Sunday 18 May 2014

Off to Cornwall

We fell asleep last night imagining we could feel the boat moving.  Such a strange sensation.  It was luxurious to sleep without the gunwale by my shoulder and the bed seemed enormous.  I stood in the shower for 10 minutes, a wasteful luxury.

We were a bit rattled by the very rude girl at the reception desk when we checked out.  I'm thinking she would be better suited to a job that doesn't involve dealing with the public.

Back in the car we set off down the absurdly narrow roads to get back on the dual carriageway.  Our next stop was a visit to Dawlish where we bought breakfast in a bakery and sat down by the sea front to eat it.  Dawlish was the location of the railway collapse during wild storms in Winter.  It looks so strange to see trains rushing by the sea.  There were black swans body surfing... only the second time we've seen a black swan in England.

We took our time heading West with frequent stops for photos, a walk, to admire the view, grab some groceries in Bodmin and check out Penzance.  It's a pleasure to drive through Devon and Cornwall, on the bigger roads anyway.  Some of those narrow ones can be a bit hairy.  The roadsides were lined with flowers; bluebells, buttercups and a pink flower I couldn't identify.  The views were stunning.   In Bodmin I walked to find a Holland and Barrett to buy lysine for Mick.... a cold sore coming on.... and when I returned he was sitting in the car yelling at the voice activated sound system.  He had tried to get the radio working but couldn't work out what he was supposed to say to get it to work.  It didn't occur to him that the options were displayed on the screen.

We reached our destination, Mousehole (they pronounce it Mowzle, rhyming with "cow").  What a stunning little village and just our speed.  It was a gorgeous sunny day too so that made everything look even lovelier.  You can see St Michael's Mount from the quay.  We'll have to go and visit in the next couple of days.

Our accommodation is a grade II listed fisherman's cottage.  It's a tiny little place just one room wide and one room deep although a bathroom is squeezed in beside the kitchen downstairs and a tiny second bedroom upstairs.  The living room is on the "ground floor", if you can call it that.  The street outside is only a walkway and so steep!  We have to climb 8 very steep granite steps to the front door.  We get a peek of the ocean from the bedroom but the seafront is only a minute or two walk with a little harbour.  We are looking forward to a relaxing day exploring the village tomorrow.






















6 comments:

NB Lady Esther said...

Don't forget to wish on the giants heart stone found in the path as you walk up St Michaels Mount.We have walked there and boated as well when the tide was in.Lovely place in a lovely county and fab weather as well Enjoy

Elly and Mick said...

Angie, I better start thinking what to wish for. We spent so long wishing for our narrowboat dream to come true!
Elly

Peter Berry said...

Enjoy Cornwall, the county of my ancestors. All previous generations before my grandmother came from a small village near Hale called Gwinear, and were copper miners. They came north to Manchester to mine coal when the copper and tin mining industries collapsed in the late 19th century. Many others went worldwide in search of hard rock mining, including Ballarat, where there is a graveyard with lots of Cornish miners from that time, some of which are my relatives. Mitchell Construction in Melbourne are also direct relatives from mining in Cornwall. The Dolphin pub on the sea front of Penzance on the road out to Mousehole near the fishing port was once owned by by grandmother's cousin, also an ex-Cornish miner.

Elly and Mick said...

Hi Peter,
We just love Cornwall. We were just saying yesterday how many Cornish miners we've heard of in the goldfields where we live. There is the ruin of an on engine house we passed once and it's called The Duke of Cornwall.
Our own little cemetery has the graves or Cornish miners. Definitely interesting history.
Elly

BigJohn said...

Making us envious - I'm Cornish and Fi spent most of her life in Cornwall. I think maybe the pink plant in the hedges you mention is red valerian.
Enjoy God's Own Country!

Elly and Mick said...

Hi John,
It's a place worth being jealous of visiting. Just gorgeous!
It's not red valerian, we have that at home too. I'll have to take a photo of it.
Elly