On the Move - Cornwall
It's our second wedding anniversary and we're having a quiet day at home
after a fun weekend out and about. On the one hand, it's very hard to
believe that it's been two years already, but on the other hand, we fit so
comfortably that it's hard to believe it hasn't been a decade, at least.
Jason's parents spent the week touring around western England and Wales,
while Jason and I both had very productive weeks. A representative from the
removal company came to assess the volume of stuff we have and someone from
the realtor's office came to look over the state of the flat, so it begins
to feel like we'll be moving soon. I even packed a couple of boxes, mostly
to assuage my feeling that I should be doing something--the removers will do
most of our packing for us.
On Friday evening Jason and I caught a train from Waterloo out to Exeter,
where Trish & Steve picked us up. We spent the night in a B&B they'd found
there and headed out the next morning to explore Cornwall. Our first stop
was at Tintagel, the dramatic headland where legend has it that King Arthur
was born. That seems highly unlikely, but human construction has been
discovered dating back about 2000 years and some of the walls of the
medieval castle built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, are still standing.
Jason, Steve and I climbed all around the site, enjoying the stunning
views. Trish had forgotten her inhalers and her asthma had been bad earlier
in the week, so she didn't want to risk the steep climb and strolled
around the more level sections on the mainland while we went over to the
island.
Leaving there we went on to St. Ives, a lovely beach town. We met no men
with sacks, but we did find the Tate St. Ives, a nifty modern art gallery
exhibiting works by Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and other artists who worked
in the area. There were special exhibits of the work of Richard Long and
Kosh Ito, which were cool. The building has some wonderful views of the
beach and after watching from the museum's rooftop cafe, we strolled down to
put our toes in the water.
Trudging back up the hill to our car, we continued on out to Land's End at
the very tip of Cornwall. Sadly, the National Trust was outbid for the land
when last it came on the market and whoever bought it put a terribly cheesy
commercial themepark up. Fortunately, it was completely closed up for the
season. So we could park for free and stroll out to watch the sun making
dramatic effects over the lighthouse just off shore. It was amazingly still
there--I expect headlands to be extremely windy, but it was completely
calm. Sadly, this also meant that the bugs were swarming, so we decided not
to stay through the sunset.
We drove on into Penzance and finally found a B&B with rooms available--nice
rooms and quite cheap, so we felt very lucky. We wandered down the
Promenade along the ocean until we found a pub that seemed promising--the
Dolphin Inn, I believe--and had a good, simple seafood dinner in a nice
cozy ambience.
In the morning we made it up and out--delayed by a full English breakfast,
of course--in order to get to The Eden Project before the crowds got too
bad. I recommend checking out their website (www.edenproject.com). It's a
project built into an abandoned clay pit that encompasses outdoor plots full
of plantings, as well as two huge biomes. We took the tour through the Warm
Temperate Biome that features the plants of the Mediterranean Region and
California, as well as the very distinct Fynbus area of South Africa. From
there we walked across the "Link" to the Humid Tropics Biome, which includes
plants from Malaysia, South America, West Africa and others. We got to see
many of the plants spices come from as well as rubber trees, cocoa plants,
coffee trees, cola nuts, etc. The biome lived up to its name and was
extremely humid and tropical, so we were glad to finally leave the dome and
return to the lovely, sunny-but-cool English day. We wandered for a bit
through the outside plots of various plants including lavendar, hemp, tea
and sunflowers. Eventually we found a table outside the Link and had a nice
lunch before making our way back out of the pit to the Visitor Center and
the gift shop. The place is well set up to accommodate the hordes of
visitors they get, with shuttle busses running continuously between the
Visitor Center and the many parking lots, each named for a fruit--our car
was in Plum 1.
Leaving Eden we drove east along the coast for a bit--I slept through most
of this part--and then turned north to cross the Dartmoor National Park.
Around the midpoint we pulled into a car park, where we were greeted by
several wild ponies looking for handouts. There was a small peak over the
road, so we climbed up to what was perhaps the ruins of a hillfort and
looked out all around us at the rolling hillsides dotted with sheep and cows
and ponies. It was a gorgeous day.
Back in the car, we went on to Exeter, where we returned the room key Jason
had accidentally brought along on our journey and had a quick meal at ASK,
one of the many national pizza/pasta chains here. It was about 8:30pm by
the time we had finished, but Steve felt up to the drive, so we headed back
to London, rather than find a place for the night. There was little
traffic and we made it in just under four hours, with two short stops.
Today is pretty quiet. Steve and I went to return the car first thing this
morning and then he and Trish went off to see Kew Gardens perhaps. We will
all meet up this evening at YMing, where Jo will join us for dinner.
after a fun weekend out and about. On the one hand, it's very hard to
believe that it's been two years already, but on the other hand, we fit so
comfortably that it's hard to believe it hasn't been a decade, at least.
Jason's parents spent the week touring around western England and Wales,
while Jason and I both had very productive weeks. A representative from the
removal company came to assess the volume of stuff we have and someone from
the realtor's office came to look over the state of the flat, so it begins
to feel like we'll be moving soon. I even packed a couple of boxes, mostly
to assuage my feeling that I should be doing something--the removers will do
most of our packing for us.
On Friday evening Jason and I caught a train from Waterloo out to Exeter,
where Trish & Steve picked us up. We spent the night in a B&B they'd found
there and headed out the next morning to explore Cornwall. Our first stop
was at Tintagel, the dramatic headland where legend has it that King Arthur
was born. That seems highly unlikely, but human construction has been
discovered dating back about 2000 years and some of the walls of the
medieval castle built by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, are still standing.
Jason, Steve and I climbed all around the site, enjoying the stunning
views. Trish had forgotten her inhalers and her asthma had been bad earlier
in the week, so she didn't want to risk the steep climb and strolled
around the more level sections on the mainland while we went over to the
island.
Leaving there we went on to St. Ives, a lovely beach town. We met no men
with sacks, but we did find the Tate St. Ives, a nifty modern art gallery
exhibiting works by Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and other artists who worked
in the area. There were special exhibits of the work of Richard Long and
Kosh Ito, which were cool. The building has some wonderful views of the
beach and after watching from the museum's rooftop cafe, we strolled down to
put our toes in the water.
Trudging back up the hill to our car, we continued on out to Land's End at
the very tip of Cornwall. Sadly, the National Trust was outbid for the land
when last it came on the market and whoever bought it put a terribly cheesy
commercial themepark up. Fortunately, it was completely closed up for the
season. So we could park for free and stroll out to watch the sun making
dramatic effects over the lighthouse just off shore. It was amazingly still
there--I expect headlands to be extremely windy, but it was completely
calm. Sadly, this also meant that the bugs were swarming, so we decided not
to stay through the sunset.
We drove on into Penzance and finally found a B&B with rooms available--nice
rooms and quite cheap, so we felt very lucky. We wandered down the
Promenade along the ocean until we found a pub that seemed promising--the
Dolphin Inn, I believe--and had a good, simple seafood dinner in a nice
cozy ambience.
In the morning we made it up and out--delayed by a full English breakfast,
of course--in order to get to The Eden Project before the crowds got too
bad. I recommend checking out their website (www.edenproject.com). It's a
project built into an abandoned clay pit that encompasses outdoor plots full
of plantings, as well as two huge biomes. We took the tour through the Warm
Temperate Biome that features the plants of the Mediterranean Region and
California, as well as the very distinct Fynbus area of South Africa. From
there we walked across the "Link" to the Humid Tropics Biome, which includes
plants from Malaysia, South America, West Africa and others. We got to see
many of the plants spices come from as well as rubber trees, cocoa plants,
coffee trees, cola nuts, etc. The biome lived up to its name and was
extremely humid and tropical, so we were glad to finally leave the dome and
return to the lovely, sunny-but-cool English day. We wandered for a bit
through the outside plots of various plants including lavendar, hemp, tea
and sunflowers. Eventually we found a table outside the Link and had a nice
lunch before making our way back out of the pit to the Visitor Center and
the gift shop. The place is well set up to accommodate the hordes of
visitors they get, with shuttle busses running continuously between the
Visitor Center and the many parking lots, each named for a fruit--our car
was in Plum 1.
Leaving Eden we drove east along the coast for a bit--I slept through most
of this part--and then turned north to cross the Dartmoor National Park.
Around the midpoint we pulled into a car park, where we were greeted by
several wild ponies looking for handouts. There was a small peak over the
road, so we climbed up to what was perhaps the ruins of a hillfort and
looked out all around us at the rolling hillsides dotted with sheep and cows
and ponies. It was a gorgeous day.
Back in the car, we went on to Exeter, where we returned the room key Jason
had accidentally brought along on our journey and had a quick meal at ASK,
one of the many national pizza/pasta chains here. It was about 8:30pm by
the time we had finished, but Steve felt up to the drive, so we headed back
to London, rather than find a place for the night. There was little
traffic and we made it in just under four hours, with two short stops.
Today is pretty quiet. Steve and I went to return the car first thing this
morning and then he and Trish went off to see Kew Gardens perhaps. We will
all meet up this evening at YMing, where Jo will join us for dinner.