Birthday, Boats & Dolphins

It was my birthday last weekend so I took some time off to go away on a short break with my husband down to Torquay in Devon.  We love it here as have been before but in the summer 3 years ago for our wedding anniversary.

We booked into the Imperial Hotel for 2 nights as looked like a nice place and had an indoor swimming pool as I am a water baby and love swimming – I should have been born a dolphin (I love dolphins also)….

A few days before we were due to go our friends decided to join us so booked a room too – now I knew it was going to be an even better weekend with Tom & Sue in tow!

We set off about 8.30am on Saturday 7th October and travelled down in the car, a few stops along the way and arrived approx 1.30pm.  Luckily our rooms were ready so checked in straight away.  We had just booked a standard room as never in there much so didn’t want to pay the extra.  Tom & Sue had to have a superior as no standard left when they booked but both rooms were lovely.

This was our room with a separate bedroom and a lounge area & this was a standard room too!! What a view we had, only problem was the patio doors were restricted due to maintenance so couldn’t go out on the balcony unfortunately.

It was a very comfortable room and so spacious, lots of storage space.  The only downfall to this hotel is that it is at the top of a steep hill – not good on the legs. I was OK to walk up but not the others – ha ha! They need to go to the gym like me. The locals called it – ‘Cardiac Hill’

We went straight back out again and headed down the hill, first stop the Irish pub for my first birthday glass of Prosecco & it was lovely…

We had booked a table at Amici’s Italian as recommended by some of my lovely customers Rod & Noreen who I have blogged about before – good job they don’t mind!  After a couple of hours wandering around the harbour we headed back to the hotel to get ready but got a cab as that big hill – no!  The cab driver told us about the oldest pub in Torquay called ‘The Hole in the Wall’ so we went there for a drink before dinner.  It was a lovely little old fashioned pub with original beams & floor and very welcoming too and had real ales which Tom likes so everyone was happy.  We met some characters in here too which was great fun.  We booked a table here for the Sunday night for dinner as liked it so much and there was live music on so that would be interesting.

We had a lovely meal at Amici’s, the food was fantastic and the staff brilliant and really looked after us. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday with my hubby and great friends – thanks guys!!

Tom even arranged a birthday pudding for me – bless!!

It was a fab birthday and I had the best time.

Next day we were doing our own thing as Tom & Sue had friends down there too so we went for breakfast together down in the town and then went our separate ways for the day.

Myself & Adam were meeting Rod & Noreen (my customers) for lunch as they live in Torquay, I have booked them for years and would string me up if didn’t tell them I was going so we pre-arranged to meet them.

We had a lovely meal and a good catch up and was nice to finally meet them after speaking on the phone for so long.  We went to Hoopers cafe which is a department store there and had a lovely meal.

Myself and Adam then went for a walk along the harbour as were meeting another friend we made there 3 years ago.  We had a couple of hours then headed back to the hotel so I could have a swim and Adam relax for an hour before going our for dinner.

The meal at The Hole in the wall was great and the music was OK to start with a guy singing and playing the guitar then more musicians and singers joined in and it got better and better so we stayed here all evening till about 11pm.  Then headed back to the hotel, in a cab again….

The next day on Monday we had decided to go on a boat trip to Dartmouth for the day.  The boat left at 11am so we had breakfast in the town again and then joined the boat.  We have done this similar trip before and really like Dartmouth so wanted to go again. We were really luck with the weather and the sun shone most of the weekend so the boat trip was lovely.  After about an hour into the journey the boat went quiet and slowed down & I knew there was something in the water to see – DOLPHINS!!!

I was in my element as love them, there were pods playing in the water and it was magical to see, my husband said I was like a 5 year old on Christmas morning and he wasn’t wrong.  I didn’t get any pictures as wanted to see them and not through the camera.  They just popped out every now & then but didn’t do any big jumps but was still impressive to see them in the wild.

We had 2.5 hours in Dartmouth so wandered around the shops, had a fish & chips for lunch followed by Ice Cream and then a drink in the cafe by the dock, it was a lovely day.

Dartmouth is such a pretty town with it’s multi coloured buildings and boutique shops including ‘Fat Face’ my husband’s favourite shop so got a few things from here before going back to the boat.

On the way back more Dolphins, again I was exited to see them twice there & back, even the skipper said it was unusual – they must have known I was on that boat….  the skipper even stopped and circled around so we could see them again and there was one right by the boat – kid at Christmas again!

What a way to finish our weekend away as after this trip we were heading home.

I had the most amazing birthday weekend thanks to everyone who made it special!

Torquay is a lovely place for a weekend away and so much to do – we will be back!