Day trip to Totnes

Hi Folks. Yesterday I sneaked a couple of snaps while I was waiting for the Bear in town. They were taken in a square just behind the high street. I wanted to show you the local pinky red stone. It's volcanic stone and all the earth round here is this colour. The pic is of a ruined church - ruined due to German bombing in WW2. The glass panels (in Gothic arch shape) are public art and contain embedded bits of pottery and glass dug up during various excavations around the city.

And here is a view showing a glimpse of the Cathedral.

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Day trip to Totnes. Here are some classic views of Totnes High Street (taken by other people) from above and below the East gate. (The links given with photos are just to the webpage I found them on.)
By Mathew Walters

By Rutek

Over the last 7 months I have really struggled with going out. Just going to the shops round the corner was horrendously difficult for the second half of last year. I mean REALLY difficult. I went into town on very few occasions and only when I absolutely had to for some reason. I was intensely stressed when there and just wanted to get out ASAP.

I do find it easier to go out under cover of darkness. But I still have to force myself to do it.

So how on earth did I deal with a day trip to another town - half an hour away - on my own?

The night before I laid all night in the fetal position and hardly slept. But when I got up I was very focused and psyched up to do this thing so I was able to get myself out and walk to the train station - a good half hour walk. I felt just so much better when I was on the train. It helped that the scenery is stunning. I couldn't snap it as my camera phone couldn't cope with moving images. (It now occurs to me that I could have videoed it. Duh!) The views were of the estuary and harbours filled with yachts.

The view from the train taken by Ron Strutt

The track runs along the coast and I mean right on the very beach. The Victorians weren't going to be defeated by a bit of sea! In stormy weather the waves crash over the top of the train. It's quite incredible.

This is a video showing a section of my journey. It is a little blurry (on my computer at least) but does show the scenery and the pinky coloured cliffs. The sand is pale yellow - I don't know the answer to that one! Occasionally a steam train is shown but that only runs a few times a year. (Double click on the picture to get full screen)


And then the train turned inland again and we went through the country side and to Totnes. It was a half hour train journey.

I love being on the train. It's like time out of real life. That inbetween-ness.

Of course I was tense. But I was able to appreciate the scenery as well.

I spent quite a bit of time in Totnes when I was younger but I've only been there maybe 3 or 4 times in the last decade. I was unable to take any photos of the town because I just wasn't up to it. I decided to work my way up through the high street.

Here is a short video (not by me) showing some of the streets I walked through in Totnes


And I ended up walking all round the town on both sides of the river. So that was quite a few hours walking. Amazingly I had no trouble doing this amount of walking. Probably it was a huge amount of adrenalin that kept me going.

I did manage a couple of shots down by the river.

And then in the other direction

Looks idyllic huh? Without the roar of the traffic it would be. I went to Totnes to see if I wanted to live there and decided against it due to HUMUNGOUS traffic noise. I mean it was the worst noise I have ever heard. There is a heavy volume of traffic going through and round the town  (the street shown on the video above is a restricted traffic area). But I couldn't account for the noise levels except that there is some problem with the road surface on the principle road. I thought maybe I am going over the top with this. But when I mentioned it to my healer, she completely agreed. Anyway, the volume of traffic was huge on a January afternoon, so I can't even imagine how bad it is at Easter or during the summer months when all the tourists are there.

Sad that so many places have been ruined by the traffic.

So that was disappointing but the day was in no way a fail. I didn't fall apart. I felt OK apart from a couple of moments - which were probably due to tiredness. I have a little confidence now that possibly I can visit other places and be OK.

I found a wonderful old bit of a programme on Totnes from the BBC made in 1978. It's 9 minutes long and is a real gem. Don't worry about the old white haired dude who appears in the 0.30s. He's only on for about 10 seconds and then you get back to some wonderful views of Totnes. The town is unchanged since the 1970s - except that the Gothic house is now painted yellow. It's really weird to think that I was there myself (as a child) only a couple of years after that programme was made. There are many other snippets from that series (click on "More from" to see list) and I'm guessing that most of them are as delightful. You'll have to click on the link as I couldn't embed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsZPXrM7RcU

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My food today contained no snacking and no chocolate which is a significant improvement. I have decided to go back to my mantra of "If I don't buy it I can't eat it". And also to avoid processed food. My evening meal tonight is roast chicken with a ton of veg and some mashed potato (yes! I'm a sinner!) I had the same last night and it was delicious.

So I'm definitely making moves in the right direction.