Day 6 - Dartmouth - Rest Day

Weather - Early fog, sunny, max 20

We had a great rest day. We were at breakfast at 7.30am so we could make the most of our day. The cosy, traditional breakfast room overlooks the Boatfloat, a closed marina, and the town’s quay and we saw that it was a foggy start to the day.

After some FaceTime calls with “the rellies” we set off for the laundromat which was only around the corner from our hotel. As the clothes washed and dried we walked the narrow lanes of Dartmouth and planned our day with the travel booklet that was left in our room.

We loved Foss St, a pedestrian, cobbled street with its speciality shops and small art galleries and their hanging pots of beautiful flowers. The Flavel Art Centre markets were setting up for the day with their exquisite artisan wares from local potters, textile artists and jewellery makers. We noticed the picturesque Anzac Street B&B and Restaurant. We later booked for dinner at 7.00pm.

At eleven o’clock we took the small Greenway Ferry from the town quay to Greenway House, Agatha Christie’s Georgian holiday house. The ferry ride took thirty minutes to reach the Greenway Quay and it gave us a good opportunity to see all the sites on the River Dart. We had a good view of Kingswear, the small township on the opposite bank of Dartmouth where we will be walking tomorrow. There were also large seals basking in the sun on rocks.

Agatha Christie and her husband bought Greenway as a holiday house in 1938. Christie spent a considerable amount time each year at the house with her husband and family, Christie called the house “the loveliest place in the world.” The house is in an ideal spot overlooking the Dart River.

Christie never wrote at Greenway but found much inspiration in the house and the grounds. After touring the house we walked down through the lush, cool gardens to the Boathouse which was the scene of the crime of Poirot’s “Dead Man’s Folly”. Now Henk and I are keen to read this mystery. 

We spent quite a few hours at Greenway before returning to Dartmouth in the little ferry. The tide was now low and the boats in the Boatfloat were now sitting on sand. Our hotel is the large one behind my left shoulder.

Our dinner was delicious. At the next table was an English couple about the same age as us and we hit it off well so we spent an enjoyable evening chatting. I loved the restaurant’s front window which featured an Agatha Christie theme. It was part of a recent competition in the town. 

Our hotel was a great location for the rest day. Many walkers on the path told us that we would like Dartmouth a lot and they were right. It’s a beautiful town which makes the most of its river, The Dart. 

We’ve been watching the weather closely and it looks like the weather is changing and rainy weather is coming.