Helston to Heathrow

We have had a lovely two weeks staying with Faye, Paul, Dan and Livvy - great to see them all so happy and Dan and Livvy doing so well. A highlight this time was going to Fayes 'Military Wives' choir practice - they sound amazing and have a wonderful teacher - so good that they recorded the backing for a singer/songwriter this week with only one practice!

 

Faye, Dan, Len, Liv & Paul

We left Helston on Sunday with us needing to return the rental car to Heathrow and be at Euston Station on Tuesday morning for our train trip up to Whitehaven. We stayed the night in the City Lodge Hotel in Yeovil , a nicer town than we expected and made more attractive by all the beautiful huge baskets of hanging flowers. The hotel was right in town so very handy to lots of eating places although we chose to have both dinner and breakfast at Wetherspoons, a chain pub/restaurant where the meals are so cheap by NZ standards. On Sunday night we both had a nice roast dinner (beef and a big beer for Len and pork and a glass of wine for me) for under £9, ie less than $18 for both meals and drinks!! We returned there for breakfast - full English for Len and porridge for me - another good deal!

 

Our Yeovil accomodation

After driving from Yeovil to Heathrow area we stayed in little cheap lodgings (but not as cheap and no comparison to the Premier Inn where we had stayed on our arrival into London on an extra-special deal!) called the Heathrow Inn. It was very very basic but clean enough and the receptionist and Indian owners were friendly and welcoming. When we walked down to the shops we thought for a minute that we actually WERE in India - that was just until we saw the big red double-decker buses! So of course that night we had to eat in the nice but wierdly decorated Indian restaurant a few doors down. On chatting to the waiter we found that he has a brother living in Katikati! (about half an hour from where we live). 

Good authentic Punjabi food to be had here! 

This is the second person we have met here who has a brother in Katikati.

The other was Tom, one of Matt and Annas friends at the wedding, who has a brother working on a pig farm there!!

It is truly a small, small world!!

Helston 4

Later this week we drove to Perranporth, yet another seaside holiday village on the Cornish coast and did the 4 hour return walk to Holywell which is on the way to Newquay. It was low tide and I think it has the widest beach of any I have seen when the tide is out - a long way to walk for a swim but because it WAS low tide we were able to do half the walk along the beach, an easier walk than the path through the sand dunes. The beaches here are always very colourful with stripey windbreaks, mallets for hammering them in and tents being almost mandatory for a day on the beach!

Perranporth popular end & quiet end above

Holywell beach is also wide with a fresh water stream running into it on a sweeping curve - we didn't go into the little settlement but ate our lunch on the beach before doing the return trip. We had a little time to fill in before watching Dan trial in Truro for the Under 16 Cornwall County rugby team so we popped into our favourite Truro Pub for a quick beer beforehand. We love the atmosphere of the character-filled old Pub with its dark low beams, coasters on the ceilings, large beer barrels, the free peanuts in their shells and all the husks lying on the floor.

The Truro pub

Dan played well in his trial so we think he has a good chance of being selected!

Our time at Faye & Pauls is quickly coming to an end as we leave for London and then the far north tomorrow so yesterday we did all the things special to Cornwall that we haven't yet done this time! This started with a Cornish cream tea at beautiful Kynance Cove where we did a little walk along the coastal path before and after, a Cornish Pasty for a late lunch with this being followed by a Spingo beer at The Blue Anchor in Helston which has been brewing beers for 600 years! and comes up on the internet as the top tourist attraction in Helston. There are always some characters in there who love chatting to you! (Apart from the presence of some old ghosts who can apparently chat at times too!)

Cream T? ....Y not!

Some rain today and a cooling of the air so I think the long English summer is coming to an end.

Helston 3

This second week in Cornwall has absolutely flown - Dan, Livvy and Faye all went back to school on Wednesday and Paul is now home, his new job having been relocated to Helston which is great.

Substantial bridge at Poltesco

On Monday morning Faye dropped us back to the tiny fishing village of Cadgwith so we could continue our Coastal Path walk on to Coverack. It was another lovely calm sunny day and there was lots to see on this 4 hour walk along the clifftops and down to the odd beach such as Kennack Sands and Downas Cove, past Serpentine rocks and alongside a 9 hole golf course at Thorny Cliff. The Wednesday prior a French fishing boat had ended up on the rocks at high tide and they were still trying to float it off when we walked past. Lots of oil had leaked into the sea but they had apparently managed to hoover most of it up. Other memorable things we saw on this walk was the bearded man in the full black skirt, lots of blackberries and sloes (which Len's dad, Wils, made sloe gin from last year at the age of 92!) apple trees and of course the beautiful rugged coast-line.

Looking over towards the grounded fishing boat

Coverack is a quiet, little seaside village where we soon found a nice beer at the Bay Hotel, overlooking the sea, while we waited for the bus to take us back to Helston.

The watering hole at Coverack

Tuesday we all went to Praa Sands for a lie on the beach and a swim - the water temperature here is about 16 -17° at the moment, so a little cold to get in but fine once you're under! The waves are tiny at the moment but we managed to body-surf some gentle ones - I'm just missing that "whooosh" that you get when a good wave catches you!

Helston 2

The second half of the first week in Helston we walked along the south west coastal path from Lizard Point to Cadgwith and return via Lizard village, the round trip taking us about 4 hours. The walk takes you past the southernmost point of England which is just along the coast from Lizard and as with the whole coastal path has great scenery with spectacular views of the rugged coastline.

View towards Lizard Point

Cute Cadgwith 

Cadgwith itself is a tiny quaint fishing village with lots of boats, a fish market, 2-3 cafes where crab sandwiches are popular, and a couple of local crafty gift shops. We enjoyed our picnic lunch and an expensive, small Kelly's Cornish icecream here.

"Blackiting" in Helston

Today we have visited the large local museum, been blackberrying and sampled Livvy's delicious "icecream sundae" cupcakes!

Liv's cupcakes - yummmmm!

Helston 1

Me, T & Livvy with torches @ Porthleven

We'll be in Helston with Faye and Paul for a couple of weeks altogether and already a week has flown by. The weather is holding up well at around 20° in the day and 15° at night and we have only needed summer clothes but I'm sure the other half of my suitcase will get some use when we get to Whitehaven!

Me, Faye & Paul @ Porthleven beach

I'll try and let the pictures do the talking with just an outline of what we have been doing! The first half of the week we enjoyed a walk along the beach and in the village of Porthleven, walked through Penrose estate from Helston to Porthleven, lay on the beach and swam at Poldhu Cove, participated in the torchlight parade at Porthleven to raise money for the Hospice and window-shopped in Truro.

T catches a wave at Poldhu!

Post swim @ Poldhu

Polperro to Helston

Polperro, a smaller seaside village just 4 or 5 miles down the road was also bustling with tourists although there is no beach to speak of here - just a harbour inlet with boats on the dry with it still being low tide. Quaint little shops and holiday houses drawing in the crowds and you can understand why as these villages have such charm. From there we ended up on one of those very narrow, windy, one lane country roads where you spend quite a bit of time backing up. It was a relief to eventually join a slightly wider lane which led to Bodinnick and the car ferry to Fowey. Our "short-cut" had worked out after all!

Cheers from Polpero!

We have been to Fowey and the towns between there and Helston, where Faye and Paul live, before so there was no need to stop anywhere else until we got to Truro at 6.30pm. By this time we were hungry so we has a lovely Thai "earlybird" special at the only unreserved table at a restaurant whose name we can't remember. Then it was just a short skip and a hop to Helston - lovely to see Faye, Paul, Dan (who at 15 is now taller than Len) and Livvy (who at 13 is now as tall as me)!

Having a busy time in Helston!

Plymouth to Looe

The Elfordleigh Country Club Hotel was a pleasant place to stay being set in the countryside with an 18 hole golf course surrounding it, and with gym, swimming and sauna facilities. It was tempting to book in for a round of golf which at 30 pounds each wasn't that expensive by English standards but they are very particular about the correct dress and not having golf shoes with us meant we wouldn't have been allowed on the course, so that was a good saving!

Our bed was narrow, being less than the width of a double but luckily we are little people. We weren't expecting much from the hotel restaurant being the only ones there at 7.30 and having been told that we would need to book as it can get busy. However a couple of groups arrived about 8.00 making it not quite so quiet and we were impressed with the meals, especially the beautifully prepared veges such as the stuffed courgette cylinder. The breakfast was also nice and too big!

Waiting for the armada!

From Plympton we followed our tablet map into The Hoe at Plymouth from where you get great views out over the harbour and there is an observation "Eye" as in London for views out over the city, rivers and sea. I'm not one for views from a height but we took the plunge never-the-less and did the 4 circles - not too bad apart from when it stopped for ages at the top and the wind was swaying it back and forward! Very reasonably priced at 5 pound 50 for old age pensioners!

2 pubs and a giant!

Saltash was the next stop as we have often seen the Pub with the big Union Jack painted over the entire front and end from the train so we decided it needed closer exploration even though it was a big hill to go down and climb back up.

A  Looe with a view!

We found all the holiday makers at Looe a very popular beach side resort with historic quaint shops along very narrow wiggly lanes, quite a nice beach although there was a little wind chill getting up by the time we got there, and a river with lots of beached boats and green "sea lettuce" being low tide. It is a very picturesque little spot however which would be even prettier at high tide.