London and Westward Ho!, Sunday, May 31, 2026
East start to the day: tube to Paddington, arrive with plenty of time to spare, rendezvous with our crew, and board our train.
You do see some interesting things at a large station.
We started a little late, but the train made up the time. We did almost lose Cindy and Gary when we changed trains at Exeter: the conductor had told them they had to change platforms, and Sue just caught them as they were entering an elevator. Unclear whether they would have made our train, which arrived right afterwards.
I had booked cabs for the onward journey to Westward Ho! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the name!!!), and we were soon rolling through fields to the beach town and our Inn, the Waterfront. It’s the kind of place we love to stay: a big, lively pub with good food, and light, airy, comfortable rooms. We were all soon downstairs having a very late lunch, followed by a long walk on the enormous beach.
The tide was coming in as we walked back, and we were forced to scramble up a large breakwater.
We had a really nice dinner at a place called The Pier House. Our waiter was a stitch: definitely out on the spectrum, but utterly amiable. Sue and I shared a an enormous seafood platter with smoked mackerel, smoked salmon, cod, potted shrimp, squid, mussels and langoustines. Most of the crew went for mussels.
The setting is exquisite. On the site of a 600-foot pier built in 1871, the restaurant sits overlooking a vast stretch of rocky coastline.
The pier was heavily damaged in a storm in 1880 and torn down. The question is how it lasted that long!
