On the road again...

Once more unto the breach! We arrived in England on Thursday morning, quickly shrugged off the jetlag (a shower and spa treatment at Heathrow sure helped) and headed out once again in search of adventure.

Our first stop was just a waypoint. The Swindon Marriott was about as expected, though the onsite tennis court was a nice perk. We even managed to find a nice looking restaurant for dinner - the Old Bank - which had a nice little patio where we could soak up the glorious rays. Our lucky weather streak from London continued with nary a rain cloud in sight. Unfortunately, the restaurant was overwhelmed with patrons and it took us almost an hour to get our Pimm's, and the food we almost wish we didn't receive at all. Definitely an early morning departure from this town!

Next stop was Bath. We won't denigrate this beautiful town by including it in this post. It certainly deserves one of its own.

After Bath, our next stop was Exeter, which was also meant as a waystop on the path to Cornwall. After our Swindon experience, expectations were fairly low for this town, which included our cheapest hotel stay at the Mercure. What a wonderful surprise! After a drive into town through an industrial estate, we gathered out low expectations for a walk around town shortly after arriving. We really just wandered, having not bothered to put any effort into reading about the town.

After a short walk, we were blown away. We came across a beautiful cathedral, set in the midst of a pretty little square surrounded by restaurants and cafes. This was much more than we expected to find, and we chastised ourselves for thinking so little of Exeter. Yet there was more surprise to come. We stopped for dinner at Herbie's Vegetarian Restaurant. Its appearance was about what our initial expectations would have been - "down to earth" would be a polite description. But surprise number two came as we tucked into some excellent food - the Homity Pie was delicious! That made three excellent vegetarian restaurants in the space of 1 week.

Very pleased with this surprisingly impressive town, we decided to wander about after dinner to see what else Exeter had in store. This is when we encountered the best surprise - the Princesshay Mall. Built at the edge of the old Roman town wall, this mall was stunning. Built as a covered outdoor mall, it was an excellent combination of stores, restaurants, offices and living space. I rarely describe shopping malls as beautiful, but this certainly qualified.

Very satisfied with Exeter, we reluctantly left the next morning, wishing we had booked an extra day here, but eager to get to Bude, which had been described as the most beautiful beach-side town in Cornwall.