Friday 11th September, 2009.

There's no rush today. We take our time and have breakfast in the hotel. It's no better than last night's meal. We really must try to find some local places to eat. We complain about our room again but get the same response. We are getting very frustrated. Vicky uses the info provided by Virgin and 'phones the Virgin Holidays rep on a Boston number. It's an ansa 'phone which transfers her automatically to a New York Office. That doesn't auger well. Vic leaves a message on the off chance someone might ring back. Well, you never know.

It's still raining outside - that persistent drizzle that really gets you wet - so we put our raincoats on and venture outside for a walk around Sandwich. It looks a nice place with plenty of nice old buildings and gardens like the one here.
We use a leaflet on 'The Historical Buildings of Sandwich' as a guide to get around the village and eventually discover a street with several eateries including this one: Beth's Special Teas (geddit). It's much more than a tea shop, however, and better than that, it does healthy breakfasts. Oatmeal, fruit and toast, and a decent cup of tea. And no compulsory Home Fries! A rarity for this part of the world. At last we have found somewhere for a decent breakfast. We go back to the hotel and decide to venture a little bit further afield in the car. We fill up the Prius with 'gas'. It's dead cheap. The only thing in America that is. About a third of the price back home. The 'gas station' is on Route 6A which runs along the northern edge of the village. We also discover a shopping mall, of sorts, a bank, and some eateries to investigate along this particular stretch of road: gathered here to attract passing tourists no doubt. Things are looking up.

If you imagine Cape Cod as a bent arm, sticking out of the mainland into the Atlantic, Sandwich is on its upper bicep - just below the shoulder. If the sun was shining we would head either for the 'armpit' (Falmouth), or the 'fist' (Provincetown), but given the weather we decide to keep things low key. We head to the north of Sandwich and discover the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. It looks like a grim day on any beach along England's shoreline on a damp summer's day and so don't linger long. We decide to drive east to Barnstable along the Route 6A.

The road is slow and winding and there are lots of other tourists driving slowly along looking for something to do and somewhere to go. We enter Barnstable and park up. It has stopped raining now but it is still very overcast. We have lunch and then walk up and down the high street to walk it off. It has started to rain again. There are some nice little shops and, if you look closely here, you can make out Vicky having a fuss with the owner's dog. Always a bonus and guaranteed to cheer us up on a damp squib of a day.

Just up the road outside the Fire Station this sign reminds us that today's date still resonates with Americans.

We spend about two hours in Barnstable which, if nothing else, shows how resourceful we can be when needs must. We have no confidence in the quality of the eateries around here and so Vicky buys some tea bags and biscuits to eat back in our damp miserable room should all else fail. As it happens when we cruise back in to Sandwich we eat at one of the 'family eateries' on Route 6A and are pleasantly surprised when served with one of the best and most healthy meals we have had so far. We shall use this place again.

We get back to our room and the damp smell is much better. Housekeeping has made a bit of an effort and the damp marks have almost been removed. Also there's a message on our 'phone. It's not the Virgin Rep. It's the Hotel Manager apologising for the unacceptable state of our room and that we will be upgraded to another room the day after tomorrow. Simply report to Reception in the morning and she'll sort it out, she says. That makes us feel a lot better.