The traveller returns.

Since last Saturday, I have been away on holiday and have been without internet and all of my hobby materials. I returned home yesterday and have had a restless night's sleep after a tiring drive so today is unlikely to produce anything more than a yawn...

...however...

Last Saturday we left Oxfordshire as a family of four and began our trip to sunny Somerset. We went from the A34 onto the motorway but quickly realised that there were going to be major hold-ups so we opted for the scenic route. I am glad we did because the rain was so torrential that I was driving at 20 MPH in places because I couldn't see the road! That made for an interesting drive but added two hours on to the trip length. That said, I am glad I wasn't stuck on the motorway in those conditions.

So... we arrived at our holiday destination, The Lynch Country House, near Porlock in Somerset and the rain finally abated. Once we had unpacked and sorted our lives out, a quick trip into Porlock got us to the Olde Chapel for dinner. It was a lovely place to eat and the landlord was a great bloke so we had a chilled evening in good company. We went back there a couple of other times and Ian got the Karaoke out... so that was fun. We also ate in the Lorna Doone hotel which was exceptionally nice... the lobster salad was perfect and the rest of the food was of the same quality. The service was silver and we were well looked after. The Royal Oak was another place we visited and that was nice too... good food, good cider and a dog friendly pub so there were all sorts in there (including a Bedlington Terrier).

During the week we also went to Minehead; where we made use of the arcades, the various food places and shops and also the West Somerset Railway (a steam railway that goes from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard). We also went to Taunton which was purely a shopping day and The Exmoor Owl and Hawk centre which was excellent. On our last day we stayed in the grounds of the Lynch for a picnic and I demonstrated my cartwheeling and headstand expertise to my rather embarrassed children... it was the icing on a chilled out holiday cake.

The drive back was uninspired and on the motorway but it knocked a couple of hours off the journey time so we were soon at home again. We picked the cats up from the cattery today and they are all being weird and squawking all the time but I am glad they are home and in one piece.

So... this week has been all about family, getting away from it all, Sudoku, enjoying the food and drink of Somerset and forgetting all about work and stuff.

I was hoping to get a lot of writing done but with all the walking, drinking and eating... and not much sleeping, I wasn't really in the right frame of mind so I only managed one piece... The Healer in the Wood.

So... now it is back to normality.

See you from the side of a hill!