After getting off the plane we spent the rest of the day collecting the ‘van and taking it for a service as well as calling into the garage that had serviced our car (XC90). Slept pretty well that night! The next day we set off for a few days in a self contained unit near Bodmin in Cornwall. Our first outing was to Doc Martin’s place (also called Port Isaac) on the North coast. The white lower building was the restaurant.
It is a very pretty town albeit a little cool. The third building from the right is Doc Martin’s house. We took advantage of a footpath around the headland and set off for a 3 mile walk so that we could eat a little guilt free lunch.
On our return after all the activity we needed some assistance so Helen called into the Doc’s house. (Un?)fortunately there was no one home even though on this occasion there was no blood involved.
Our second trip was to the Eden project. This is what can be done in a defunct quarry. There are a series of “biospheres” which are linked and form two discrete micro-climates (Rain forest and Mediterranean). The whole architecture of the site is remarkable and a day was happily whiled away.
The rainforest dome is huge and at the end of a winding gentle walk (where it slowly gets to 30+ degrees C and 100% humidity) there is the option to climb up stairs to overview the whole scene.
The platform and stairs are suspended and hence sway. The steps and base are a metal see through grid so some visitors may be reluctant to participate. However the views are awesome. The size of this waterfall can be appreciated as it dwarfs the pedestrian traffic.
The link between the two climates is a large well organised food hall where we ate. Although the food was good there was more appealing food and area to eat just inside the Mediterranean bio sphere so next time…
Our next trip was to another climate altogether. We bought tickets to the Minack open air theatre which is close to Lands End. Its atmosphere is unique with the background noise of the sea crashing into the rocks. A natural amphitheatre which has been honed to accommodate seating for some 500 people is a great setting.
The show goes on whatever the weather and we were fortunate that it stayed dry for all but the interval (where it did rain and blow quite heavily). We saw the Death of Sherlock Holmes, a light affair which was rather funny. The actors do everything themselves (stage changes etc). They must be robust types as they would also need to act in the rain.
We travelled back via a sea view road between the Cape of Cornwall (for many years thought to be the most Western Point but now usurped by Lands End) to St Ives. This is an attractive route broken by old tin mines most of which have seen better days.
St Ives is a picturesque albeit busy town made famous by the poem:When I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kittens
Kits, cats, sacks and wives
How many were going to St Ives?
(A well known teacher gave me this..)
The two of us had a great evening meal of Plaice at the Alba restaurant which used to be the old lifeboat house. The view from the restaurant over the harbour was enhanced by the evening light.
Even when a shower came through the light worked its magic.
Charlestown on the South coast is a small colourful port which has gates so that ships are protected from the tide. This enables a couple of tall ships to be permanently based here. In an earlier visit we have stayed at Emily cottage which is one of the white terraced buildings overlooking the harbour.
Having had a pretty slack couple of days we decided that some serious walking was required and with Bodmin moors on our doorstep the answer was easy. We started with a bit of lunch at Jamaica Inn (made famous by Daphne Du Maurier’s book of the same name but other than that nothing to write home about), parked the car about 1 Km down the road and set off past a farm house.
The moors are just as you would expect, windy and much of the walking not too steep but with many little diversions around wet boggy areas. The “wildlife” that we saw comprised, ponies, cows and sheep. We did see an eagle (although the photos were not worthy of the blog).
Map reading was through fences and contours. The run up to the highest point was a brief steep section onto the highest point “Brown Willie”. Our local mountaineer made the peak easily.
On our way back to Solihull we called into the Blue Lisa Inn for the Biennial meeting of the Australian Canal Society. We caught up with a few reprobates such as Sue and Martin Smith. We nearly took off on this boat as this is one of the few trips not to include a week on a canal barge.
The two of us had a great evening meal of Plaice at the Alba restaurant which used to be the old lifeboat house. The view from the restaurant over the harbour was enhanced by the evening light.
Even when a shower came through the light worked its magic.
Charlestown on the South coast is a small colourful port which has gates so that ships are protected from the tide. This enables a couple of tall ships to be permanently based here. In an earlier visit we have stayed at Emily cottage which is one of the white terraced buildings overlooking the harbour.
Having had a pretty slack couple of days we decided that some serious walking was required and with Bodmin moors on our doorstep the answer was easy. We started with a bit of lunch at Jamaica Inn (made famous by Daphne Du Maurier’s book of the same name but other than that nothing to write home about), parked the car about 1 Km down the road and set off past a farm house.
The moors are just as you would expect, windy and much of the walking not too steep but with many little diversions around wet boggy areas. The “wildlife” that we saw comprised, ponies, cows and sheep. We did see an eagle (although the photos were not worthy of the blog).Map reading was through fences and contours. The run up to the highest point was a brief steep section onto the highest point “Brown Willie”. Our local mountaineer made the peak easily.
On our way back to Solihull we called into the Blue Lisa Inn for the Biennial meeting of the Australian Canal Society. We caught up with a few reprobates such as Sue and Martin Smith. We nearly took off on this boat as this is one of the few trips not to include a week on a canal barge.
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