Kites, Planes and Lizards.

Thursday 26th July

Break camp day, We have really enjoyed our stay at Radnor Golf CL it has been great weather and the facilities have been wonderful. So it is with a small amount of trepidation that we venture off on the half hour trek to our next camp site. This can be seen in that the owner allowed us to stay as long as we liked as no one was coming in to take our place. We took full advantage of this and did all our washing and cleaning duties. It was about 3pm before we were on our way.

Steven took us on his usual route down the narrowest roads he could find and un-fortunately it was shallots harvest day so, there was an never ending succession of tractors towing huge trailers-full of them coming against us. In the end we arrived safe and sound and we breathed a sigh of relief. On arrival the CL field was deserted. We were not really expecting this and as the gate to the field was open we continued in and picked the best spot for the van. 

Now it must be said, we knew we were coming to a basic site. There are no showers, no toilets and no electric hook up. But we really don’t mind this as we have all we need in the van. Not long after the farmer arrived jumped out of his tractor and came over and shook Kevin’s hand he had a leather clad grip of iron hand but was really friendly. Kevin asked him why there were no others on the site. He said that the site had only been in operation for 2 years and word probably not got around yet. In fact he then admitted that we were the very first on the site. Kevin asked him how much he wanted for the 3 day stay? He replied that it was advertised at £9 per night but he thought it was too much and how did £6 per night sound? We of course gratefully paid the £18 quick quick.

Well, at first we were a little worried about being on our own but that soon left us as we realized we were in our own little heaven. The views were great, we looked across the fields to Culdrose Airfield which is Navy base. Further on along the horizon is a wind farm and further on again are the huge communication dishes of Goonhilly Downs It was a lovely afternoon so up went the Bus shelter and we settled down to an ice cold Gin and Tonic.

Just us then.....

Cadac on the go

Friday 27 July

We are so excited about being on our own and being self sufficient that we decided to have a day doing absolutely nothing. It was bliss, the weather was perfect and we wasted the day in doing whatever we felt like. Kevin got his kites out (and broke one of them) and Petra got out her Kindle. The only other thing of note was that as we don’t have a TV we were playing Dominoes whilst the world watched the Olympic opening ceremony. 

Saturday 28 July

Today we went to Lizard Point. It is only 20 minutes away but first we went to Mullion to take Kev’s kite in for repair to Cornwall Kites.  Then as always down narrow roads we ventured straight to the National Trust car park (another £5 saved thank you very much) at Lizard Point. The car park is next to the impressive light house. After a fresh brewed cup of coffee we went on a nice walk (3.5 miles) along the coast in front of the light house and on to Marconi's hut which we could see in the distance. The views were fantastic, craggy cliffs and wild flowers. At one point we stopped to admire the view of the Lizard Point and saw three seals swimming in the sea below us. Soon after we  found ourselves climbing down steep paths into cuts in the rock it was very exciting and at times we found ourselves walking down tunnels of over growth. The sea was beautiful, crystal clear and calm. As we approached Marconi's hut the weather closed in and the wind freshened (rain) fortunately, we were on the end of it so only got spots and in light of the steep climb we had just negotiated cooling and refreshing.

By now it was lunch time and Petra had a bit of a surprise for Kevin. Ann’s Pasty shop is renowned for their quality and people have been known to travel miles and take whole trays away with them. We can understand why. These were no ordinary High Street ‘Cornish Pasty’ shop pasties, these were amazing. the pastry was dry and light and the inner succulent tasty and moist. Delicious. After a walk around the shops we went back to the van and whiled away a couple of hours watching the sea and people going by. 

2.30pm we went back to the Kite shop to pick up Kev’s kite and buy another one and a flag and a wind sock. Back to the camp site and spent the rest of the afternoon playing kites.

Another great day.

Trelissick Gardens

Wednesday 25 July

Another blisteringly hot day today in Cornwall, up at the crack of dawn (well 8am anyway) and after showers and breakfast set off to Truro. We were quite surprised by what we saw of Truro and would have liked time to explore the town a bit. As it happened we had 3 missions to complete 

1. Tesco, food shopping

2. Halfords, cleaning materials for Campy

3. Lakeland, bits and pieces for Campy

On the way out we saw a really big camping shop and couldn't resist going in for a look. we bought some aluminium framed baskets that we had been looking for and a Cornish 'Burgee' (Flag) Kevin collects them and has a full set of the alphabet and numbers and lots of country flags. One day he will actually get them up.

By now we are both hungry and as Trelssick Gardens was not too far away we headed off and parked up in the National Trust car park. By now the heat from the sun was amazing and touching 28 degrees. We had our Brie baguettes and headed off into the gardens.

According to the info, Trelissick gardens were started over one hundred years ago and the there are still a number of original huge trees and woodlands to see. There were also wide open park lands and spectacular views across the estuary that leads to Falmouth and on to the sea. There is a very nice country house but it is not open to the public.

We particularly enjoyed the woodland walk along the side of the water which was shady and cool. We got so carried away that we somehow left the Gardens and did a huge circuit what put us right back at Campy in the car park. Re-entering the Gardens we really had to start again and this time took proper note of the map. Here are a selection of the pictures we took. There were a lot more but too many to put on here.

Stephen took Campy and us on another of his cross country jaunts which took us on an a lovely route back to camp.  We arrived back at about 5pm and almost immediately a sea fog closed in on us and the temperature plummeted. still it was a welcome break from the heat of the day.

Another fantastic day.

Tate St Ives and the Hepworth

Tuesday 24 July

Yet another 'scorcher' of a day greeted us this morning, how lucky we feel for such fantastic weather. We are defiantly starting to look like we have been in the sun and Kev has a few sore spots to contend with and is looking a bit on the pink side, more 'slip slap slop' for him.

One of the reasons we came to St Ives in the first place was to visit Tate St Ives and to the Barbara Hepworth museum. Today was the day we realised that ambition. We walked the mile and a half to the railway station from our camp site and caught the 09.55hrs train to St Ives. Already the sun was amazingly hot, not a cloud to be seen in the sky. The train was much busier than last Friday with holiday makers making their way to the sun, sand and surf.

On arrival we made the now made our way along the familiar route from the Station to the opposite bay and the modern building that is Tate St Ives. On show was the huge paintings of ....... Katz. Not an artist we are too familiar with but nevertheless appreciated the scale of the works. As much as we enjoyed the work we were especially interested to see the room containing paintings by Nicholson and Wallis. The only thing we didn't like about the Gallery is the echo in the galleries. We had a party of school children being shown around and they sort of dominated the building. Shame really. We enjoyed coffee and cake at the roof cafe which was well worth the effort and the cost.

Having spent the morning at the gallery we then made our way down to the beach for lunch. We sat on a bench and watched the world do by whilst eating out cheese and cucumber Sandwiches.

After lunch we were walking back to find the Hepworth museum and came across this in the window of a potter's shop. Warwick could this be one of the missing statues?

The Barbara Hepworth museum was everything we had hoped for and loved it so much we had to go round twice. The gardens are simply lovely and very cleverly landscaped considering it's size. We enjoyed a short talk from a member of staff from the Tate and he showed sculptures whilst going through her life history up to her untimely death from a fire in her bedroom.

Here are a few pic's

To recover from all the standing we decided to sit a while in a park (Trewyn) however, to get to it we had to climb a 1 in 4 hill.....we certainly were ready for a break but the climb was defiantly worth it.

Real Cornish coast

Sunday 22 July

This morning we decided to go to Tesco as soon as we could (10am...) after we stocked our cupboards we took a lovely drive along the coast road heading west towards Hoyle. We were not disappointed as last we saw some real rugged Cornish coast, what views. We stopped near 'Devil's Hole' a huge hole cut into the rocks by the sea and walked along the South West Coast Path. We feel that we have walked most of this by now as we are always coming across it. The sea looked so beautiful and clear and the sun was so hot. After our walk we returned to Campy and had lunch.

It may seem a little mercenary, but today was the day our National Trust yearly pass has paid for itself (not bad in a couple of weeks). You only need to go to four places and it had paid for itself so in our book that represents very good value for money. So every Stately Pile, House, NT Car Park, Gardens etc is gratis free thank you very much.

Today took us to 'Terice House' This is what the website says about it.

Elizabethan manor house with fine interiors and delightful garden

An intimate Elizabethan manor and a Cornish gem, Trerice remains little changed by the advances in building fashions over the centuries, thanks to long periods under absentee owners.

Today the renowned stillness and tranquillity of Trerice is much prized by visitors.

This silence is occasionally pierced by curious lilts of Tudor music or shouts of excitement from the Bowling Green (surely you will want to try a game of Kayling or Slapcock?), bringing back some of the bustle and noise that must have typified its time as a busy manor house.

We really liked Terice, the drive there was a bit hairy as the roads were quite narrow but once there it was lovely and quiet not at all busy and we really enjoyed the beautiful gardens sitting for a while on a a stone bench to bask and enjoy the sun

As you can see some of the windows in the Great Hall are repaired. They are the original glass in the panes and have stood the test of time well until the advent of the Concord era. Apparently, every time it flew over it's sonic boom cracked another window. It brings up the image of at 9am every morning the staff would grab hold of what windows they could to try to protect them.

Petra texting Sam, to tell her she had fallen and hurt her ankle again.....Sam texting Petra at the same time to tell her Isaac had broken his collar bone.

A Day in....

Saturday 21st July

Easy day today staying at the camp site. We cleaned 'Campy' inside and out and put the 'Bus Shelter' up for the first time. We are really impressed with this very simple shade that took only seconds to put up. Finally, at the the request of Martin, here are some pictures of the inside of the van and our Bus Shelter.

Campy at night...