When will I learn not to believe the weather forecast and to dress appropriately? Probably never, you see I have this blind faith and optimism that it won’t dare to rain on me. I hate rain, at least in daylight. The dogs were in the car and they knew they were going to the river when it began and for Dido it would be a tough decision, she wanted an adventure but she hates rain even more than I do! We decided to compromise by walking at the quay, instead of the fields.

We headed for the short cut back, on the bouncy bridge, this is why.

From there the way back is only about a mile, but the rain came sideways, the sort that gives you a headache because it’s so cold. There’s a really nice dog friendly cafe when you’re nearly back to the start, but all of us were wet, and we knew the dogs would shake off the excess as soon as they got inside, so we ploughed on. At the little blue foot bridge we had to divert because the path was flooded.

Looking back at the flooded path.

And below, there’s a path beneath the grass bank also flooded.

We headed back to our start, along the west side of the quay. Opposite,  where we were before crossing the bridge, more warehouses have been made into little shops.

There are several of these Victorian lamp posts.

This one is on the canal basin, at Piazza Terracina, named after Exeter’s twin city in Italy.

And this lass does her best to lure you in for something warm.

So that was today’s walk, cut short by the rain but I hope you still enjoyed it. Dido didn’t, she looked thoroughly fed up by the time she climbed into the car!