Day 16: Cornwall ~ Be there pirates?

August 06, 2019

It was a bit bleak when we went to the car this morning and actually rained for a while which was not good news given the big day ahead. We were cruising down the A30, and had planned a small town visit to one of the pretty coastal towns when Martina googled coffee and came up with good coffee in St Ives. Everyone we have spoken to on our trip has sounded disappointed that we were staying at Newquay and urged us to go to St Ives for a visit. So that we did. What a picturesque little spot, however there was no parking anywhere and the GPS was playing terrible games with us, sending us down laneways that wouldn’t fit a Barbie Car. It was hair-raising stuff poor Chris because I was very stressed by the whole experience. So... not coffee in St Ives and if you are planning a trip, please don’t drive but take the tourist advice and park at a nearby railway station and catch the train! Not such a fabulous start, but it meant that we headed further into Penzance.

There was a chorus of the Pirate King from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance on approach, naturally! Penzance is more a large town than a village and has excellent parking down by the water. The shopping mall that connects to the main drag is just opposite the car park with escalators and a life up to the high street. Here we found the “Quirky Bird” coffee shop, but sadly for Martina, the quality of the coffee did not live up to the Google reviews. We mooched for a bit, sourced some medicines to help poor Enid who, by this stage, had completely succumbed to a terrible cold and irritated eyes. Enid also managed to sort the rest of her money issues at the Penzance Western Union... hope there were no pirates there. We decided on Cornish pasties for lunch which we were going to take with us to consume at our next stop, Lands End.

Lands End is a stunning vista: hilly cliffs, rock islands out to sea and tortured coastline. That is the natural part of it, and that is the part that we enjoyed as we sat among the seagulls and enjoyed our pasties. The view was breathtaking and the wind was blowing a gale! Took some shots and then wandered up to the store and toilets to discover that Lands End is really more like a Brighton Pier amusement area, with tacky souvenirs and games and entertainments. It was sad that such a pristine and beautiful place could not be enjoyed in its own right without trashy entertainment. The other thing that was striking here was that you have to pay to have your photo taken in front of the Lands End sign. It is a concession that has been run by a photographer for 30 years. We were sneaky however and got a quick pic between customers. Very glad to have been there but there were other things on the agenda this afternoon.

Unfortunately there was a show on at the Minack theatre, so we were unable to see the theatre. I was really disappointed but that is what happens with timing. We did decided to try for a look at the pretty village of Mousehall, but again, very crowded in the summer season and tiny tiny lane ways and no parking! So we caught a glimpse and drove on through.

A short detour to Mosehole via tiny lanes as well as a u-turn led to more impossible village lanes but a great view of the harbour before winding up out of the village on more small lanes.

The other thing that we had on our agenda was St Michael’s Mount at Marazion. This is a castle built on a rock island away from the coast. It is linked to the mainland by a small causeway that is exposed during low tide. It appears as though there had been a monastery on the site from about the 7th century, but Edward the Confessor handed the monastery and castle to the Benedictines in the 12th century. It was impacted by Henry V and French dissolution and was transferred to other orders. It has also been the subject of sieges and battles and was fortified during WWII. All up it is simply an amazing feat of construction and its stunning location, facing out to the ocean is awe inspiring. The walk across the granite cobbles was challenging but provided a great vista on the lead up to the castle. We were a bit late to do a tour, but decided to mooch around on the island for a bit before walking back across the sand to Marizion and to the overflow carpark where we had parked. A big bucket list event.

Driving back into Newquay, we decided on dinner at Rick Stein’s at Fistral Beach. Unfortunately due to the Boardmasters Festival, the area has very restricted parking and we had to walk a fair way to actually get down to the beach to the restaurant. It is not really a restaurant, really a Fish and Chips take away where you eat your food out of cardboard wrappers. Busy! Hectic! But the food was nice. Afterwards we captured some almost sunsets on Fistral Beach before dragging back up the hill to head home. What a big day.