Monday 28 November 2011

The Sidmouth Schedule [2]

Yippee for the 52B
click on the timetable for a larger view

fbb and Mrs fbb have travelled from the Isle of Wight to Honiton by ferry and train, See "The Sidmouth Schedule [1] (here), and are now on board the connecting service 52B bus for the last leg to Sidmouth. But, sadly, Sand is closed.
Sand is a "minor" stately home in private hands ...
... but only open on selected summer dates. So, to be fair to its owners, it is more closed than open! Neverthelss, it is still well worth a visit. Its web site is (here).

Sand is at Cotford, once a separate hamlet but now part of Sidbury. 

The Church of St Peter and St Giles has a Norman tower topped with a spire, a Saxon Crypt, a gunpowder storage room dating from the Napoleonic era and a 500-year-old font.
Sidbury in 2011 is little changed from Sidbury in 1906.
The 52B negiotiates its quaint and wiggly streets then sets off for Sidford, so called because it used to have a ford over the river, replaced by a packhorse bridge in the 12th Century. The much rebuilt bridge now carries the busy road from Lyme Regis to Exeter.
At Sidford, the 52B from Honiton joins the 52A from Seaton, the two services now providing a 30 minute frequency via Sidmouth and Newton Poppleford to Exeter.
The pub at Sidford crossroads is the Rising Sun.
Here fbb has previously blogged about the county's most ancient bus stop, served by journeys in the Honiton direction.

There was a possibility that the stop was out of use, but since the pic above was taken  (and since fbb's last visit) the pole has gained a swish green litter bin and a metal plate with details of access to information by mobile phone. So fbb guesses that the stop (with no pavement and on a lethal blind corner) can still be used by the suicidally brave.
Other stops for buses to Honiton are available nearby like the one here, just out of shot on the right. It has pavement and shelter!

From Sidford it is just a short journey (straight on as in pic above) to Sidmouth itself and the main stop at The Triangle. fbb and Mrs fbb have arrived (at last) at their November holiday destination.
A short walk via Old Fore Street and the travelling twosome were at their base for the week, namely Lennards Court, entrance just past Clark's shop as below.
Except that Clark's is now a health food shop with a special offer on Rabenhorst organic beetroot juice ...
... we kid you not.

Information on the benefits of Beetroot Juice, c/o the "Daily Mail":-

Once inside the body the chemicals in the juice get to work widening the blood vessels, speeding oxygen flow to the muscles (including the brain) and allowing them make the most of the oxygen breathed in. In the latest study, the Exeter University team asked nine men who cycle competitively to compete in time trials over 2.5 miles and 10 miles. Before setting off, they drank just under a pint of beetroot juice. When the cyclists drank the nitrite-rich beetroot juice they were 11 seconds quicker over the shorter distance and 45 seconds quicker over the longer route.

"Daily Mail" advice, so best ignored!

Perhaps it will help with stamina for complex journeys by public transport?

Next blog : due Tuesday November 29th

1 comment:

  1. "When the cyclists drank the nitrite-rich beetroot juice they were 11 seconds quicker over the shorter distance and 45 seconds quicker over the longer route." From fitness or pressing needs? Hmmm!

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