Cornwall

Where to start? What to write? So  many impressions to process. So many sights. My first impression was of the roads/tracks. J rented us all a house in the Lizard in a little place called Trewothack, which I have just discovered is simply the name of the farm. Great little place to stay. I patted one of the dogs and had to wash the manure off my hands !! He was gorgeous and friendly, and so were these guys/girls.

I found the farm house advertised on the net so if you want to check it out, go here. It was a great place to stay.

Arriving quite late on Friday night, we had to brave the roads. Single track. Hedgerows and overhanging trees.

This photo was taken when we were following K's brother. Imagine this road, with no car in front, unsure of where you are going, dark, middle of the night, the only lights you can see are your car lights which show you only as far as the next bend in the road. Really eerie and scary and exciting all at the same time. At least there was no fog that night.

On the drive down, I got a glorious sunset.

This was where we went

St Ives

As I was going to St Ives

I met a man with seven wives

Seven wives with seven sacks

Seven sacks with seven cats

Seven cats with seven kits

Kits, cats, sacks, wives

How many were going to St Ives?

Well, in fact, 3 of us went to St. Ives !! And a beautiful little town it was. I love the hilly towns. Perth is such a flat place that wandering around a town with hills is always interesting. I'm also very pleased i don't have to walk up and down the hills just to do my everyday shopping.

St. Ives apparently has the most vicious sea gulls. In fact, there are signs warning people about them.

And here are some of the offenders. They are the biggest sea gulls I have ever seen in my life. Apparently the darker one is just a youngun, and listening to him talk, he sounds like one. The white one just sat there, pondering the ocean; baby was chattering away as baby's do.

And this is what I had that the sea gulls wanted. Made with fresh Cornish clotted cream apparently. Absolutely delicious.

And this is where I bought it from.

I guess the people in the nursery rhyme were not going to the beach at St. Ives, but on this bright sunny day, lots of local people were. This is Porthgwidden Beach, I think.

BTW that was pretty much the extent of the beach. There is simply no comparison to the Perth beaches. Perth people are totally spoiled as far as beaches are concerned.

As you can see, we have had some lovely weather. Just a piece of information "St Ives has been named best seaside town of 2007 by the Guardian and has become renowned for its number of artists." I didn't see all that many artists. I did see a lot of dogs. Missing my own fur kids I must admit.

Some of the buildings in St. Ives. I did like the idea of the "Hunny Pot" which if I remembered did Winnie the Pooh stuff.

 

 

St Ives has a lifeboat station.

About this station

St Ives lifeboat station has had a remarkable history of bravery with over 55 awards for gallantry being presented. Over its 165-year history it has also seen tragedy with seven lifeboat crew losing their lives saving others at sea.

Redruth

We  also went to a little town called Redruth. And it is not pronounced Red Ruth. It is pronounced Re druth (with the accent on the 2nd syllable. K was born here and although she lived on a farm outside the town, went to school here and spent some time at this shop.

The candy store. Needless to say, we bought some candy here. M bought some incredible chocolate which helped to sustain us on our trip.

Another hilly town. We found a market here that had a miniature shop. I didn't buy anything, just had a look around. The shopkeeper was also advertising local mini groups.

One of the most interesting sights I've been noticing is the stone walls in many of the towns. On the stone walls, plants grow. Many different plants. Some people have plants growing out of the top of the stone walls/fences that look like they are planned. Some just seem to have appeared. Because there is so much moisture, things grow easily here.

Here's a viaduct with plants growing from the side of it.

Here's one that looks like it has, at least in part, been planned planting.

I'm going to leave our walk along the cliffs for another post cause Kazza and Nadia are nagging me for this post.

Cheers folks.

Madeleine

Tuesday, 14 October 2008