A beautiful day when we woke up although the forecast was that rain and wind would move in from the afternoon.   Breakfast was held in the inn’s little barn.  A strange affair because all 6 people in the room were English!!!!  We had a good gossip and comparison of holiday experiences.

We set off to explore the area around Falmouth, fascinated by the deep inlets and many bays that showed up on the map.  Sure enough, there were lots, edged with white sand and behind them the de rigeur clapperboard houses of all sizes.  It must be really buzzing here in the summer albeit in a very “tasteful” non gaudy New England way.  We stopped off at a few places and also went to look at the famous Wood’s Hole Oceaneering Institute which takes up a large part of the western/northern end of the peninsular.

Finally it got to be about 1130 and we had to leave Cape Cod and head south towards Mystic.  About this time the skies darkened and greyed and we decided to amend our plans for the rest of the day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be at least dry and so the Maritime museum and the submarine base we hope to visit will be more accessible.  Instead we decided to visit two outlet malls to pick up some “bargains” that we wanted.  They were both near Westbrook which is south of Mystic but no matter….  the drive down I95 was very attractive, if quite busy.  The whole way lined with woods on either side for the most part.  And all of them turning deep red and orange.

The first outlet mall was at Westbrook Outlets and we managed to get Bob the things he wanted.  Then headed a couple of miles further south to Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets.  This had far more stores but was a disappointment.  In fact, neither mall was a patch on the outlet malls we are used to visiting in Florida.  We found them very expensive and bought very little.

Headed back to Mystic and checked into our hotel: The Inn at Mystic, by about 4pm.  Nice old fashioned room.  We were slightly apprehensive because they have got some terrible reviews on TripAdvisor recently but I must say that our room is perfectly fine if a bit old fashioned.  We headed out at 630 for dinner into the little town which is very picturesque and of course set on the Mystic River.  The rain had really set in by now, accompanied by a gusting stiff wind.  The restaurant, The Mariner, was right in the centre of town and buzzing with people.  Pretty noisy.  However, the food was brilliant and just the job on a drafty night.

Bob of course started with a bowl of clam chowder, which looked and tasted epic. I had baked clams on the recommendation of the waitress who looked like she enjoyed her food.  She was right.  I’ve had lots of baked clams where you get a shell full of dry breadcrumbs with a wizened husk of a clam (if that) underneath.  These were excellent.  Lots of fresh herbs and the clam still big and juicy and succulent, not dry at all.  Yum.  Then, Bob had a monkfish tail on a bed of some sort of grain with spinach and garlic accompanied by pureed butternut squash.  Delicious.  I had the signature lobster roll.  The hunks of juicy lobster were in a brioche bun and there were some homecut chips and coleslaw on the side.  The lobster was delicious.  I would have preferred either another sort of bun or something slightly acidic in there because it was like sweet rich lobster on a sweet rich bun…. but…. it was yummy…..

We got back to our hotel and turned in.  The wind is howling outside and the rain is bucketing down.  Glad we’re not camping or at sea…..