Happy Birthday Mrs The Millbrooker

Mrs The Millbrooker celebrated her birthday on Thursday in style (if slightly damply) with all of the offspring joining us along with Dong and Shazzerooneypoos in a trip to Paignton and on to Dartmouth on the steam railway and Kingswear ferry.

She's seen above in a group-hug with the feminine side of the younger generation, Rob not being very into physical displays of familial harmony.




It was, without doubt, a grey day weather wise and occasionally we dodged a bit more of a downpour than might have been comfortable, but in true British style, we carried on and enjoyed ourselves anyway.



We spent a short time in Paignton in search of mindless tacky fun, and found it in abundance.



Here, you see Rob and yours truly racing ersatz motorbikes through cartoon mountain scenery - great fun. Rob won, but only just.


We all spent a happy hour wasting money and being very silly, Dong particularly enjoyed shooting some moose and wild turkeys as Shazzer looked on admiringly:





After being very silly in Paignton, we took the steam train to Kingswear and a lunch in The Royal Dart which could have been a bit more appetising if truth be told.


The Royal Dart is a welcoming and friendly place, but the chef didn't do a great job with our steaks at all: overcooked and barely warm! But the ale was good and we had a well sited table overlooking the river.



After lunch, we took the ferry to Dartmouth and enjoyed a wander around the alleyways and admired the lovely medieval architecture:
All too soon it was time to catch the return ferry - here's The Birthday Girl disembarking for the return to Paignton:

'Twas a grand day out; Cousin Dave was missed, but he had another engagement involving furthering his career as Plymouth's own contribution to modern artistry.

There's a more complete set of photos of the day out on the link at the top right of the blog - click there if you want to see more, and pass the mouse pointer over any photo to see the full caption.