A LONG WAY FOR A PADDLE

Woke up at 0530, got up and had a shower, got dressed, made myself some porridge and in no time, it was 0700 and Steve turned up in his old fashioned Landy (Land Rover to you) Weather was dry and we started on our journey to go into Devon and pick up five tyred wheels, which he had bought on eBay for his Landy at a VERY good price. He had arranged with a lady in Honiton that he would arrive at 12 Noon and he hoped she had got them ready to collect. I think Steve said his old Landy was 1957 vintage but it was NOT uncomfortalble, and was very noisy and rattled a bit.
What had I done?? I agreed to accompany him, but never imagined that at a top speed of about 55-65mph, it was going to take nearly five hours.
We headed off through Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset via the A361 and without stopping we crossed the line into Devon at about 1130. As Steve had his Satellite Positioning iPhone with him we soon found the little village that we were aiming for. The tyred wheels were all ready and in no time he had loaded these five great big tyres into the back of his Landy and we were off to find lunch. The time was 1159 and it was still dry. We had been on the road for 5 hours!
Where to go for lunch as the weather looked anything but promising. Steve decided that we would head for Lyme Regis, in Dorset, as the further we went into Devon, the further it would be to get back to K/S.
By now it was raining very hard but we went on until we arrived in the very hilly little town of Lyme Regis, which was crowded with holiday-makers, defying the rain and we were lucky to find room in the car park. It was now nearly six hours since we left K/S and we were both ready for a gents toilet!!, which was in the car park. Relief!. Next was to find some food and if you know L/R you will know that there is no shortage of pubs and cafes.
Lots of people were outside a big pub, so we decided to go inside as the rain clouds were building up and we still hadn't had our paddle. Wet head, yes, but no wet feet OOHH. We bought a pint of local beer each and I had mackerel and chips, while Steve had a fish pie. After all we were at the seaside.
We wandered round the little town and we looked at the long breakwater where the French Lieutenants Women waited for her lover (in the film, I mean). Time was dragging on and we left L/R bound for home along the Dorset coast road. Turned in towards Salisbury and slowly made our way back to Gloucestershie when we found a delightful pub by the River Thames in Lechlade (near its starting point) and sat down for another pint and some hot fish and chips. There were swans and a large selection of ducks, being fed by other visitors and children and we sat and watched until it started to rain, so back in Landy and headed towards the large Honda town of Swindon. More rain so, heads down and we retraced our trip along the A 361 until we arrived home at 830pm, having been up since 0545. We agreed to meet again for lunch tomorrow, but no more mackerels for me in Hinton.