Long walks and ice cream in Brixham…

After so much sightseeing around Britain, we have finally slowed down and chilled out this week. Well that is partly because Andy the Landy “pulled a muscle” on the drive down from Penzance and so believe it or not, we have been using public transport… (eek). I claimed it was an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint! But after being beaten by a 50cc moped in a drag race at the lights! I thought it might be prudent to rest the Landy and give us the best chance to get Sarah to Dorset and Monkey World.

Our caravan site has spectacular views over the river Dart and the evening sunsets have been simply stunning and has the added bonus of a frequent bus service… something I would never normally admit!  

We walked down to the local beach and enjoyed our own little cove and although the water was way too cold for swimming, we did have a bit of a paddle! It was so peaceful and felt like our own little bit of heaven for the day.

For the first time in about 20 years we got on a bus! We headed into Brixham to see the pirates and walked in the sunshine to the old forts at Berry Head. 

We also found another local National Trust place which we could walk down the lane to from our site... Agatha Christie’s summer cottage… well it looked more like a mansion and was set in 33 acres of land.

Joke: Why are pirates great…….. because they aaarrrhhh

We have been given a head start on the next leg as the site owner has kindly offered to tow the caravan up to the top of the first hill with his tractor… (he also offered us £1,000 for the Landy … hmmm very tempting).

Fingers crossed we should make it to Dorset...

Pirates of Penzance

The caravan site at St Hilarys was just perfect with palm trees and sunshine when we arrived. It is adult only and is just so quiet and peaceful, I think we will be looking for other “adult only” ones in future.

We started this leg of our trip with a cycle ride down to St Michaels Mount, which is owned by the National Trust, and therefore a free day out for us so it had to be done. We arrived early and as the causeway was still covered and as John does not have the ability to “walk on water”, we left our bikes and took the boat over to explore the island.

A trip to Lizard Point was next on the list. It is the most southerly point in England and not at all tacky like Lands End, so we thought it would be a much better option.

From Lizard Point we followed the coastal path round to Kynance Cove, which must definitely be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world… it doesn’t get any better than that!

 

After several phone calls and numerous text messages, we finally managed to meet up with Tracey, Ben and Hugo (the chocolate lab) for a walk to St Agnes Head and the old tin mines. Hugo had a fab time bouncing along the path (he was definitely on a mission). The gentle half hour walk turned into a 4 hour one but we broke it up with a pub lunch overlooking the beach and a beer, so it was not too bad.

We drove back up to Watergate Bay where they were staying the following day for a yummy BBQ and of course lots of wine and had a great evening just chatting in the sun.

We have found some pretty cool standing stones and added several hundred more photos to our collection from our stop in Penzance… (so far we have taken a over  4,500 photos… god bless digital cameras as we would need a second mortgage to get them developed) I think we might lose a few friends if we invite them round to look at our holiday snaps.

And the greatest disaster of the trip so far… After all our meticulous planning and preparation the Minack open air theatre was fully booked so we didn’t get the chance to see “Much a do about nothing”.  

Hey Ho… onto our next destination at Brixham.  

Surfs up...

We have had another packed week. I keep promising John some chill out time but there is far too much to do and see at every destination.

We arrived at Tregurrien on Monday and after quickly setting up on site, we walked down the road to Watergate Bay to watch the surfer “dudes” do their stuff. The beach was lovely as promised by Tracey who recommended it to us. She had booked to spend the week with us but being a true “blonde” she booked the wrong week and arrives on the day we leave. Fortunately we will not be too far away, so we can still meet up for a day or two on the beach and a few glasses of wine as planned. 

I think the most scenic place we have been to this week was Tintagel Bay and castle, which is reputedly the birthplace of King Arthur. The Castle was nothing special but the walk certainly made up for it with lots of bays, caves and turquoise sea.

We visited another cider farm (Healey’s) and took advantage of the FREE sampling… well, when you are on a budget you have to take free booze anywhere you can get it!! There was also an ice cream farm next door so that was a bonus.

We finally got to Padstow after a couple of false starts. We set off on bikes but gave up at the second set of roller coaster hills and decided to go back for the car… then we set off without my handbag with the all important Cornish pasty, ice cream and beer funds in it! but third time lucky we made it. It is a really quaint place, touristy without being too spoilt. We splashed out on a speedboat trip around the bay in a boat named “Jaws” which was ace and we managed to escape without getting too wet!!

There are so many stunning beaches in the area and we managed to get to Daymer Bay (as featured in the book “a road less travelled” and judging by the road in we know why it features there!), Rock Bay and Bedruthen Steps (where we saw a scary snake in the grass). The roads around here are really narrow and very scary so extra alcohol was needed to get me through the week and calm me down.

Today we have been to see the Eden Project. Neither of us were quite sure what to expect but it was really good and it is amazing what they have achieved there and was worth the money.

I can’t believe we managed to fit so much into 6 days and take so many photos…and this is one of the few places where we have arrived at the right time, as there is a 5 day surf and music festival on so we get a free concert every night.

Next stop Penzance…

Safari so goodie…

Our first stop was for the tour around Rich’s Cider Farm and museum, although I think it was just an excuse so we could stock John up with cider for the week ahead… well it would be rude to be in Somerset and not to enter into the spirit of it. On our travels we also stopped off at Burnham on sea… Blackpool but with less class!!!! (commiserations to anyone reading this from either location)

We had a couple of nice evenings with Gary, Kim, Ash, Alexi and Faye sipping cider and wine in the sun… oh and some rather tasty Vodka too. Their dog Bella kept Benny entertained for a few days whilst he eyed her up as a potential afternoon snack. They left us with lots of tips for places to visit in Cornwall before they headed off for a week in Dorset. Our new neighbours have arrived today and look a bit odd… think we will avoid eye contact with them at all times.

A lovely day was spent at Cheddar Gorge where we explored the caves and did a nice walk round the gorge in the sun. I felt a little sick though after consuming a cocktail of fish and chips, ice cream, chilli cheese and some Legbender cider… a mixture not to be recommended.

 


Wells (Britain’s smallest city) was a good place to explore too; it has a huge Cathedral and Bishops Palace with lots of cool walks. The farmers market complete with a great jazz band composed of 90 year olds called “ The Grey Dogs” livened the place up a bit.
 

We decided to go down to the Safari Park at Longleat where you can drive through various enclosures including Lions, Tigers and Monkeys. When we saw the warning signs outside the monkey enclosure “MONKEYS WILL CLIMB ON YOUR VEHICLE AND WILL CAUSE DAMAGE… YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!” we were exceptionally relived that we had paid £8 to take the tour bus instead. We could only watch in awe as the monkeys systematically robbed cars of their aerials, swung from the rear windscreen wiper blades and fuelled their drug and alcohol additions by drinking from the windscreen washer jets and sucking the glue off the rubber trim! We reckon they managed to strip the Landrover in front of our bus faster than our local service centre and they didn’t charge £85 per hour either!



The weather held and gave us the chance to visit Bath or is it pronounced “Barth” either way is was a great place with lots of character.

Next stop on our travels… Newquay

Ffarwel i Gymru...

After a relaxing week in Tenby, it’s time to pack up and head back into England.

Windmills (our campsite) was located at the top of the hill and just a short walk down into Tenby which was a very pretty town with lots of trendy bars (it was rocking on Saturday night), beaches, shops and we even found an excellent Indian restaurant with the biggest menu we have ever seen and of course a castle… everywhere in Wales has a castle!!!

The beach at Barafundle Bay was stunning and the weather perfect (it was voted one of the most beautiful places in the world… and probably was). We arrived early and the beach was deserted giving us the opportunity to “take loads of photos and leave only footprints”… unfortunately we were quickly surrounded by lots of tourists who had the same idea, but they were quite good for a bit of “people watching” and kept us entertained.

We also did a really nice coastal walk from St Justinian to St David’s Head and Arthurs Quoit. It was not a walk for anyone who did not have a head for heights, as there was some fairly steep drops and we even had to talk a Jack Russell out of jumping off the cliff at one point.

We went on a cycle ride to the village of Saundersfoot, which as usual was downhill there and uphill all the way back… all that for an ice cream!

As you can see, sometimes Benny looks so cute… Who would believe the damage his claws could inflict. Anyway Sarah’s wounds are starting to heal after the attack of the wild cat “Benny” in Aberstwyth and they are almost friends again but he has not been allowed out again since!!

Next stop... Cheddar Gorge

Sunsets and BBQs in Aberystwyth

We have now adjusted to the slower pace of life, which is good, as the drive down took 4 hours to travel 80 miles due to the road works, around every corner there were hills and roads with 1:25 gradients that would not be out of place as a ride at Alton Towers… this was definitely the most stressful journey so far. As we approached one of the hills outside Aberystwyth, we both felt rather apprehensive as we watched the HGV in front reversing down the hill having failed to reach the summit (and this was summer not a freezing cold winters day!) Andy the Landy had other ideas though and we sailed to the top (in 2nd gear) and onwards inching ever closer to the campsite. The only use for Fifth Gear is the TV programme around this part of Wales!

We followed the “Diversion” sign to the final road onto the site, it was 2.5 miles long and also added a few grey hairs… So narrow… thank god we didn’t have to turn around or meet another car coming in the opposite direction! We found out later that this was the “car only route” and we should have taken the “caravan route” which was actually wide enough for a caravan! We finally parked the caravan overlooking Cardigan Bay and the Sunsets each evening have been simply stunning…

Ding Ding round One… Benny 38 : Sarah 0

Why did we let “Harry Houdini” out of the caravan on his lead? Benny and Sarah had a lovely walk round the site in the sun but he really did not want to go back inside and a wild Tiger would probably have done less damage to her arms. He bought her a new top out of his “chicken fund” after shredding her favourite one and they are almost friends again… though she is still sleeping with one eye open just in case he goes for round two.

 

We drove a few miles down the road on Friday to watch around 150 Red Kites come down for feeding. It was an amazing sight and we felt quite lucky to be so close to such beautiful birds. They were far too quick for our cameras though and after taking about 300 photos we managed to get about 2 shots that were fit for the album!!

Next stop Tenby…

Beachcombing in Wales

The hot and hilly drive down to Abersoch was not particularly kind to “Andy the Landy” with the steep hills and very narrow “B” roads from Betws-y-coed but it was definitely worth it and after letting the clutch cool down overnight, Andy seems to be back to normal! Well as normal as it gets with a Landrover…

Our site was voted the Best in Wales in 2010 and it is easy to see why especially with the stunning views down to the beach… They even provide TV hook-up so we can catch up on the SOAPS!

It would appear that there are rather a lot of beaches to explore around Absersoch and whilst the sun has been shining for the last three days, we have made the most of the conditions and visited as many as possible on foot, by car and even on the bicycles.

 
The cycle ride was a bit of a challenge as we found some very big hills and as John’s bike has no brakes, watching him come down the hills was very funny. We climbed down the cliff with the bikes and then cycled the two miles across Hell’s Mouth beach.

The weather has turned now though and gale force winds and rain are forecast for the next few days, so it gives us time to catch up on reading and our washing before we move on to Aberystwyth on Tuesday.