We have just completed a lovely 18-day trip in the UK, spending three nights in Exeter, Devon before moving on to a bit of Cornwall and then flying to Northern Ireland. Planes, trains, buses and a few taxis were our modes of transport.

We had visited much of Cornwall in June 2018 (see that trip report), so this time we wanted to see one or two places we had missed last year and return to a lovely Falmouth event, the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival.

But before we got to Falmouth, we wanted to check out Exeter, Devon because one set of my great-great grandmothers and grandfathers had been born in the nearby Honiton area. Last year we had found my husband's great grandfather's birthplace in Alturnan, Cornwall; this time, I got in my own ancestry research day(s).

We then flew to Northern Ireland from Newquay, Cornwall. This first-time visit to Northern Ireland followed many past trips to the Republic of Ireland.

Thus, this trip report will cover the following areas:

• Exeter, Devon (side trip to Honiton area)
• Falmouth, Cornwall
• St Austell/Charlestown, Cornwall
• Coastal Causeway, Northern Ireland
• Derry, Northern Ireland
• Belfast, Northern Ireland

Along the way, I’ll report on some of my background reading, our cell phone SIM choices, some of the packing and travel tools we used, and some of our general observations. I also will be adding a lot of notes on some great IPA beers we drank along the way for any fans of hops who read this post.

I am grateful to many on this board who not only helped me plan this trip but who also boosted my spirits when health issues started creating obstacles even before we departed. God Bless all of you.

Next: Why Don’t We Rent a Car?

So what’s up with not renting a car? Everyone knows that’s really the way to see a country, right?

All I can tell you is that not renting a car is a choice we started making over 20 years ago after exploring the Loire, France area. As we turned the car back into the rental place, my husband, normally a calm, mellow guy, turned to me, the family trip planner, and said, “I want to make this clear—I never, ever, ever want to drive in a non-US country again. Please make that happen.”

And thus, I pretty much design most of our yearly adventures around public transport. A recent poster on another thread (not mine) used this statement, “I can’t imagine not renting a car…” To paraphrase the famous line of the movie A Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come”, if you imagine it, you can make it happen. That’s one reason for my trip reports: I would like to help people who would like to imagine not renting a car, people who hope to find another feasible way to explore a country or an area.

Yes, we ended up renting a car in Costa Rica (something I would NOT do again because now I know how to solve transport there quite easily) and we also rented a car in the North Island during our last week of a three-week adventure in New Zealand, a rental which even my husband thought worked out well. But other than that, most of our major trips have now involved public transport and extensive cycling miles.

With that end in mind, I’ll explode a few myths or assumptions…

“Renting a car costs more than using public transport” or conversely “Renting a car eventually costs less than using public transport”

All I can say is that cost is NOT a reason our choice and both above statements can be proven to be true or false. All associated costs depend on where one is and what one is doing. For the most part, UK and European cities have enough relatively cheap public transport that make car rentals fiscally unwise and impractical. Going outside of cities by public transport or alternative methods requires a little creativity that either can be ultra cheap or rather costly.

“Renting a car simplifies travel” or “If you don’t rent a car, you deny yourself flexibility”

Getting from Point A to Point B by public transport can be a bit complicated in some locations. But we can also tell you that once we get to Point B, we never have to find a parking space, often a very troublesome travel issue.

And we never have to worry about not knowing local roads, local driving rules or driving under the influence. Our dimming eyesight will not contribute to a fatal accident, nor will we ever again be caught driving the wrong way on a one-way street. And we can close down as many bars as we’d like!

Not having a car can make having good accommodation research and reservations even more essential. If the reserved B&B or hotel isn’t up to snuff, it may be tougher to make alternative arrangements work. Yet we’ve easily packed up and “gotten out of Dodge” several times without having a car parked outside the door; indeed, we created a back-up plan on the spot for this most recent trip.

And having a good transport pass can make one’s journeys amazingly flexible and extremely open to serendipity. Because most of our time is spent traveling with locals, we consistently are open to and easily receive “on the ground” advice and adjust our day’s travel accordingly.

NEXT: Embarking! Getting to London!

oh how lovely to find this. Really looking forward to reading about your trip [though not the health issues you refer to!]

We started our overseas transport from Atlanta GA (not our home city) for the same reason we did last year: I used every darn scrap of American Airlines FF miles to book First Class seats on a late evening British Airways flight.
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Note on our FF Miles:
My husband still racks up a ton of miles flying for his work, plus we fly on AA to visit our only grandchild, a trip we take almost monthly now. I have two credit cards (one a legacy from the original US Airways) that earn me AA miles, and I make sure I pay by card, not cash, for even the smallest transactions whenever possible. In fact, my phone's Samsung Pay app certainly pushes that practice forward. My groceries and pharmacy purchases and automatic monthly online charity donations can add up, and usually we can both be pushed up to a mile-earning level that earns us a even more miles per flight. I pay careful attention to mileage bonuses and award sales. My ultimate goal is to snag a Business or even First lie-flat bed at the cost of regular airfare on one international trip per year. Our actual departure and return dates are based on the availability of those seats for the fewest miles. Yep, date flexibility plays a huge part in all of this, and we are very grateful for both the time and fiscal options open to us even as our advancing age shuts down so many other travel options. We certainly remember what it was like to fly in the middle of the last rows of super economy in years of yore. We were grateful then just for the opportunity to travel, no matter how hard; now we are even more grateful that the opportunity of a few more hours of sleep and less pooled blood in our feet has helped keep us "on the road".
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We UBERed to ATL more than three hours early, a good idea because much of TSA was backed up by inoperable scanners and lots of people with many children and those associated belongings. Our goal was to eat in the International terminal at Ecco, whose menu had looked good to us last year. Sadly, it turned out our orders were not that good. We had not planned to use the The Club, the ATL Business/First lounge, which, as any FlyerTalk.com reviewer will tell you, is iffy at best. I did dip into its restroom before we left. Yep, same old, same old--The Club toilets were filthy and trashed overflowed the waste bins. The public restrooms were much better.

I am not whining, though. We certainly could have eaten very well on the flight, but the reason we try to get a lie-flat bed is to sleep. Having chosen seats on opposite sides of the plane--my husband and I get along just fine, but we are long past the need to be glued at the hip--we individually told our flight attendants that we were skipping service and heading straight for our covers. On this trip, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by professionals who must regularly fly to Dubai or India. There was none of the “Can I change my seats to sit next to my spouse?” on this flight. By the time I got into my BA pajamas and returned to slide down my BA sleep mask, it was nighty-night for all around me.

Once we landed at Heathrow, our entry was greatly facilitated by the new expansion of the eGate system. We made our way to the BA Arrivals Lounge. Since the place shuts down around 2 pm, we were very happy that this year, our flight had not been delayed and our entry line had been so minimal; we could easily make full use of it. We had time to take a quick shower there and graze on breakfast items and coffee. I used this time and space to install my Orange Holiday SIM (I’ll discuss that in a later blurb). We slightly repacked our belongings to make our upcoming train trip easier and then headed to the Heathrow Express to Paddington.

Next: Getting to Exeter by Rail

I dislike the hassle of public transport but I do understand that some Americans find driving in a non US country stressful, especially the UK.

I made a poor fiscal decision this year: I bought two BritRail South West Senior passes again, this time for a shorter time period. Last year, buying these passes was a WONDERFUL decision: we were doing something by rail, often two or more rides, almost every day, and if we "lost" any money in the process, the flexibility more than made up for it. This year, my purchase ended up not making much sense because I changed my Cornwall plans so much after the non-refundable purchase for a variety of reasons, and this time, we were rarely off on multiple daily adventures in Cornwall.

Nevertheless, there are two great things about the passes: 1) one never has to queue up or even pre-book a ride, a fact that is especially helpful if a plane is delayed and one’s advance train purchase becomes useless and 2) the Heathrow Express to Paddington is included in the pass. We just had to show the gate agent to get to the Express train from Heathrow.

Past experiences were helpful. At least this time we knew exactly where the Heathrow to Paddington train was located, and once arriving in Paddington, we knew immediately which kiosk would validate our passes for the rest of the trip. Since were not wandering around lost in the station this time, we were able to snag a quick beer before getting on an express Paddington to Penzance train, trains that depart around three minutes after each hour, usually from Platform 4, and take around 2 hours and a few minutes to the Exeter St Davids stop.

Next: SIM Card, Phone Plan, Electronic Gadgets

Odin, I would say that only planes were our hassle this time, and not because of any delays. There is just so much lining up and waiting to go to the next line just to wait, etc, involved in flying now. Otherwise, when we hit obstacles in our various transport modes, finding the solutions was been part of the fun.

Yes, I did do a lot of advance research that headed off major woes; having dual phone connectivity solved most other worries within minutes.

My husband is such a dear. Early on in our marriage, he, who was a veteran of using a train pass throughout Europe in the 60s, told me that the lesson he had to learn via his far more cultured friends was the difference between "vacation" and "travel". The first term says one expects a period with little to no problems; the second term creates a new set of challenges. He had been an excellent golfer--he's not bad even now in his advanced years--yet he has never sought out the typical resort vacation for his family; indeed, when I once "gifted" him one, he was upset. He wanted his kids to be challenged at all times. Of course, that meant I had to meet the challenges first. His response: "I fell for you because you were really smart." Ah, the way to my heart.

Oh Annhig, Thursdaysd, and Macross (who has not responded yet, but I bet he/she will), I always felt you guys were with me every step of the way on this trip. Thank you.

I swear we try out a new means of staying connected with every trip now, and new technology means travel by public transport is so much easier than just a few years ago. Google Maps now provides a lot of public transport information, and I had installed local apps for this trip that could fill in any gaps in before we left.

We still are bringing too much equipment along with us now, but the sum total is so much lighter in weight than it used to be, and lighter weight is indeed what makes public transport one of our travel options.

I remember years when I was lugging not only adapters but also converters. I often was packing away an American CDMA cell phones and pulling out cheapie GSM phones (and their unique cords!) once I landed. And then we’d have to buy a local SIM.

On how many trips did I lug a dual voltage hairdryer and a specific separate camera charger for a separate camera? Heck, once upon a time, my luggage was also weighed down with books. If you understand that we only used to do carry-on luggage—and we still pack with that mentality—then you understand that my suitcase had little room for actual clothes. I often had to wear a Scottevest and layers of outerwear onto the plane to make our minimal packing possible. I once wore my hiking boots on the plane for our hiking trip to Switzerland.

On this trip we carried…

• Samsung Android phones (mine is a Galaxy Note)
• Small iPads
• My Paperwhite Kindle
• Mu international charger/adaptors (they can be taken apart and fit flat into shirt pockets. I got mine through Amazon)
• 3-in-one retractable adaptors (no more bringing separate cords for my iPad, my Kindle, and my Android phone. I got these on Amazon, and I made sure to buy some for my daughters and their significant others, too.)
• Ear buds

And that’s it. My husband and I still debate our carrying our iPads. It’s likely on our next trip that I won’t bring mine because a) I do all my novel reading on my Kindle and b) my Samsung Galaxy Note is pretty large. My husband will strongly consider not bringing his iPad, even though that’s where he does all of his reading and his Samsung phone is considerably smaller. Other than that decision, I don’t foresee our future electronics packing to shift much.

What will change will be our phone plans. My husband, since he still must be connected to work, changed his Verizon plan to International. I tested out a I bought on Amazon, a SIM which gave me 20 GB of internet data, 120 minutes of phone calls, and 1000 texts in 30 countries in Europe.

At the end of the 14 days, I topped off the plan online, and I’ll have that number for six months, at which time I can do a cheap top-off again. I had no problems installing and activating the SIM, mainly because I took the time to read about all the problems others had had and wrote myself a long list of directions and hints that I put in a plastic sleeve along with the SIM card. After putting the SIM into my phone in the BA Arrivals Lounge, I booted the phone up and quickly changed the APN settings. Everything went without a hitch.*

My husband was really impressed, and it’s likely that since our next trip will be after he retires, he’ll just do the same.

*A reviewer on one of the Orange SIM sites had a great experience with a Vodaphone card he bought on ebay, so be sure to check out that very cheap option too!

Just a note for other seniors planning a fair amount of train travel in Britain - I recommend the Senior Railcard over the passes - https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times...46540.aspx#SNR

Also, on the phone issue I have had a month-by-month deal (now with a senior discount) from T-Mobile for years. I get unlimited text and low speed data in multiple foreign countries. I still travel with a phone (currently a Moto G6 after my Samsung S5 died, I want one small enough to fit in my hand), an iPad (for blogging and reading) and a real camera.

I am so with you on the lie flat seats, getting enough FF miles for front of the plane is the only reason I have a Citibank MC. Also, lounges with showers....

Lol. I travel with hiking boots, not for hiking but because I need the ankle support. I always wear them on the plane (well, onto the plane, I take them off and put extra socks on once I board). BTW, I now have Global Entry, which gets me TSA Pre, which does speed things up at the airport.

We arrived at our first real destination of the trip, Exeter St Davids, around 5 pm. Our hotel, the Headweir Mill House, was less than a mile from the station along the rather busy, but quite level, Bonhay Rd. Our easy walk, however, was made a little more difficult by rain, wind and plummeting temperatures.

Upon arriving, we were greeted quite from a make-shift receptionist station in a hallway corner. We were led to our room, which was down a short but rather treacherous and curving flight of stairs to the basement. I took one look and said, "Can we get help with our luggage?" The receptionist drafted a nice guy from the adjoining pub restaurant, the separate establishment, Mill on the Exe.

I believe our room was Room 1. I need to warn you that the photos for our booking on Booking.com* were only half accurate (for example, there was certainly no bathtub and separate shower in our bathroom) and it was quite a dark room with strange lighting.

*I believe the "we only have one room left" thing on Booking.com and other booking sites is now being challenged in court, so dismiss that "one room left" claim and dismiss the implication this is some luxurious suite with a river view. There may be a sort of bait-and-switch going on, but I am reluctant to level that charge.

If I booked here (and it's not a bad location choice by any means), I would follow up with these pointed questions:

• on what level is my room?
• please describe my bathroom?

for starters to make sure you are getting the room in any picture.

I had booked Harry's Restaurant for dinner but my husband and I were exhausted and not up for the 20 minute walk, much of it uphill. Instead, we voted to cancel and drift over to the adjoining Mill on the Exe restaurant, where the meals had been rated as rather average. They let us sit at a large table with a river view. We were delighted with our meal selections. Any place where I can order a side of roasted root vegetables makes me a fan and any place my husband can order a St. Austell Proper Job makes him a fan.

Afterwards, we made it down the strange steps to our room without injury and were quickly asleep.

Next: A Rare Sleep-In and Our Day Exploring Exeter

I was under the impression that Senior Railcards were only available to UK citizens. However, since your post, Thursdaysd, I have just explored that further, and found this information.

We are not at the point of having T-Mobile yet because connectivity is still an issue in places where we live most of the time. Hard to believe, right? My husband's office demands that he keeps Verizon, cost and all, but that issue does not impact my plan at all. I have another issue--keeping my deceased mother's Verizon phone line up so her elderly sister can still her voice and pretend to talk to her. Yeah, THAT's a toughie I don't see going away soon.

Note that we DO have Global Entry and TSA Precheck--heck we also have CLEAR, all of which are worth a lot when traveling throughout and re-entering the US. Having those designations, however, has meant nothing in the UK; hence we welcomed the Heathrow eGates over our FastTrack entry last year. What a world of time difference!

I can't wear hiking boots anymore however. I have to have a certain type of heel for the Achilles tendonitis and a certain type of forefront design for the darn bunions (thank you, Mom!) that makes the New Balance FuelCore Coast 3 or 4 perfect for me when I pair those with arch supports and Achilles compression wear. Unfortunately, NB has decided NOT to continue that line. Egads! When these wear out, I'm done.

I brought folding hiking poles with me this time though. More on those later, I promise!

I'm surprised you could still book two first class tickets with miles. We had no trouble doing it back in 2000 and 2006 but when we were planning a trip in 2016, also on AA miles, my husband and I considered flying business or first and throwing the kids back in economy. But they only offered one upper class seat per flight so we couldn't. I remember stalking the website expertflyer.com because they list how many award seats are available per flight and it never opened up to more than one. Maybe it is seasonal since we flew in the summer? So I'm very jealous!!

Adelaidean
Yep, I made sure to buy these adapters for my sister and her husband and my two girls and their husbands for Xmas/birthdays. When we went to Paris for Xmas, I only took one US "half" and the Europe "half". On this trip, I took the US "half" and the UK "half". They don't add one ounce of excess weight to my luggage, plus their dual USB ports work quite well. Knowing I can get on a train with the parts flat in my pockets is such a bonus.

The 3-in-1 cords I love simply because without my glasses, I couldn't see which USB cord I needed to pull out the backpack to charge something. Now I only have to pull whatever USB cord is on top--and it's always the "right" one. Heck, I can feel the correct tip if need be. My two techie sons-in-law love them just as much as I do.

Wait until I do my blurb on doing in-hotel-room laundry. I have two new items this year I added to my packing list, and they were MARVELOUS. My little sis and my daughters/spouses will be getting gifted with these, too. I'll keep you in suspense.

Got a kick out of the hotel room comment. Two days ago when we were revising our packing for our return journey, my husband and I looked at everything we had categorized around the room and said, "How DID we get all of this into our bags?"

We slept well. In fact, we slept too well. Our dark basement room kept us snoozing well past our planned wake-up time, thus wiping out my carefully orchestrated day to tour Exeter.

Oh well. We FELT GREAT! With a bounce in our step and wearing a lot of layers (I was sporting my lightweight silk underwear!) for this slightly cold and breezy day, we ventured forth up the hill to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) stopping for a quick coffee on the way. We liked the RAMM's local history section, and we spent about an hour reading through every part of the exhibit that showed Exeter from prehistoric to Roman to Industrial Age to the present times.

By the time we exited the museum, the weather had improved and we were able to put away a layer or two into our daypacks. Our next stop was the Exeter Cathedral, and it was a winner. We weighed the idea of using the guided tour that went with the required paid admission, but we both decided we'd rather tour on our own with the aide of a purchased printed booklet and the free leaflet maps.

Once we started, the most striking detail was the brightly painted bosses throughout the ceiling. Roof bosses hold the ribs in the vaulting. They have been quite plain in other Gothic churches we've toured (and believe me, we've seen a lot of Gothic cathedrals in our lifetime) because I don't recall ever noticing them before. In Exeter Cathedral, however, bosses are done with such outstanding painted relief carving that they appear as jewels. There are over 500 bosses in the cathedral, ranging in size from five inches to a yard in diameter. Simply stunning.

The architecture seemed different, too, and soon we learned why. Exeter has the longest unbroken Gothic vault in England because there is no central tower to interrupt it. There's a substantial yet airy feel to the place.

One of the side chapels features a well done film on the cathedral's history and features and various exhibits show how the cathedral dealt with bomb damage during WWII. We enjoyed all the various screens and pulpits, but what we loved the most was the hole in the wall for the archbishop's cat because mice and rats were drawn to the greased ropes of the nearby clock and the cat had a job to do to get rid of them. As soon as we read this, my husband and I looked at each other and exclaimed, "Hickory, dickery dock!" So that is why that darn mouse was running up and down the clock in the rhyme.

You might enjoy this link I just found: https://cuddlywumps.blogspot.com/201...cathedral.html

One of the guides had just finished a tour when she came across our astonished faces at a full-size papier mache replica of one of the bosses. It was huge! She showed us where it was in the ceiling and also pointed out a few of her other favorites. She explained that Exeter features exemplary tierceron vaulting, or the use of ribs which rise from the side pillars but do not go all the way to the center of the vault and instead meet at cross pieces.

We thanked her for her considerable time, and then we returned our leaflets and the purchased booklet to the admissions table.

We walked outside and the weather had greatly improved again. Time to take off another layer. While doing so, we got a chuckle out of the adolescent school groups visiting. The boys were being boys--tackling each other on the ground but taking side glances to see if their behavior had attracted any female attention. The girls clung together in little groups, having rolled up their skirts at the waist while their teachers weren't looking. Nothing really changes, does it?

I have to continue this post later, so the next part of this entry will have to be...
Our First Full Day in Exeter--The Custom House Visitor Center, The Samuel Jones Smoke and Ale House, and Angelina's

We enjoyed another part of Exeter as we strolled down to the Quayside area. Part of our descent approached the ruins of the original city walls, and I quickly spotted a strange Tudor House with wedding shop in the bottom. "Look, it's The House that Moved!" We had just been studying all the pictures of it in the RAMM.

We then made our way further down the hill to the Custom House Visitor Centre. I had hoped to take one of the free Red Coat tours that left from either here or the Cathedral--I had downloaded the schedule before I left--but our late start sadly more or less ruled most of the options out for us. Another disappointment was that the history film they show there seemed out of operation. Nonetheless, we enjoyed all the nooks and crannies of this oldest purpose-built custom house in England and learned quite a bit. There was a cute little exhibit that asserted local explanations behind such sayings as "As far as I can spit", "Hanging on tenter hooks", and "Between sixes and sevens".

I told my husband that there is talk the Custom House will be expanded into more of a maritime museum, and he agreed the place does need to be expanded since Exeter's past as a huge maritime and trade center is so fascinating. We both agreed that now learning Exeter's importance in English economic development, we were really happy we had scheduled a stay in this city.

The Custom House Visitor Centre provides tourist information, and I picked up a better map than the one I got at the hotel. I did not see the South Devon transportation booklet I had hoped to find--I had seen last year's version online--and the desk clerk was on break. Oh well, our fault for getting such a late start.

Speaking of late, it was time for a beer! Low and behold, we found ourselves in front of the Samuel Jones Smoke and Ale House, a St. Austell pub with a lovely location straddling much of the quay. We charged our phones while happily drinking pints of Proper Job IPA, and mapped a different way back to our hotel so that we passed our evening's restaurant. After using the place's nice clean restrooms, we were off.

While the day had become sunny, the wind starting picking up again, and we were pulling layers out of our backpacks like rabbits from a hat again. We turned uphill on New Bridge St and almost missed Angela's because it blended it so well with the street. We then found a hillside path from which to descend to Bonhay Rd.

We were back near the hotel but did not feel like going in yet. The weather forecast for the next day was rain, rain, rain and we wanted to walk for as long as it was dry. We crossed the pedestrian bridge across the Exe and explored the parkland over there. Dogs, runners, cyclists, kids kicking balls, skateboarders trying to outdo each other. Finding a bench, we spent at least 15 minutes watching all the skateboarders, young people who ranged in age from around 10 to 25. We applauded one brave adolescent girl among all the guys, and it was sweet to see that she was emboldened by a nice group of her boy pals.

We retreated to the hotel, showered, and headed back up the hillside path to Angela's. The owner was really sweet, our meal was excellent, and our walk down the hillside in beautiful evening light was lovely.

Next: Honiton

I am loving this report. We see everything by public transportation even if we have to hire a private guide for the day or a cab as we did in one country. The off the beaten paths comments you can only see with a car are not true. We have found we enjoy our trip so much more not driving and my husband loves the challenge. We still drive some in France and Germany but less and less.

My friend from London has a parent in Exeter and she always posts the nicest pictures from the area.
I am the adapter gifter. Haaaa. Love those that you linked. Can't wait to see the laundry. I take these dry sheets now that wash and have a bit of fabric softener. I get at the commissary. I cut into 4 pieces as I feel the new machines in Europe don't need a lot of detergents. I love gemz for hair but hate the single use plastic so have to find something better.

Looking forward to more report. You're my hero. We can do this. I was on the flight from hell the other day and they were several Irish families on board worried about the rental cars being given away. Yikes, they'd been up for over 24 hours and we're all going to drive in Orlando after landing at 10:30 pm. It is hard enough to get out of the airport let alone navigate I-4 to Disney.

Again, our dark basement hotel room meant we overslept a bit. Nevertheless, we had not messed up our plans the way we had the day before; instead, the weather itself would do that. Looking outside at the downpour, we voted to get breakfast at the adjoining pub.

Breakfast is NOT included in the hotel's reservations, but at least one can walk to pub's breakfast without getting wet. Reviews online had often said breakfast was not that good, but we thought, "How bad could it be?" Whoa. It WAS that bad. For example, my overcooked fried eggs were floating atop a sea of baked beans, and the toast had quickly become saturated with a mixture of "bean juice" and grease. Lesson learned.

The rain did lighten up for a bit by the time we headed for the train station. I noted all the coffee stops near there we could use before our departure tomorrow so we would not need to visit the restaurant again. And miracle of miracles, I found exactly ONE copy of the South Devon transport guide there. Yeah, we could do a lot of transport planning just on our phones, but sometimes, having a list of bus and train times can be so helpful.

The trip to Honiton took around a half hour. My husband was amazed that as soon as we got off the train, I was zooming toward the town straight for the All Hallows Lace Museum without missing a beat. I had planned this trek over and over again in my mind, and I was so excited.

As I explained, last year my research had led us to the birthplace of my husband's great great grandfather, the village of Altarnun where his 3rd great grandmother and her ancestors had lived for endless generations. Honiton and surrounding area was MY ancestral turf. Long ago in a box of old pictures, I had found a sweet picture of one of my 2nd great grandmothers whose appearance was so like that of my sisters and cousins that it's frightening. This former dressmaker had carried as a middle name her mother's maiden name, and with a sense of whimsy, my husband and I used that name as my youngest daughter's middle name, a fact that delighted my father. As soon as I started on an ancestry trek with various family branches, one of my major missions was to find out how my paternal grandmother, an immigrant to the USA from Tipton near Dudley Castle, had family who migrated from generations in Honiton, Devon to Bridgewater, Somerset.

The All Hallows Lace Museum is a tiny place that is now serving as a general outpost of town information because the expensive "new" tourist center had closed. By the time we entered its doors, we were soaked to the bone. I told my husband I should have unearthed my packed rain pants for this day. As we tried to tuck our wet umbrellas and outer layers in places where it could not bother others or do damage, we were greeted by lovely volunteers and told how to explore the displays packed into such a small space.

I have no proof the women in this family line made lace, a famous Devon cottage industry that would soon be replaced by machines. But the volunteers told me if they lived here during the time period I had sketched out, more than likely they would been working on small bits by firelight that would later be joined up with the work of others. Their "bits" would more than likely be used as trade for goods for their families.

The person I had decided was my family hero, my third great grandmother, had a father who ended up being the town drunk (not many people get notes about their state of inebriation in parish burial records). He had became "enlisted for life" at age 38 (!) in the 28th Regiment of Foot Soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars and was immediately shipped out to Ireland. He served for 15 years, and I'd say he may have ended up seeing more of the world than even I have. His time in Canada explained a "one-off" DNA line, and who knows what he did with himself during his time in Malta and other parts. I could not figure out how he had had six children in Devon given his time away from home, but luckily I had a world membership in Newspapers.com that gave me access to Exeter newspaper records of his regiment's troop movements. Let's just say he may not have been faithful but his wife probably was, God Bless Her.

One of the volunteers showed me how to make lace. I thus am determined to go home, watch YouTube videos, and make something for my youngest daughter's upcoming wedding. Heck, I have almost a year to do it. As a back-up, I bought several small "bits" for my girls and my sister at the gift desk. The museum has been buying parts of original Honiton lace, breaking it up, and selling it for revenue for the building. Good for them.

I had delayed as long as possible for the rain to lessen, but I was giving up hope. I told the people I would be heading towards the Evangelical Church and I hoped I did not misstep because the rain was so bad. They asked why would I go there. I told them that my 3rd great grandmother had been married there when it was the Independent Chapel, shortly after it was built. They were confident the building was not there then. I pulled my records out of my backpack, and I showed my photocopy of that line's family Bible. They were stunned and said, "Wow, what people would give for such a record." I said, "That's what happens with a strong female line. These sisters must have thought all of this was important." Anyway, a doubting volunteer still thought that church did not exist then, and he called another volunteer, the town historian. She told him I was correct.

My husband mumbled, "She's ALWAYS right." And that, my friends, is the secret to close to 40 years of marriage.

Next: Honiton and Ottery St Mary's--Part Two