like Halloween practice.

The hotel we had found late the night before was right on the beachfront promenade. After we checked in, the receptionist asked cheerfully, “Do you want to take Snuggles?” which turned out to be the itty-bitty elevator. It reminded me a bit of the Little Engine That Could; it needed some encouragement to make it up to the third floor. At the top, we found we had been given a gorgeous oceanfront room.  Really scored with that one, I guess sometimes waiting until the absolute last minute pays off?  Also there were fireworks our first night. I’m starting to like these bank holidays more and more.

Our fellow occupants at the hotel were almost entirely elderly couples, which was perfect, as they encouraged us by their very presence to keep to the point of this 36 hours in Sidmouth – relaxation.  After ten days of hard-core sightseeing, we were ready for some downtime.  We spent our full day in Sidmouth meandering around the town and beach, climbing up the hills to either side of the beach, and making it back to the hotel for breakfast at 9, coffee at 11, tea at 4, and dinner at 6:30.   Almost hobbit status.

 

relaxation day: achieved