An expensive Eden

Woke this morning to a strange noise which turned out to be two electrical lines hitting each other and arcing. Although pretty like fireworks this was slightly worrying so Chris rang the electric board. Within 2 hours a guy was here fixing it. So we set off for the Eden Project.

At £45 to get in this was not cheap, but it was somewhere I had been wanting to visit since it was built. Set in an old quarry it is a great sight and the amount of gardening work is impressive.

Loved the works of art and the impressive domes. The rainforest biome was the highlight. With a temperature of 29°c, the plants were incredible.

Plus there were these very tame little birds who were beautiful colours.

An incredible waterfall actually cooled you off at the top of the dome.

We had a very tasty lunch, then visited the rest of the project.

All in all an amazing place, but far too expensive, especially at this time of year when parts of the domes were closed for expansion works and a lot of the plants outside were not growing.

Talking, walking and moving cars.

Today we met Karen and Jon at Falmouth. When we arrived it was sunny but when they turned up it started to rain so we headed for a coffee shop next to the harbour.

We had three hours at this parking, so once it stopped raining walked towards the shops. Found nice second hand book shop, and then met up with Rachel for lunch at 'The Grapes Alehouse'. 

Time just flew by and we had to move the cars to another car park. Strolled along the pier and looked longingly at Johnny Depp's house, but could not see him. 

Walked up to the house that Karen and Jon are trying to buy. Back down the hill to meet Rob and into a great pub called 'Beerwolf Books'. Yepp, a pub and a bookshop in one. The poor dog was worn out.

As the sun went down we drove over to Pendennis Point and Gyllyngvase Beach. Both really pretty.
Back to the original car park and we had dinner at a Weatherspoons called 'The Packet Station'.

Returning to Mousehole after 47 years

It was a foggy morning but we set off in earnest for Penzance. It was an easy drive but the weather was not good. St Michael's Mount looked very gothic floating in the mist.

We drove on into Penzance and found some good parking next to an amazing lido. 

Unfortunately it was closed until May.
It was drizzling quite hard so we headed for a pub for some very nice crayfish. Penzance was nice with bookshops and a CEX.
It had begun to brighten up so we drove along the coast to Newlyn and found the address where Bill used to live as a child. We presume the houses have changed a bit since he was there though.

They had an amazing harbour full of boats.

Driving on to Mousehole we walked around the harbour and village. 

It was a wonderfully quiet place and it was with real pleasure that I scattered Dad's ashes into the sea here as the tide came in.

Continuing through the mist we drove to Lands End. At least here we found an abandoned parking ticket we could use as apart from the great view there is not much else going for the place.

Closed

We set off this morning in the fog in search of the Eden Project. As it was so big we hoped it would be easy to find, but the road signs took us on quite a roundabout route, and when we finally arrived at the gates they were closed. I must admit to not checking the website recently but at christmas it had said it was open every day except christmas day.
As the fog had been bad we decided to pop into Asda first to do a bit of shopping. Somehow we managed to pick up a toaster and microwave.
Nearby was Charlestown where we found a great pub called The Rashleigh Arms.

The harbour was wonderful with an amazing boat. You could also see where there had once been houses at the harbour and shoots where goods must have been delivered to the boats.

Drove over to St Austell brewery to pick up some of the stout Chris had drunk at lunchtime and found lots of other goodies.
We then drove over to try and find some cider near Lerryn which was a beautiful village with stepping-stones across the river.

Day off

We had planned to have today as a lazy day, mainly because the weather looked awful and so I could do some OU work. It rained most of the day so we did not even open the door until after 3.

The most southerly place on mainland UK

The sun was shinning this morning so we headed to Lizard Point, the southern most point in mainland England. Although a long drive it was easy, and when we arrived it was easy to find the car park overlooking the sea.

After a short stroll we were able to look down on these amazing views. Incredibly there was a cafe open here plus we managed to do our first cache of the holiday.

We drove back via Goonhilly Earth Station with these incredible dishes which are now being demolished.

Chris was very happy to find Roskilly's farm open as we had our first cornish cream tea and were able to buy some of their ice cream to bring home with us. Amazingly that was the first day they had opened this season. We drove down into a pretty village called Porthallow which had a black beach and great views.

After an eventful drive through more narrow lanes we made it to Redruth where we enjoyed a bizarre meal at Redruth Meadery. I bet the Americans love this place. The kids certainly did who were having a party. 

Is all of Cornwall closed?

Today the weather was still not good so we thought a drive would be the best plan. We had not headed towards Bodmin Moor yet, so Bodmin was our first stop of the day. This is a strange place, ghost townish with yet more narrow roads. Somehow we managed to fit through this one. 

It did not help our feelings about the town when we found ourselves stuck in a maze of diversions due to the main street being dug up. We did however find yet another impressive Weatherspoons called Chapel an Gansblydhen.

We managed to break free of the diversion and drove through a beautiful valley to Liskeard. This turned out to be a great little market town with a great bookshop, an electrical shop selling a transparent toaster and a Co-op on 2 floors.
At least all the shops were open here. We have found that a lot of Cornwall seems to close down for the Winter. At the next town of Looe on the coast, this is the type of sign on shop doors we have become quite used to seeing. 

Plus the shop owners put out flood defences, which is slightly worrying.

On the other hand, Looe was another very nice fishing village.

Although it was beginning to get dark we headed on to Polperro which seems to be owned by the National Trust. They have built a huge car park just before the village which you have to park in and then walk down to the water's edge. They also charge you £4 for just 2 hours; so we gave that a miss and headed home.

Sand blasted

The wind was still gusting this morning, but there was also some sunshine, so Chris wanted to show me where he had visited as a child. Heading south we first drove to Holywell which is a lovely little village with just a beach, pub and static caravan site. This was where Chris drove a motorbike, and decided he prefered cars.
He remembered eating at the Treguth Inn so popped in for a very nice pasty and chips. Next was Perranporth with another wonderful beach.

From here we popped over to Healeys Cidery where we were allowed to have a quick walk around the factory and then try the cider and jam they make. Treated Chris to a VERY big bottle of cider (and small jar of jam).

Still early so we drove back into Holywell to walk along the beach. In the car we were protected from the weather, but once we got onto the beach we felt the full onslaught of being sand blasted. It was really hard work, but we managed to walk to the sea's edge.

Walking back to the car was even harder as the sand came staight into our faces, so we walked backwards most of the way.

A very blustery day with Piglet

Up early this morning as we had a long drive down to St Ives. This is a really odd place with narrow streets, one way roads and resident only entry to some areas. We eventually found a car park, realised we did not have enough cash and had to download an app to pay. At the same time, contacted Beeny to say we had arrived, and ask where they were. Eventually managed to meet up, and as the wind was soooo cold and brisk we disappeared into the first pub we found, The Sloop Inn.
There we stayed for the whole morning, catching up on all our news and even stayed for lunch. We attempted a walk around the shops, but there was nothing special and it was really cold.
Returned to car to find a parking ticket which was really annoying, and we agreed to drive over to Saint Michael's Mount to see if the weather was any better on the south coast. It was not. So after standing in the car park talking we decided to meet up again at Falmouth the folllwing Wednesday.

Spying on Doc Martin

Today the sun was shinning so we drove north of the site. Our first stop was Port Isaac where the TV series 'Doc Martin' is filmed. As we drove towards the village there was a warning about the maximum width cars could be and we just fitted through. Lucky the bollards were there because the streets did become very narrow.

 At the harbour we had to reverse onto the beach to let traffic come down the other side of the valley. We made it to the other side, found a car park and walked back to the harbour. Although the pub was closed for decorating the place was very pretty. Not sure why they have a canon though?

We continued  north and had some wonderful moule and frites at The Millhouse Inn near Trelake, then drove into Tintagel and out again. We knew that the castle there had been built as a publicity stunt, but it was still old. Unfortunately the town was awful. Sort of a very, very, down market Disneyland.
Instead we stopped at Boscastle which was lovely. It has been rebuilt after its terrible flood, andspecifically aimed at tourists, but the parking was easy, there was a National Trust shop including second hand books, and the walk down through the harbour was great.

Drove back via Camelford where we found a Jam Lady and picked up some dinner from the Co-op.

Video of the week is this gull who has great rhythm - you'll have to view it full screen to see its jig!

A beautiful day in Cornwall, and a memorable day in Newark.

This morning our adventure in Cornwall began with this amazing sunrise.


About the same time, Jade and Matt were collecting their keys for their first house together. Looked a bit more foggy in Newark than it did here.

We set off towards Polzeath, and found the most amazing beach. It was great to drive straight onto the beach, and we had a lovely walk, watching the surfers and enjoying the sunshine.

We then drove through Trebetherick and parked up next to some very posh houses. We followed a path to St Enodoc Church, an amazing place where the poet John Betjamann is buried. It was so quiet and so pretty.


We drove into Rock hoping to get the ferry across the estuary, but at £4 each for the crossing and over £3 for the parking, it seemed a bit much. So we filled up with fuel, had some lunch at Malcolm Barnecutt Bakery, and then found Sharps Brewery, where we picked up a few bottles of beer.

The drive over to Padstow was uneventful, but once there we had a lovely walk around the village.

The harbour is lovely, and still a working fishing village. There were quite a few holidaymakers around which seemed unusual in January, and an awful lot of the business' were having building work done. But we did find a bookshop, a sweet shop where they had been making fudge all day and lots of Rick Stein shops. On the whole a lovely place, with incredible views. Chris even managed to find the house he had stayed in one holiday there.

We drove back through Wadebridge, popping into the Co-op to buy lots of reduced food for dinner, and we were home before the sun went down.