Thursday 31st March Port Isaac and Doc Martin

An early start was required this morning as we had a bit of ground to make up.  We made our way through East Suussex, West Sussex, Sommerset, Dorset, Waymouth ( the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympics), Bridport, Devon and Cornwall.  There were wonderful fields on mass as we drove through this magnificent countryside.   Most of the fields were bordered by hedges, bush hedges, stone hedges, stone hedges with grass carpeting them.  A large number of wind farms to be seen.   From Cornwall we made our way to Port Isaac.  Port Isaac is the home town of the series Doc Martin.  Port Isaac is a small seaside village which is on the Cornish coast and has a fairly ruggard coastline which was rather stunning.  Mossing along to see the wee village and to see the home of Doc Martin,  little did we expect to see Martin Clune, Doc Martin himself.  They were in the middle of filming the next series.  In between takes we had the good fortune to see Martin Clune, and to speak to him, he asked me where we were from, and he said that he had been to Tasmania and that he had a Huon pine serving spoon.  I couldnt resist the temptation of having a photograph taken with him.  Even though the photo turned out to be  a shocking one of us both. Such a lovely man.   On our return from viewing the village we picked up a cornish pastie and  whilst we were eating it we were able to watch a few takes of the filming, what a thrill.  It was indeed well worth the 4 hour drive to the lovely Port Isaac.

From Port Isaac we then headed off to Wales and made our way to Cardiff the capital of Wales.  Upon entering Wales we saw the first forest of the day.   Most of the trees in the forests were deciduous and so largely were without foliage which seemed quiet strange.  In  the trees there were hundreds of ravens nests. I wondered how the birds know which tree and what nest to make their way home to.  Nature is an amazing thing.     We decided that we would visit  Barry.  Barry is home of the filming of Gavin and Stacy.  Stacy's character is from Barry. We found Stacy's house in Trinity Street, a neighbour called out to us "knock on the door", Spock did this but no one was home.  It is reported that the lady who owns the house will open her house to you, i was quietly pleased that she was out. 

Barry is located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than 7 miles south west of Cardiff.  It is a seaside resort with some attractions such as beaches and the Barry Island pleasure park. It is a place where I think that every young lady would need a 'Gav' to light up her life.

Port Isaac and Martin Clune were the highlight of my day for sure.We made our way through 7 countys today, a fair effort by anyones standards.