We woke up to the blue skies disappearing, as the storm clouds moved in in front of the promised deep low. By the time we were ready to leave the house it was raining hard, and the wind was blowing a gale. The plan was to drive to Plymouth and take a look at the National Aquarium and then take in a new film called Legend about the height of the reign of the Kray twins. Although it would take over an hour to get there we had seen the trailer and decided the drive was worth the effort, particularly as we had not see a decent film at the cinema for some time. Needless to say the drive was a wet one, and the one highlight was the chance to pay £1.50 to cross the Tamar bridge.
By the time we had parked up we thought we might have made a mistake the storm was clearing, the sun was out. The National Aquarium costs £14.75 to get in, not unreasonable for a big venue attraction. The building is part of the renovated dock area, and was modern and bright, glass steel and wood exterior. There were lots of families visiting probably with the same idea as us, a good place to be on a rainy day. The museum itself is a procession of aquariums of differing sizes, some small some several stories high including 3m sharks. It would have been nice to see some of the behind the scenes stuff but there did not seem to be that option. Once we had done the full tour we gave the cafe a miss it was full of screaming children because there were two bouncy castles in the cafe.
We headed round out of the museum and round the port but had to wait for the harbour gate to open, and let a fishing boat in. We soon found a place to have a sandwich, a cocktail bar at night and snack and coffee place during the day. I had a chille prawn sandwich and Helen a feta cheese and oregano salad sandwich, both came with a salad, coleslaw and tortilla chips. They made a good coffee too. The name of the place was Rakuda Kitchen and Cocktails http://www.rakudabar.com/
We walked the full circuit of the harbour area back to where we had parked the car, and took the short trip to the Vue cinema. The film lived up to the trailer and reviews, it was beautifully filmed and the same actor played both of the Kray twins which was quite cleverly done, both twins looked different and had different characters. The drive back to the cottage was tedious as we were in the middle of Plymouth rush hour. We stopped off at the Sainsbury in Bodmin for some quick supplies and were back by 18:30. The seas was quite rough in Polzeath but there were still a few body boards mucking about near the shore.
We were up earlier than anticipated and left the house to go on holiday just before 8:30. Our late summer holiday was going to be in Polzeath down in Cornwall followed by a week in Devon. Sat nav told us the best way to go was via Bicester and Oxford then down to Swindon and onto the M4 before joining the usual road to the south west eventually ending up on the A30. We hit the usual big traffic jam at Bristol but the traffic pretty much kept moving and by the time we stopped at the Sedgemoor motorway services just after Bristol we had only lost half an hour which is pretty good going.
As is traditional we had planned a stop at a National Trust property on the way there today choice was Castle Drogo. Helen was not amused when I decided to follow the single track signs to the property. It meant having to stop a few times to let cars and buses go by. In any event we got there without any mishaps parked up and got our tickets to have a look around the Castle. It turns out the castle was in the middle of a very extensive renovation project. The whole Castle is completely enveloped in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. On the inside of the castle they have some of the stuff in storage but they had special art exhibitions on in various rooms where you could see some of the historic things that might have been out had the house was open. The building itself is grey granite which looks very structural and it is a house I would like to return to someday. Our timing was not that great the trips up the scaffolding tower were shut for lunch, so rather than wait an hour we went to get some lunch at the visitors centre.
The queue at the cafe was interminably slow they needed someone to come in and do a time and motion study to get things moving a bit faster. We didn’t fancy the soup of the day or sandwiches so we both settled for cake, we are on holiday after all. Suitably replete we got back in the car and headed to Wadebridge where we wanted to pick up some supplies before heading the cottage in Polzeath.
On the smallish road that got us over the A30 we came across some slow traffic, a couple of caravans, which looked more like chicken huts on wheels and were being towed by vintage tractors, they were from Germany!
We did a quick tour of the shops of Wadebridge and I managed to get a hair cut without queuing, the hair dresser corrected my pronunciation of Polzeath apparently it is zeath pronounced like wreath. The co-op supplied us with some salad ingredients and emergency pasta meal, so we were all set to arrive at the cottage.
We had earlier got a text to say that the cottage was ready which I thought was a nice touch. The final few miles to the cottage were very rural. We found the cottage easily by the instructions provided. It over looks a valley which is a caravan park and even has a distant view of the sea. We were not prepared for the many steps up to the front door. I was regretting buying a new large holdall for holidays, I had to stop for a rest on the way up.
We unpacked and had a sit down then walked down to the beach to have a look around, it was a bit grey and the sea was a bit rough. Luckily for us there was a bar Cafe on the beach where we could get a beer, and some WiFi. Helen had committed the ultimate crime of booking a cottage with no WiFi!
We had salad for tea and I was in bed fairly early with a book.
For quite some time when you searched for Neil Baldwin this blog appeared on the first page of Google, but recently I have been kicked off the front page and put several pages back. The main reason was because of a film about the Neil Baldwin a registered clown who is also associated with Keele University and Stoke City football club. This blog entry s an attempt to improve my SEO by a blog post that mentions all the Neil Baldwin’s I know of. Just don’t the Google spider about my cunning plan.
Neil Naldwin
The wikipedia article about the my Stoke City name sake says “Neil Baldwin (born 1946) is an honorary graduate of Keele University from Westlands, Staffordshire. He is a registered clown and also worked for Stoke City Football Club, for whom he once played briefly in a friendly match. He is the subject of an award-winning BBC television drama, Marvellous, which was broadcast in 2014.” The wiki article is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Baldwin_(Keele_University)
Up until the Stoke City Neil Baldwin came on the scene I generally swapped the top spot with the American author with the same name. According to his wikipedia article “Neil Baldwin is the author of a variety of books on various topics related to history and culture, and a professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Montclair State University. Baldwin earned a B.A. in English from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in Modern American Poetry from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He was the editor of The Niagara Magazine between 1974 and 1982, and worked in fundraising for the New York Public Library between 1984 and 1989. He was the director of the National Book Foundation from its founding in 1989 until his resignation in 2003” He has a website devoted to his books at http://neilbaldwinbooks.com
Another Neil Baldwin came to the fore in the 80’s when he composed music for the Commodore 64, the introduction on his website says “I wrote my first music on the NES 20 years ago and have recently been amazed to discover that the “chip music” scene is still going strong. So, in a bid to do my bit to keep the history alive and because some of my music is either missing, mis-credited or in some cases never even saw the light of day, I decided I’d put together a little document of my work and experiences. You’ll need Flash to play the MP3s via the embedded audio players or you can download a ZIP file containing all the songs for each game. Alternatively you can download the .NSF file but you’ll need a player to play these; personally I use Audio Overload but there’s lots of others.” His website is here http://dutycyclegenerator.com/
I had Sunday to myself so did some homework on Saturday evening, to see if there was anything on worth doing. I remember that I have often ended up on the www.eventbrite.co.uk site so I thought I would have a search on the website directly. I came up trumps I found Londoner offers walks in London cost just £10 for a 3 hours which seemed good value. The meet up point was Ladbroke Grove tube station. The instructions in the email said “The walk will start fairly promptly at 11am. From the meeting point outside Ladbroke Grove tube station we will be heading along Malton Road to St Marks Road so, if you are delayed, by walking briskly in that direction you should be able to catch up with us.”
The subject of the walk was “Stuart’s first walk”. According to the website: In Geoff Nicholson’s novel Bleeding London, jaded tour guide Stuart London sets out to walk every street in the A-Z.
London house with preserved pub frontage
“He knew he had to begin somewhere and he knew that in one sense, any place was as good as another, but he scanned the index of his A-Z looking for a street name that sounded appropriate. His eyes fell on a line that read North Pole Road. Next day he went there and started his walk.” (p.84)
This walk takes in some of the streets that Stuart would have covered in this first walk.
I considered driving up just like Stuart did as it would save 30 minutes journey time, but in the end opted for the more relaxing train journey. The 09:07 from Berkhamsted would get me to the appointed tube station for 10:30 time for a coffee and cake. Unusually the Euston train was alighting on platform 2, rather than the usual 4. A few people had not read the signs and an elderly gentleman put them right. He told me on a Sunday it was best to wait at the top of the stairs as you never knew if the platform would change. Apparently the lights indicated the line was in slow mode, hence the reason for platform 4 not being used.
At Euston I walked west to Euston Square station to so that I could get on a train without changing before getting to Ladbroke Grove. I wax early so popped into Cafe Nero for a coffee and a pee. They had the Sunday times lying around so I spent some time reading up on the news, or what ever it is they have in that publication. Apparently most of the last 12 London marathon winners were tainted by suspicious blood counts, Mo Farah passed the tests OK so England are off the hook, and it is the Russians who they are pointing there finger at. It looks like the labour candidate Corbyn us going to be the next leader, and will most likely shake things up a bit, which is a refreshing change to the middle of the road stuff we have had for a few decades.
Kensal Green Cemetery HDR
We walked away from the tube station and under the Westway for a bit, then we went into the suburbs. The guide Jen told us about a number 7 ghost bus which has been seen in May at 0130 going down Cambridge Gardens without a drive. It has so the myth goes been the cause of a few accidents.
Further along we passed a church, on St Quintin, which was rebuilt after being destroyed during the war. In the church hall the BBC held rehearsals for such programs as Z Cars. One of my fellow guidees, and a local, can remember hanging around outside to get autographs.
We passed the hospital where Roger Daltry was born, although it is named Hammersmith hospital it is not in Hammersmith. Just on from the hospital we took a detour to look at the entrance to Wormwood Scrubs prison. A few famous people have stayed there including Keith Richards who was sentenced to a year but only stayed a day. George Blake the infamous spy was imprisoned there for a 42 year sentence but managed to escape by climbing out of a window and into a waiting car, he then fled to Berlin.
The football season had started and was in full swing on the Scrubs I overheard a couple of the players complaining that they needed to get fit! We got a bit lost trying to get to The Harrow Road on the edge of the scrubs, and ended up walking through a wooded area, where there was a parakeet roost, there was certainly lots of birds shit about.
Portobello Juice Cafe London
Off The Harrow road we crossed the Grand Union, then we walked through one of the Magnificent seven London cemetery’s, Kensal Green. It is a fascinating place and we’ll worth another visit. There are according to our guide regular walks you can join, and I think I will.
Back on The Harrow road we crossed the Grand Union for a second time, then passed a small nature reserve, called Meanwhile nature reserve owing be the fact the council allowed it to be used in the 70’s while they decided what to do with the land, they never have. Shortly after that we were told about the history of the Trellick tower and its Hungarian Architect Goldfinger.
Just around the corner was Portobello road, which even when the market is not on is buzzing. There are lots of interesting food shops, cafes and restaurants. We finished off with a drink at the KPH Kensington Park Hotel, which is a pub now. I then took the tube back to Euston Square then got the fast train to Birmingham which stopped at Berkhamsted.
I will definitely do another walk sometime, it was very enjoyable even if it was a bit tiring in the heat of August.
With Sammy in charge of the timetable of timing no dared be late for the coach so everyone was up for breakfast in good time. I made a cheese sandwich for the journey with continental breakfast fayre, and then headed across the road to take some final photos. When the coach was almost ready I dipped back to the hotel to make a coffee for the journey. We pulled way at 07:31 just one minute past the strict departure time that Sammy had set.
Slim building Caen France
The weather remained sunny with fluffy clouds and I sat back watched the French landscape pass by while catching up on the Archers. As you travel from west the east the landscape changes from flat plain, with arable fields, to rolling hills with a bit more pasture. At about 10:20 we stopped at Aire de La Baie du Somme, by which time, we had done most of the journey by then. There is a nature reserve near by and a tower for taking in the view. We only had 20 minutes so I shot up the tower to get the panorama, then grabbed a custard tart slice a specialty of the area, it was scrum.
As we approached Boulogne sur mer the landscape became less agricultural and more forested. Passing to the north of Calais we left the motorway and stopped off at Pidou Wine Market for some essential supplies, and some Belgium frites at the Chicken and chip shop. We were told that getting through immigration would take one and a half hours which seems excessive! It actually took about 10 minutes if that. We all got off the bus and went into an airport style queue, which kept moving. I asked if they would let me in with a driving licence but although they hinted that it was possible they just demanded my passport. The swift immigration checks meant more time sat on the tarmac waiting for the 14:20 boat. Whilst we waited I watched a boat on another jetty leave, it had to swing the back out then spin round in the small (by comparison) area of water adjacent to the jetty. I’m Jessing they have now propellers to help move the from end round.
Normand landscape France
We found a quiet corner of the boat which was a coffee lounge that did not sell coffee, probably the reason why it was quiet. The boat span round and avoided another incoming vessel and we were off destination the famous white cliffs of Dover. Our quiet corner became noisy when an entire school descended on the area, we decided to sit it out. When we docked we found out we were eight near a lift so the trip down the stairs was avoided. We had a brief stop at the Thurrock hub, and were soon on our way round the M25, where the traffic was quite heavy at times, but considering it was bang in the middle of the rush hour, so to be expected.
We were home earlier than expected at 18:30, we unpacked watched the Tour de France highlights then the first episode of Band if Brothers!
Another early start today we are going to do the English parts of the D day landings the beaches to the east of Utah and Omaha. We had to meet up outside the hotel as a market had been built on the car park where the coach would normally park. It gave us an opportunity to forage for some food for lunch. I went with John up to a boulangerie we grabbed 2 cheese sandwiches, but I went for a baguette and then went into the market for some flat Peaches and a small Camembert which was washed in Calvados.
Unfortunately the weather was rather inclement we expected rain until lunchtime ish. We had quite a few targets for the day and our first mission was the Pegasus bridge at Ranville but first we were going to visit a British Cemetery which a couple on the bus had a connection with, I believe a close relative was buried there. It started to rain when we got there we had a look at the cemetery and then at the church cemetery nearby which had some English graves. By the time we got back on the coach it was absolutely pissing it down with rain, the poncho came in handy.
Vintage tractors Normandy France
The Pegasus bridge museum is well worth a visit with plenty of artefacts relating to the capture of the famous bridge. It really was chucking it down during our visit sort the museum visit was good timing. After a 15 minute stroll in the museum a film was arranged for us which was introduced by Prince Charles himself ( not in person of course). After that there was an opportunity to walk outside and see the bridge it self had been moved to the museum after being replaced back in the 1993. The museum purchased the bridge for 1 franc but never paid it over but it did cost half a million Euros to have it move from where it was to museum around 2001.
We boarded the Coach and went to Ouistreham where we went to a monument where there is a view of the sword beach. The British paratroopers landed on Sword Street it’s fairly flat and pictures. They landed an hour later than the Americans because of restrictions due to the tide times. Another stop another walk on a Rainy beach this time to look at the few more memorials. Back of the coach I had half my burger and a quarter of the Camembert which had slight taste of Calvados.
Views of the Mulbery Harbour and Arromanche Beach
Bernniers sur mer was the next up where they were monuments to allied troops. The locals were out on the village football pitch showing off vintage tractors which they use around here to pull boats in and out of the water on the beach. The locals had very broad Normandy accents. On the way to Arromanches we stopped off to watch a a 360 film at another monument on a rise just outside the town. The place was heaving with children, waiting to see the film too. There was a count down clock on the viewing hall entrance we had s 20 minute wait but at about 9 minutes the doors opened and everyone rushed in only to realise the clock was the country down to the start of the film! The film was good but slightly bias, possibly unintentionally due to the fact they used the US Archive. We were rushed onto the bus to go to Arromanches.
The war cemetery at Bayeau was next, the Nick the guide showed us a couple of interesting individual graves, one who got a VC then a couple connected where a whole Lancaster crew were remembered. I am not sure what the stones are made of but they are very smooth and tactile to the touch. Once again we were late getting back to the bus ( I wasn’t) I had a chat with Sammy the drive he was a bit wound up and about to conduct a mutiny. He said he would take control of timings for the rest of the day.
Bayeux war cementery
Bayeau was heaving with medieval stuff, stalls all over the place selling weapons, honey, traditional food, and leather goods. Performers were entertaining and street entertainers were performing in the streets. There was a medieval festival weekend. They had had to put straw down because of the rain we had in the morning. Sammy’s plan did not work because the usual crew were late for the bus, he was not impressed and neither were we.
It took less than half an hour to get back to the hotel, when we arrived Sammy took control of things and made it clear that tomorrow morning it was a 07:30 start. He even offered to carry people suitcases down from their rooms if they couldn’t manage them. We agreed to meet up at 19:30 for some dinner.
We wandered up to the old town and chose an Italian. I had knocci with squid and octopus which was great, Helen had a pizza and John had pasta Neptune. Back at the hotel a medical student brass band was entertaining the neighbourhood, we listened for a while then went to the hotel bar for a glass of wine and then to bed. Another long day.
The air-conditioning in the room meant that we got a very good nights sleep although Helen was up in the night reading at one point. We had an early start 8 clock UK time so we were at breakfast for 07:00. Breakfast was a continental affair the usual cheese ham other meats bread croissants fruit compote etc. Interestingly there was a boil your own egg device, basically a toaster size machine with water in it you put your egg in a basket which you then put into the bath of water returning to get your eggs after a time depending on your preference.
I had a chance to have a wander around the local block and take some photos before the coach left. I tried a new technique for taking Panorama photos which involves taking two slightly tilted up and two slightly tilted down photos so the whole 360 is covered by 4 photos. Whilst out taking photos I could see that there was storm clouds gathering in close and was delighted to see a few lightning strikes.
The coach took less than an hour to get to the German cemetery at La Cambe we had about 25 minutes to have a look around. It is quite an interesting site layout very different from the allied cemeteries that I’ve seen, there are plaques in rows on the grass but each group of plaques, maybe about 40 or 50, has five stone crosses in the middle of them. At the centre of the site there is a large mound which has a kind of sculpture or statue on top from there you can take in the whole of the site.
Tank at Airbourne Museum Sainte Mere Eglise
The first town liberated in France during the D-Day Landings was St Mere Eglise we parked up and wondered into the town to have a look at the church with a mannequin of a parachutist tied to the church tower, the story of which is a scene in the filmed The Longest Day. There is a museum associated with the American second airborne division but we went down to the High Street first to have a coffee and buy some baguettes for lunch from a great proper French bakery and patisserie.
The museum is very well done there are three main buildings the first contains one of the gliders used for the D day landings and there are plenty of display cabinets around too showing American and German things from the war. The second building contains an American air plane that was used to tow the gliders across the channel and again contains more artefacts from the war. The third is a multimedia experience which as you walk through the sound effects ate very realistic and it is dark. this films have to walk over a glass floor can be a bit of putting specially when it’s dark, however it’s all very well done. At the end of the multimedia experience there’s a big open space with memories and things from the war photographs of Ronald Reagan who has links to the museum. They are also building a new building called the Reagan meeting house or something like that in the grounds.
Utah Beach France
We left St Mere Eglise and headed to Utah beach on the way we stopped off at a German battery which was quite interesting. In the distance you could see the sea and a row of houses which I believe are familiar from war footage I’ve seen from films of the war. On the way to Utah beach we went down small country lanes and the tour guide Nick pointed out three storks nesting in a farmhouse I’ve never seen a stork before so that makes it a life list bird. As if we haven’t seen enough concrete there was still time to stop off and view some bunkers by the sea on the west end of Utah beach. There is quite a lot to see at Utah beach apparently a young lad injured by friendly american fire, was shipped to England for medical attention, to be returned later and settled near by eventually becoming mayor of a local town. He decided to spend time to promote the idea of a museum and memorial at Utah, eventually seeing it built in 1969.
Next up would be La Pointe Hoc which is a out crop between Omaha and Utah beach. Due to being quite strategic the American Rangers were sent to take the cliff and point. As it happened the guns they after there were in land and taken by the Canadians. However it was still a very heroic episode. The site is a field covered in bomb holes, some concrete bunkers and gun emplacements. We were told we had half an hour to do this but we stuck with the tour guide and it was at least 50 minutes.
Next stop was Omaha beach where the american national guard came under intense fire from the Germans. My fellow travellers were told off by the Life Guards for standing in the way of the tractors that pull the boats out of the water. By that time I had gone to another part of the beach and then went back to the road. Feeling a bit peckish I went over the road to a cafe stroke camera caravan selling ice creams are there when I got there I realised they were selling chips so I spent €4 on a plastic tray of chips.
Pointe Du Hoc France
There was some confusion when we got to get back in the coach because the driver had turned around while we were down on the beach but the tour guide had decided that he wanted to go the way we had come into the town, so the driver then had to reverse round a junction pull back out to pick us up then he realise that there was no room for cars to go round so he beeped and we will all had to get on the coach quickly while the French drivers around were beeping their horns.
We made our way through some country lanes to the American War cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. Agreement was that we could go with the tour guide or make your own way round there but we must be back of the Coach bye 10 to 6. I followed the tour guide for a bit and then broke off to take some photographs in a field because they were nice views of the shoreline with wildflowers in view.
American War cementery Colleville-sur-Mer
I then took a wrong turning and ended up on a path which looked around went up a hill and then Morris put me back where I started which wasted a bit of time. I have had it all up to the cemetery itself where there are Monuments and lots of white crosses and star David headstones. I must say the Americans do cemeteries very well the grass was cut to a uniform length was very lush obviously watered often and all the edges perfectly trimmed. Later in the bus with debated how they might trim around all the headstones in the grass we couldn’t decide between them having to lift the headstones every time they cut the grass or have some sleeve they put round the headstones when they strim them.
The American Cemetery was our last stop after everyone got back to the couch at about 18:10 we eventually were en route back to Caen. As we got towards the city there was another unexpected stop as we needed to fill up with petrol. we eventually got back to the hotel at about 7:25 so we agreed to meet up reception at 8 o’clock gun get something to eat, in the old town. It had been a very long day.
We walked up town about 08:00 and found an area with kids of food establishments. We picked an Italian. They did a special disk where grappa was flambéed in a half of parmesan the mushroom and cream pasta added, all done in front of you by the chef. We were tired when we got back and hoped tomorrow was going to be a bit less relentless.
Up at 05:30 with plenty of time to get ready for the 7 o’clock pick up from the Bell Inn. John pick us up at 6:45 and we were at the bus stop in good time for the coach which was 10 minutes early. The driver explained that the coach we were on was the coach that was going all the way to France but that some of the people that we would pick up would be dropped off at the Hub in Thurrock. That would save unloading and loading the luggage.
We stopped first in Tring, then Berkhamsted followed by Hemel Hempstead. In Berkhamsted I noticed a an estate agents called Proffitt and Holt interestingly the name Proffitt was spelt with 2 F’s and 2T’s I guess if they had been accountants the correct spelling would have saved money on signage.
At 08:40 we arrived at Hemel Hempstead and some passengers were delivered in a mini bus. Then we were on the the M1 and M25 to Thurrock where we stopped for about an hour while other coaches got to the hub. We took the opportunity when we got back on the bus, at Thurrock we managed to bag a set of four seats around a table as they were not reserved for anyone. Lucky for us the drver said help yourself and do it quick before someone else had the same idea.
The traffic on the M2 was flowing well, we wondered whether we would be going on the M20 as operation stack was still in force despite the French strikes finishing the day before. We arrived at the Dover docks without any problems but the stack operation was clearly visible as all the lorries were queued up all the way out of Dover. For us there is a separate queue for the coaches and cars so after stopping to drop off some passengers we were straight into the queue and onto the tarmac waiting for a boat.
P and O ferry Dover
It looked like we might not get the next boat as we were directed to an empty car park however the driver went and had a word with the person taking the tickets and negotiated us on to the next very full crossing. We only had to wait for 20 minutes before Driving up the ramp to the boat. It makes you realise how big these boots are when you find out that you are on deck five. We had to climb 5 flights of stairs before we go to the lounge area.
The passage was rather routine with loads of school children running around the decks it was a bit tedious. Helen found the smoking zone at the back of the boat and was happy there until I persuaded her back inside and out of the strong wind. John found a quiet cafe on an upper deck where we were able to watch our approach to the Calais Port in peace. Getting back to the coach was quite difficult because the stairs were full with everyone rushing to get back to their vehicles, however because we’re on the top floor we were able to get in the lift with the lorry drivers who clearly knew what they were up to.
Moorings at Caen France
I chatted to the tour guide who told me that the journey to Caen would take about 4 hours however we would stop about an hour and a half before we arrive for a break. That would mean that we would be at our destination at about 07:00 to 07:30 which was just in time for dinner.
There were no hold ups on the French motorway we stopped about an hour and a half away from Caen for a break and leg stretching opportunity. We looked around the shop Helen had a fag and we got back on the Coach and headed on to Caen.
The final leg of the journey seemed to take an age eventually we turned in to the port area of Caen which is where the Ibis hotel situated. The hotel had air conditioning which was a bonus we quickly hotels we quickly checked in our room then met up in reception to go for something to eat. We found a pizza restaurant very close to the hotel John and I had pasta and Helen had a pizza. Everyone enjoyed the food except Helen thought the pizza was a bit bland. By the time we had finished our meal we were happy enough to just returned to the hotel and go to bed because we had an early start. We needed to be in the Coach by 8 o’clock in the morning which in English time is 7 o’clock so it meant another 6 o’clock start.
Rain was forecast for the morning and the wind was coming from the north, so it looked like our plans for the last day might be spoilt somewhat. Having driven along the north cost around St Just we thought it would be good to have a look as the coats line is very remote and bleak, even more so with a northerly wind and some rain.
Our destination was the Levant Beam pump, which is a National Trust place. We took the B road there along the coast and arrived just after 10:30 when it opens. We made our way from the car park to the reception when Helen decided to head back to the WC and managed to get wet in the down pour that included hail. Needless to say she came back a bit damper than when she left.
Beach views at Gwithian Cornwall
We waited a while for the tour to start, the tours guides were happy to hang around for the rain to stop just as we were. When the tour started we quickly progressed to the engine room out of the rain and in the warm. The guides explained how the engine worked with the steam going in only to to be damped by a spray of cold water producing a vacuum which moved the piston the same thing happening on the other side of the piston to make it return. Then they fired up the engine using steam generated by a modern stem boiler
The weather was brightening when the tour was finished so we reverted back to our original plans to walk along the coast but in land a bit which would allow us to see the landscape a bit more. It turns out that the footpaths in land are not so well trodden as the ones on the coast, so it was easy to get lost even when I had and app to help me. This put Helen in a bit of a trough of disillusionment, getting wet trouser bottoms from the wet grass and having to cross slippery styles. Eventually we got a a small village called Bottalack where we found a pub that did sandwiches. I had a crab one which was apparently caught only a couple of miles away.
Sunset at Gwithian Cornwall
Suitably refined we headed inland to the coast where we saw the iconic mine heads you see in lots of pictures of Cornwall. I went down the cliffs to have a look around while Helen sensibly stayed at the top and looked for Coughs. While I was down there the sun came out so I was hot, sweaty and puffing. The walk back to Levant was glorious in the sun and we both agreed that sticking to our plans had worked out great.
We had an hour to spare and so we headed to Cape Cornwall to have a look but when we got there it was not where both of us thought it was. We had been there before but we had the Lizard on our mind for some reason. I took a few picture from the top of the prominent hill, then we headed back to the hut via the direct route.
We went to the Red River Inn for something to eat I had the Moroccan fish stew which was very spicy, but great, all washed down with a couple of pints of real ale. We walked back to the hut to watch some more episodes of Madmen then and early night.
We decided on a three attraction day, some culture, some nature and some history. The culture was the Art Gallery at Newlyn. The traffic was quite heavy as we got towards Penzance, but we did it in the time that the sat nav said. We parked up near the harbour with a £2 ticket for 2 hours. To get to the Art Gallery we walked along the promenade towards Penzance. The gallery is free and there are just a few rooms with temporary exhibits in each. As with most modern art a lot of it was “interesting” but there were a couple of thought provoking pieces. We had a great coffee in the cafe from Pantone mugs and headed back into town.
We had some time to spare so we had a look around the harbour, which was almost exclusively proper fishing boats. We found it very interesting, seeing the boats being maintained and unloaded into lorries. One of the boats unloading was from Inverness and was unloading in to a lorry from Scotland, which was a bit perverse. I took a few panoramas on the quayside. We noticed that sadly the fishermen’s mission was to be closed due to the expense of running it.
We had a twenty minute slot when we got back to the car, so decided to have some lunch at the cafe just next to the car park. Helen had a cheese toastie and I had a very nice crab, cream cheese, and chilli toastie which was very nice. We over stayed the parking ticket by about 10 minutes but we were sat right in from of the car and ready to pounce if a warden came round. When we left our table the sea gull that had been stalking us took the opportunity to finish off Helen’s crusts.
Newlyn Harbour
Next stop was Hayle estuary RSPB at high tide the birds get pushed off the estuary into an area in front of a hide where they forage whilst waiting for the water level to drop again. We armed up under the road bridge and went to the hide, it was only when we got there that we noticed the sign that indicated that the event we were expecting is a September to March one. The birds over winter and would be in their spring and summer Arctic breeding grounds in May. Our total tally was 3 Shelducks, and a Little Egret.
Next up was to be some industrial archeology at a Cornish beam museum maintained by the national trust. We followed the signs and found the pump house next door to a Qwikfit and a Jewsons, I though this is not what I expected from the website, just the one building. Once we had checked in with the volunteers they explained that the main bit was at the end of the Morrisons car park about half a mile away. We looked around the pumps house then headed over to the main event. There is an exhibition, a film about mining, and some ruined buildings to look at.
After a busy day we headed back to the hut I went to the beach to take some photos as the sun was out, then we went to the Red River Inn, which is a twenty minute walk,for some food. I had Indonesian mackerel and Helen had a veggie burger names after the God of North wind Boreas!
