I was staying last night in the Rainbow International Hotel in Torquay. No, it's not some sort of fabulous gay hotel as you might expect from the name :) Neither was there anything remotely "international" about it; from its so-called cuisine to its nightlife, it's thoroughly a setup for old biddies and codgers who want a holiday in dear ol' blighty.

And the accent round 'ere is particularly 'orrible - nasal and penetrating (think Sybil in the 70s BBC TV show "Fawlty Towers"), it can easily damage your eardrums. I suspect it's the accent that was carried over to New England by the Mayflower :).

Torquay in all its glory. Note the palm trees.

For the first time on this trip, I couldn't get out of town quickly enough, and I was soon screaming down the dual-carriageway. I had the longest distance of any day to cover - crossing Devon, Dorset and Hampshire - and, for the most part, the roads allowed me to touch 80 mph for long periods.

It was another pricelessly beautiful day, with glossy blue skies and luxuriant, tumbling clouds. It wasn't truly a day for scenery however - the main roads take you inland, and, frequently, whatever rolling farmland is out there is hidden from you by tall hedges on either side of the road. I did stop in a couple of places, though. My first stop was for a pee, and lunch at Lyme Regis, a small, pretty seaside town where Jane Austen wrote "Persuasion".

As has happened frequently, when I asked for a "bathroom" in the American way, the respondee odiously corrected me with "yes, the toilet is through there." That set me off on a whole train of thought about why people in the U.S. tend to use so many euphemisms. I'd been talking with a London friend on the phone last night about a similar idea - that people in England are more earthy than people from the U.S., and I wonder if it's a relic of America's puritan past. We call a toilet a toilet, where people from the U.S. might even call it a "comfort station!"

I bought myself a couple of sandwiches and some coffee and sat down on the harbor wall - The Cob. It looked very familiar: there was a scene set on a harbor wall in the english movie version of "Persuasion" - I wonder if that movie was filmed here.

Lunch in Lyme Regis

While eating, I was cruised mercilessly by the seagulls, but they were after the cheddar-cheese sandwiches, not my body, I believe. They're even more blatantly greedy than most of the dogs of my acquaintance.

The view from the Cob - and the seagull eyeing my sandwich.

Just a little way up the coast is the town of Charmouth, with its "World-famous fossil-beach." What do you mean you've never heard of Charmouth? Come on! :) It also has the tallest cliffs in the West Country.

Charmouth.

I made it into Portsmouth by around 3.00 and found my hotel easily - it's near the naval base and the beachfront, and it's the first U.S.-style hotel in which I've stayed during this trip. Thank God for key-card entry (none of those great big keychains you have to hand in at reception each time you go out), and proper room-service (instead of sandwiches and, at best, scampi and chips).

Portsmouth is England's foremost naval port, and has a famous history. It's a much larger town than Plymouth, and more obviously prosperous (I stopped in the city center after leaving the hotel, and found my first good cup of coffee in days, along with a GNC). My main reason for coming here is to visit the famous historical ships, the naval museum, and the submarine museum. But I was too tired to try to squeeze any of that in this afternoon, so I explored the other parts of Portsmouth.

Nobody ever mentions Portsmouth Cathedral - in fact, I didn't even know there was one. I came across it accidentally, and, intrigued by its unusual appearance, I parked to take a look. From the outside, it carries a harmonious, clean, almost Moorish appearance, but with a touch of the modern about its lines and finishing - I thought it was probably a recently built cathedral.

Portsmouth Cathedral

But as soon as I entered and saw the white-washed bare stone walls, I realized that at least part of the building was several centuries old. One thing I've learned on this trip is that there's always someone in these buildings who loves talking to visitors and sharing their knowledge; in this case it was one of those smiling old ladies, and her enthusiasm on the subject made my exploration that much more enjoyable. It turns out that the oldest part of the Cathedral dates from the 12th century; two more sections were added in the 17th century, but about half of it wasn't added until last century - some before the 2nd World War, and the rest finished in the 90s. It has been finished so finely that from the outside, the building already appears quite comfortable with its various odd parts.

Inside the Cathedral. I was lucky that the Royal Society of Marine Artists were exhibiting their annual show in the Cathedral right now. The works were all for sale - I know what I'm going to save up my money for now: I have a "thing" about Napoleonic-era warships, in case you didn't realize :)

I spent the rest of the time on the Southsea harbor-front, a long grass-fronted stretch of coast lined with old gun-batteries, castles, forts, museums, playing-fields and war-monuments. In the long, slow decline of the hot afternoon sun, and in a fresh ocean breeze, it was a great place to be.

A passing ship - the Bretagne. And a few of the many cute, shirtless boys that seem to be everywhere in Portsmouth.

This is my last night in a hotel in the West Country, and since it's such a nice one, and I've been very unflamboyant with dining out, I treated myself to a good room-service dinner. Salmon salad, a glass of burgundy, and a wonderful hot chocolate brioche pudding with hot custard.

Tomorrow may be my last full journal entry until I return to San Francisco. I'm returning to London for the last few days of my trip (already?!) and what with seeing family and a two or three friends who will be in London, along with going to the symphony twice, I'm not going to have much free time. I'll try to write a little something each day, and, as I said, there'll be a full one tomorrow, since I can write it on the train back to London, but, apart from that, there may not be much more until San Francisco. Anyway, see you on the train tomorrow :)