English Riviera

English Riviera, a set on Flickr.

We decided for some bizarre reason to go & check out the English Riviera on Sunday... Helped by the fact we were given a half price hotel room - we thought we'd take the plunge. We took the A38 out of Cornwall & carried on until the turning for Teignmouth. We drove through Newton Abbot with intentions of stopping... Until we got there & decided to keep on going! Arriving in a packed seaside town on a wet & miserable Sunday was a rather strange experience for us - we felt very out of place, but were eager to see what was on offer... Unless you like feeding amusement game machines or eating cheap junk food - there's really not much else other than a walk along the prom. We were a little disgruntled that even the pier was closed, but cheered ourselves up with the thought of Peg Leg Pete throwing himself into the sea while ablaze all for fun!
We went on to our hotel in Torquay, which we found to be pretty awful, but we did find a decent Indian restaurant for dinner - The Bombay Express. On our way back to the hotel - we enjoyed some sightseeing - there were lots of interesting hotels with unusual themes... The next morning we decided to skip breakfast because we were saving ourselves for later. We had a little look at Torquay Harbour which was fairly pleasant & got on our way to Paignton - our lunch time destination...

We had found Epicentre on the net & thought it looked perfect!
It was great, the kind of place we would love ourselves... Vegan cafe, second hand books & local music - a wonderful combination for us, though Sime would throw in the odd second hand instrument for selling too! We ate hearty lentil soup, which was very very good, served with sourdough filled with garlic cloves... Then we had burgers, I had a western or west coast, which was drenched in BBQ sauce & topped with yummy onion rings (without the batter) & Sime had a Mmm burger which came with onion rings & mango chutney. We shared the fries (which nearly knocked us asleep later in the day - hahaha). They make bean or tofu burgers, burritos & other Mexican food, plus their own cakes & cookies. It was all brilliant & the owner, Bryce originally from California, is a really nice, friendly guy. We enjoyed the atmosphere & the homely feel - we shall definitely be venturing over the border again just to visit the cafe!
On leaving Epicentre we felt the need to find somewhere quieter. We headed down towards Kingswear & waited for the ferry to Dartmouth... More to follow tomorrow.

Night, night.
Kay x