Wednesday 21 September Singapore

After breakfast, headed off for the bus again - the day is hot and sunny so the tour (a different route) is so much better and easier to see everything. As the grande prix starts here tomorrow - the traffic is shocking. Forgot to say yesterday that the taxi to Raffles took so long as we were actually driving on the grande prix track as it goes right through the city - it is so disruptive to traffic and everything takes sooo much longer. We got up this morning and there was a Mclaren car set up on a stage in the foyer which wasn't there last night. We had a late check out so went back to room to freshen up, close the cases and sat using their wifi in the foyer until we caught a taxi to the airport. Horror of horrors the silly girl at the check in said we were 3kgs overweight and was going to charge us $140. She said we could take stuff out so we did - bags of dirty washing, shoes etc until we came up to 3kg. David was very embarassed - I don't know why. It would have been very expensive dirty washing not to have taken it out. It was on the plane anyway we just had to carry it on. Oh well!!!!!

Tuesday 20 September Singapore

We woke up to a very wet Singapore - had breakfast, checked out and caught a taxi to our Hilton points hotel - the Conrad Singapore - the difference in the hotels was huge - The Conrad is a 5 star beautiful hotel complete with teddy bears on the bed - or at least last time there were 2 - this time only 1 - perhaps it is the economic climate. We grabbed our hotel umbrella and caught a hop-on-hop-off bus and did the city tour and we were shocked at the new buildings since we had last visited Singapore. It is really an amazing city and sooo clean. Had lunch in a food court and then had a couple of hours looking at the shops - very hard not to buy anything but we have not an inch to poke another thing into our cases. Got back to our room in the afternoon, changed and caught a taxi to Raffles for a drink in the Long Bar and to refresh our memories of this wonderful hotel. Hummed and harred about staying for dinner but caught taxi back to Conrad and just as well as we had an amazing meal in their Cantonese Restaurant with will known chefs from Hong Kong. Just to make you hungry again Neil - Peking Duck (2 courses), Suckling Pig with foix gras ?? (pate) and wasabi prawns, scallops and broccoli - amazing.

Monday 19 September In flight, Singapore

We arrived in Singapore at 5:30pm and caught a taxi to our Accor hotel (our free night) Ibis Belconnen which we later learnt was the budget area of Singapore (don't think we will rejoin next year). Although very basic it was clean, comfortable bed, the staff were nice and the restaurant good. I had not slept at all and David only a bit. We had shocking seats 2 in the middle of 4 and the young guy next to me was very good about getting up (about 5 times). We had dinner in the hotel and off to bed for a good sleep.

Sunday 18 September Bath, Heathrow

Being in the UK you must talk about the weather. It seemed to rain most of the night and there were still heavy showers in the morning. We left Woodford Bridge at 10:15am and headed towards Heathrow. Ken took us a different route to Taunton which took us through a few villages we hadn't seen before. We drove through patches of very heavy rain that slowed us down a bit but we had loads of time so we weren't concerned. We were looking for somewhere for lunch when we saw a sign for Bath which looked promising. Just off the M4 on the Bath road was a little pub called the Crown all on it's own in the middle of nowhere. When we walked in it was packed and any spare tables had reserved signs on them, they managed to find us a table tucked away in a back corner which was fine. The menu was was quite extensive and the food was delightful. We drove the few extra miles into Bath but the traffic was chaotic so we had a quick look at the canal boats, Royal Crescent and then drove back to the M4. The traffic was heavy and the rain was spasmodic but we travelled quickly until we came across a couple of accidents. After playing merry-go-rounds in Heathrow we dropped the car at Avis at 6:30pm. The shuttle took us to Terminal 3 and after a very quick check-in we were in the BA lounge enjoying a nerve calming drink. We boarded at 9:00pm ready for a thirteen hour flight.

Saturday 17 September Exeter

We were up early this morning because Di had a massage booked for 9:00am. While Di had her massage David did most of his packing. As the weather was iffy we decided to drive the hour to Exeter, all of Devon seemed to have the same idea and the closer we got the heavier the traffic became. Exeter is a very large University city with even a Marks and Spencer's. We spent a couple of hours there and had a couple of steak pies on the cathedral green for lunch. The drive home was much more relaxed and left us plenty of time to prepare for leaving the country before we have dinner tonight in the restaurant.

Friday 16 September Padstow Seafood School

A wonderful, wonderful day. Rick Stein's cooking course was everything we expected and more. The day started at 8.45am with a fitting for our chefs jacket and then served coffee and shown around. There were sixteen participants on the course and we met some lovely peple from all over England. It was like a master chef class where Keith the chef demonstrated four fish courses ad we would cook it after each one and then all sit down to eat the meal. With the third course Keith opened some wine to complement the fish. Our fourth course was a whole baked bass with fennel and rice which we cooked and then ate with more wine, of course. This was about 2.45pm. After lunch we watched Keith prepare tempura Prawns, fish, and squid. We didn't cook this but we did eat what he had prepared. When we asked who was going home he said we all were and he presented us with a certificate of participation. As we said a wonderful, wonderful day. After so much food we arrive home tired and only able to finish off the apple pie and clotted cream left over from yesterday.

Thursday 15 September Lynton, Lynmouth,& Appledore

Another beautiful beautiful adventure. We head off to Lynton and Lynmouth twin towns on the northern coast of Devon which are on the edge of Exmoor. It wasn't far as the crow flys but on the narrow A roads it still took a little over an hour to get there. We drove through Lynton to the Valley of the Rocks which is a very interesting rugged landscape on the Atlantic coast. We saw some very large goats there - huge in fact. We then went on to Lynton a village with lots of charm - the lady in the information centre told us to go to Hewitt Hotel for the best Devonshire tea overlooking the water - and she was right. We then walked down through the beautiful gardens of the hotel on very narrow slippery paths to Lynmouth until I was sure we were on the wrong track and told David that we may never be seen again. After all the rain north Devon has had the track was very tricky and slow. The tide was out again but it did not take away from the beauty of the village. After walking around Lynmouth we caught the water powered train/lift back up to Lynton, it's a very quiet, smooth trip that only takes a few minutes. We spent a bit more time in a craft shop before driving back to Appledore (sounds Harry Potterish) for dinner. We followed a bus load of children from the Czech Republic in big coach all the way to Barnstaple, we thought it was a miracle they arrived in one piece. We had a drink before dinner and the new publican who befriended us yesterday showed us upstairs and told us his plans for renovations. We both had the lemon sole for dinner and were back home by 9:00pm. An early night tonight as we have to get up early in the morning for Rick Stein's Cooking Course in Padstow.

Wednesday 14 September Shebbear, Appledore

Our friends from Taunton Judith and John were arriving at 11:30 this morning so we weren't in a rush to go anywhere. Once again it had rained overnight and carried on through the morning. The Bentleys arrived on the dot at 11:30. We gave them a cup of coffee and showed them around the resort, which they seemed impressed with. We decided to go to a pub for lunch and the girl in reception recommended the the Devil's Stone in the tiny village of Shebbear. It was a lovely old 16th century pub run by an eastender. John and Judith kindly shouted us lunch. There was little to do in that area so we drove on convoy to the seaside town of Appledore which lies at the mouth of the River Taw once again the tide was out and half the boats were lying in the mud. We were lucky the Bentleys were with us because we would not have found it. The old village consists of tiny fisherman's and boatbuilder's cottages all freshly painted in pastel colours, many of them with superb estuary views. We had a final drink with Judith and John in the Royal George Hotel before heading to our respective homes. We are planning to eat ate the Royal George tomorrow night to sample some fresh fish. Tonight we are having pasties and apple pie with clotted cream from Lizzie's Larder, at home.