A bird's-eye view. . . . . . . . .

Staying on top of a cliff is quite exhilarating - so high up that a couple of our visitors

 admitted to having height anxiety when they stepped out onto the balcony with

the wind whipping off the bay.

We loved it and were out there at different times of the day, me with the 

camera of course taking photos for my memory bank, having never actually 

stayed in a place immediately above Torquay's harbor with

magnificent views across Tor Bay.

Getting down to street level around the harbor and town was another thing altogether.

These were the closest steps and at Bob's count are 277 - you just see a few here,

 then turn left for the remainder! They are very old, perhaps late 1800's, slippery 

when wet (which is much of the time - this is England!), seem to tilt forward, 

and have handrails missing in places.

 At the very bottom the security cameras talk to you - scared the heck out of me

 the first time as we went down very gingerly in the dark. I never did the climb back

 up - Bob did it once and found it quite hard going - a total of 554 steps within an hour! 

Our Boxing Day plans fell apart due to friends' becoming ill, and I already had the 

beastly cold. Staying in was not an option though. With so few days to see/do

 things we bundled up and walked the steps into town despite it being quite cold

and overcast.

 After walking around the inner harbor, watching a pair of preening swans, 

and stopping for coffee, we ended up snuggled here in the oldest Torquay pub,

circa 1540, ducking our heads under those low beamed ceilings, and carefully 

walking across the easy to trip on cobbled floors, even before a drink!

A glass of sherry for me, whilst Bob imbibed a local beer. The crowd was 

lively and made up of chatty locals along with a few out of town visitors,

such as us. We always manage to find someone to talk with in a pub!

Yes, those steps were somewhat unexpected! 

Another hometown surprise - one I will steer clear of on our next visit I think!