Along the Banks of River Exe...

Later that afternoon, Veronica met me in town and we went for a nice long walk, crossing under the highway...

...to the banks of the River Exe.

Our destination was Double Locks, a 18th century pub where Veronica would be going with Expedition Society for their Christmas party. We enjoyed having hot mulled cider.

Clearly they weren’t decorated for Christmas in early November.

Some blue sky helped make the scenery on our walk back into town even more beautiful.

Not only did we come across a shipyard making this shiny metal boat...

...but we came across a few boats that had seen better days. 

On My Own in Exeter...

Veronica had to go to class after our walk around campus, so I headed into town on my own. There’s not much left of Rougemont Castle except for this 11th century gatehouse built by William the Conqueror.

A courthouse was built within the castle walls in 1607.

In 1682 and 1685 the “Devon Witches” were tried here before being hung. supposedly the last people in England to be executed for witchcraft.

The courthouse remained open until it relocated in 2003. It has since been converted into 12 apartments. Athelstan Tower, from the 10th century, is the highest point in the city.

Next door was Northernhay Gardens, the oldest public open space in England opening in 1612 for recreation for Exeter residents. This is the Exeter War Memorial, built in 1923 with Victory on the top

My next stop was the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery (RAMM), dating back to 1868.

The four major collection areas are antiquities, art, natural history and world cultures. This is from a seaweed album from 1840.

This tiger is 1 of 39 tigers shot by King George V in 1911. The museum was honored to be chosen to receive one of the eight skins gifted to UK museums, but now recognizes that tigers are struggling to survive in the wild.

This seated late 18th century Buddha from Myanmar is made of wood. His left hand is in meditation and his right is touching Earth.

This Exeter Puzzle Jug was made in France around in 1300.

Fall Colors at University of Exeter....

The following day we took a walk up to the University of Exeter, which was full of autumn colors.

The last time I was on campus, we couldn’t get near this sign as it was graduation and grads were lined up to have their photos taken.

While Veronica had only been going to classes there for about six weeks, she already knew all the great photo spots.

I couldn’t help but laugh when we came across these giant leaves the same color as her hair.

This dazzling show by Mother Nature definitely more than made up for the lack of fall leaves I saw in Boston.

First Night in Exeter...

That evening we went on a nice long walk around town. This steep staircase is a shortcut from her house up the big hill to downtown.

There’s a lot of historic buildings in Exeter including towers...

...and old Tudor buildings. This one houses an adorable bookstore.

We covered a lot of ground. Here’s Exeter Quayside, a very nice area of restaurants and pubs along the River Exe...

...and these were some early Christmas decorations in the city center.

As we were entering the Old Firehouse, a pub popular with Exeter students, a guy threw a soda bottle on the ground in front of us. I was so impressed that Veronica told him to pick it up and throw it away. I thought for sure he’d just toss it back on the ground once she turned to go inside, so I was surprised to see that he indeed did throw it away.

Veronica was very excited to be able to share a giant delicious vegan pizza with me.

Afterwards we stopped at a cozy cocktail bar for an apple pie shot. 

Visiting Veronica in Exeter...

I got up early on November 4 to catch a bus from Victoria Station to Exeter. Veronica met me downtown so we could walk back to her house.

Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a vegan café...

...and walked past Exeter Cathedral’s poppy display for Remembrance Day on November 11.

Here’s Veronica in front of her house...

...and here’s her room. As usual, she did a great job decorating her room to make it feel like home. This house was definitely the nicest of the five places she’s lived in since moving to the UK.

Meanwhile in Devon...

Earlier in October, Veronica went on her first weekend camping trip with Expedition Society along the North Devon Coast Path.

This photo was one of the first of Brett and Veronica on their own as they had only started dating about two weeks earlier. Brett loves the outdoors and photography...

...and took this photo of Veronica in one of the most rugged sections of the trail. It rained for about nine hours that first day which included three hours of hiking in the dark, so definitely not a walk in the park. All of their tents were soaked through, but luckily they could sleep on the floor in a barn.

They were relieved that the next day was dry and sunny so they could enjoy the views. 

Veronica was thrilled to be able help cook for the activists at the big Extinction Rebellion Protest in London the following weekend.

She was also happy to get to meet up with Larry, one of her former UEA roommates who has also gone vegan.

Veronica dared to bring Brett to his first hash. Exeter H3 is a family hash that doesn’t do down-downs (thus no objectionable singing), so quite tame, but loves muddy runs in the countryside.

She had planned to dye her hair for Halloween, but didn’t get around to it for another few days. Little did she know then that her temporary dye job wasn’t so temporary as it was still tinted red over five months later.