On Thursday and Friday of this week went down to Devon. It was a 274 mile (according to the AA Route Planner) journey down the southern county of Devon staying in two hotels.

The journey was going to be long, we knew that and with our track record in journeys we thought that it would take a while. We were right. Setting off at 1330 we got onto the M6. No sooner had we hit junction 27 than the queues started. A lorry had jack knifed into the central reservation and the whole motorway was shut. The only way through was to get passed on the hard shoulder. The police were waving people through but it was very slow.

Once we were passed this we had about 10 minutes of normal speed driving until we hit the next junction. Then it was stop start all the way to Birmingham, with a little rest in the middle were the traffic eased. We managed to travel 67.8 miles in 4 hours. By this time we were desperate for the toilet and so stopped at Sandbach for a toilet stop.

We were back on the road by 1715 and then we made are way down to the M5. Once we were on the M5 the conditions were good and the traffic was light. We eventually found our Travel Lodge at 2115 when we checked in. We ate our butties and watched TV for while before finally going to sleep with a very aching right foot!

The Saunton Sands Hotel was the venue for the next stop off of the journey. Arriving at the hotel we checked in and instantly realized that the hotel was ‘rather posh’, in a good way. It was a ‘propper’ hotel were you are meeted and greeted and the porter takes your bags to your room for you. Really good service and the rooms and food were great.

The journey back was less of a problem however we did get held up once again for around 45 minutes when we hit the M6. Britain’s roads really do need sorting out!. All in all it was an excellent short break and it was great to see the fantastic views of Saunton Sands from the hotel car park.