I headed down to my parents' place in Devon on the for Christmas again this year, getting on an early 5-hour-long bus to the southwest of the country. Oh how I hate that bus... It takes so long! There was some pretty bad traffic on the way down so I got off at the stop before Exeter centre so they didn't have to drive through the city to get me. But it was still a mess, the traffic was terrible and I was standing on the side of the road with my suitcase.... and I was starving! We went to a little pub/cafe called The Lazy Toad in a place called Brampford Speke for lunch.
Being winter in England, it was pretty miserable for the first couple of days after I got to Devon so we spent a lot of time either going out for short walks, driving around in the car or staying home playing cards when it was REALLY bad. But we did pop out in the car on a drive through Dartmoor villages to a little place called Throwleigh.
On Christmas Eve, I was just super bored after it had been raining a lot of the day (I'm not very good with not doing something!) so I took myself out for a walk. It had stopped raining but it was still really muddy underfoot... it was not the first time in Devon I've wished I had wellies. Having done most of the walks near my parents place, I went a bit further afield and through a forest nearby. It was really magical - there is something about pine forests that I just love.
The only problem with that walk was the walk back to the house - down quite a busy road, which wasn't great. But I made it. The next day was Christmas so I was glad that I'd at least had a bit of exercise before all the eating...