Adventure, Adventure

Day 2:

Hurray I have gotten sometime to write about the second day of the Exmoor trip! Quickly!

We got up and out of the hostel by 9:30AM. Driving on the road around the English countryside is always an interesting experience, especially where we were. Imagine the narrowest roads you can and then think about cars trying to come down and pass two mini buses and 4 Land Rovers……welcome to our morning :0) “Exciting stuff!” (Per Mark Horton). We made our way to the town of Bideford, where all the major voyages for exploration to the America's made port before setting sail. Here we got to climb aboard on of the last wooden schooner in the world, the Kathleen and May. We saw the sails go up, some of our maritime MA’s and MAASM (MA in Archaeology for Screen Media) students pitched in a hand to get them up and down, some even were so lucky as to get to climb the rigging. Then it was on to the church yard, where the first native American brought to England was buried, as well as Sir Walter Raleigh and Grindell (founder of the town). (Excavation of this area might be possible over the summer, WOOOO!).

Onward, we went to the Mayor of Bideford's offices and the Mayor himself gave us a guided tour of the cabinet rooms and the mayor jewels ("very impressive"). Along we all went with the Mayor and Mark as master and commander through the streets of Bideford. After a long tour of fun filled facts and Mark playing traffic warden we finally caught sight of our beloved vehicles (cough, cough) and set out for more fun adventures with Mark at the helm.

Much later than we had originally anticipated, we arrived at the Burrows, not sure what the name of them was, but they apparently they were the staging area for the American troops during WWII. Here the US troops did dry runs for their invasion of the beaches on the Normand coast (D-Day Invasion). An of you know that fun fact? Or that they used live fire and ammunition during the test runs and killed many of our own boys in the process? I didn't. Funny thing isn't it how history changes depending on who is writing it; they can add and omit information as they see fit. "Crazy ol' world i'n it?" (Johnny Depp- Jack Sparrow). Continuing on, we found remnants of barbed wire and jeep tracks. We, also, found old jeep parts and tires, German style barricades, foxholes, and cement crossing stations. About eight of us got lost while trying to find these things, of course. Mark was leading with a hand held GPS and we still couldn’t find our way back, mostly because Mark couldn’t figure out how to use the GPS lol Oh Mark. We walked on and on, until we finally came to a trail and thankfully it was the right one; leading us back to the rest of the group. After meeting up, we all walked back towards the vehicles, mind you Mark was in the lead, in the wilderness….we got lost. We some how ended up in the live military training zone and yes they had guns and live ammunition, not good. (Mark suggested that we tell them that the war was over and they should pack it in and go home. Not sure that would have been the best idea and nor did any of the other professors lol Mark is a bit of a handful but nothing is as much fun without him around. He brings the level of seriousness down so much and makes us all feel much more at ease. Its great to have him as a mentor). Anyway, we did eventually find our way back. We got in our respective vehicle and began the 2-hour drive home. Of course, our mini bus got lost, due to suboptimal navigation, over zealous chattiness with the driver and dark roads. We made it home an hour after everyone else, which was really lame, but in the grand scheme of things, it made very little matter.

Ok well all, that is it for now. I have class again in the morning and I have to get some reading and prep for the rest of the week, on top of ordering textbooks and doing laundry. Love you all lots and I am sorry that it is taking so long to get this entire story out but the important part is that you will have it all eventually. Miss you all!! BYE XxXxXx