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Cornwall once again, day 1
Aug. 20th, 2018 10:00 pmThese are being written up a couple of weeksmonths later due to laptop fail and procrastination - the posts are backdated to the actual dates.
Work's holiday year ends in August, and for various reasons I had a week or so of holiday that needed using up. So the idea was to find an interesting place and go there for the week. I wasn't actually thinking of Cornwall - if nothing else, I'd been there less than a month before to visit![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pleaseremove - but as part of searching for a holiday cottage or something I stuck the dates into the English Heritage site and the very first result was the Custodian's House, complete with 20% discount for last-minute booking! I should really find new places to visit... but I'm glad I went back, as I had a great time.
Unusually I also chose to drive down rather than get the train. The theory was that driving should be about an hour quicker, would allow me to stop off somewhere interesting on the way there, and let me visit places that are not really accessible by public transport. In practice... thanks to the A35 it took me 7 hours to get there instead of the 5 hours it should have. Seriously - the A35 was full of traffic jams, slow moving holiday traffic, tractors, people slowly overtaking said tractors, and then an accident somewhere on the approach to Honiton completely closed the road for several hours. I'd planned to stop off at Buckfast Abbey for lunch, but didn't managed to get there until 2:30pm. Fortunately they still had a few sandwiches left.
The Abbey brought back memories - on the family trips to Cornwall, we'd always set off before the crack of dawn and stop somewhere en route for a late breakfast. In earlier years this would be a Happy Eater somewhere-or-other (there were I think 2 different ones we used?), but later on the parents came across the Abbey and that became our breakfast stop. I remember one year we arrived before the restaurant officially opened, but the staff were kind enough to let us in early.
( Buckfast Abbey photos )
Anyway, after that mess the journey was much better and it was pretty much plainsailingdriving all the way up to and inside Pendennis Castle. I didn't expect that I'd actually be parking inside the castle grounds, but managed to squeeze the Alfa through the gateway without leaving any paint behind on the stonework! Then again, they do fit vans through the gateway (the drivers apparently tuck their wing mirrors in and then just gun it).
After unpacking I wandered down to the high street, partially in search of supper (fish and chips from what claimed to be "The Best Fish & Chips in Falmouth") and partially just to explore. It's fun seeing what's changed over the years and what's stayed the same.
( Falmouth photos )
Work's holiday year ends in August, and for various reasons I had a week or so of holiday that needed using up. So the idea was to find an interesting place and go there for the week. I wasn't actually thinking of Cornwall - if nothing else, I'd been there less than a month before to visit
pleaseremove - but as part of searching for a holiday cottage or something I stuck the dates into the English Heritage site and the very first result was the Custodian's House, complete with 20% discount for last-minute booking! I should really find new places to visit... but I'm glad I went back, as I had a great time.Unusually I also chose to drive down rather than get the train. The theory was that driving should be about an hour quicker, would allow me to stop off somewhere interesting on the way there, and let me visit places that are not really accessible by public transport. In practice... thanks to the A35 it took me 7 hours to get there instead of the 5 hours it should have. Seriously - the A35 was full of traffic jams, slow moving holiday traffic, tractors, people slowly overtaking said tractors, and then an accident somewhere on the approach to Honiton completely closed the road for several hours. I'd planned to stop off at Buckfast Abbey for lunch, but didn't managed to get there until 2:30pm. Fortunately they still had a few sandwiches left.
The Abbey brought back memories - on the family trips to Cornwall, we'd always set off before the crack of dawn and stop somewhere en route for a late breakfast. In earlier years this would be a Happy Eater somewhere-or-other (there were I think 2 different ones we used?), but later on the parents came across the Abbey and that became our breakfast stop. I remember one year we arrived before the restaurant officially opened, but the staff were kind enough to let us in early.
( Buckfast Abbey photos )
Anyway, after that mess the journey was much better and it was pretty much plain
After unpacking I wandered down to the high street, partially in search of supper (fish and chips from what claimed to be "The Best Fish & Chips in Falmouth") and partially just to explore. It's fun seeing what's changed over the years and what's stayed the same.
( Falmouth photos )
After that we wandered up to the re-enactment just in time to see the loyal forces of King Richard get routed by the rebels of Henry Tudor. We spent a bit of time pottering around the camps, discovering a mad monk jeweller (with amongst other wares a sterling silver arrow necklace for sale - "good against very small werewolves"). Next we encountered a pair of soldiers clanking around in plate armour, to which 
