Beer and Exeter

Tuesday we headed to the town of Beer on the South coast of Devon. It is a fishing village with a long history of smuggling, set in chalky cliffs.



The stony beach had a very steep edge, but as we were early in the day there was not much action of launching boats, which would have been interesting.



That day had very low cloud, making driving interesting in the thick fog. Driving behind a truck helps, if you can keep up!



After lunch in Beer we headed into the centre of Exeter. It has a huge cathedral, parts of the present building were constructed in 1112. A major rebuild was done between 1270 and 1350.



There are some very impressive stained glass windows.



The astronomical clock in the cathedral dates from 1484 with a smaller minute dial added in 1760.. Between 1589 and 1621 a hole was cut in the door below the clock to allow the Bishop's cat access to any rats and mice that liked the fat in the ropes. It is possibly the origin of 'hickory,dickory,dock, the mouse ran up the clock'.

We visited the church shop, and bought an Exeter Cathedral pencil for 40p. Doug just had to explain to the ladies in the church shop that we needed it to write on the chook eggs while our hosts are away :-(



Then a quick look at the Quays area, built around the remains of the wall that once surrounded the city.