Oldies On Tour

Friday 20th September 2024

Again we awoke to sunshine beating down on us, lucky or what?   Today we are heading to East Pool Mine, a museum near Redruth but en-route we’ll visit Basset Monument, a world heritage site monument but no hurry.

After a leisurely breakfast we headed out, first stop Basset Monument, about half ‘n hour away but only 9-miles, Cornish lanes!!!

About a couple of miles away we spotted the monument high on a hill overlooking Cornwall, but the last mile was interesting; the narrow lane went one further, no tarmac just a hardcore surface with numerous potholes, naturally we questioned if we were on the right route, but carried on remembering the saying, “always trust your instruments”.

Finally arrived and first impression: my-my it is a big monument on top of a Carn Brea (hill) giving a 360 degree view, Overlooking both Camborne and Redruth and much of Cornwall reaching up to 738 feet above sea level.   The Basset Monument was  constructed in 1836 in memory of Francis Bassett, Lord de Dunstaville. The interior of the monument can be accessed by a gate, but locked!! The inside is hollow with a staircase leading up to a viewing platform (allegedly) I didn’t see the stairs as there is no lighting so maybe a torch is needed!!!!

The Bassetts where the most important mining family in the area and had lived in Tehidy for over 700 years. Francis Bassett was however the first to be elevated to the nobility due to his efforts to raise an army of miners to defend the port of Plymouth from the combined Spanish and French fleets.    Another legacy of the Bassett family is Carn Brea Castle, situated the other side of Carn Brea, all within walking distance of the car “ha-ha” park.    It is thought that it started out as an Elizabethan hunting lodge  though the building in its current form is a Victorian folly, and now it is a restaurant.   We walked up to look and hopefully have a coffee but unfortunately it was all closed up until 1830hrs.  

We had a good nose around and the dogs had a good time climbing the big boulders that were scattered around before heading to East Pool Mine, situated at the back of Morrisons Supermarket, about 10-minutes away.   It’s strange, everything is fairly close in mileage terms, but not in time, every trip seems to take “for-ages”.

After weaving our way around Morrisons carpark, there was the entrance to the mine, all locked up!!!   At this point I headed back into the store for personal issues whilst Christine looked up the opening times, before joining me in the cafe for a bacon bap, as it was  lunch time now.

The mine only opens by appointment, presumably for a party and a guided tour, so no visit today🥵🥵

We headed back to camp but decided to stop at one of the coves and let the dogs fly about the beach.   Unfortunately each cove we passed was teaming and all the car parks were full so we went back to base for an early dinner.  Later we headed back out to Weal Coates where the dogs and us had  fond farewell walk, home tomorrow😩😩

Saturday 21st September 2024

My my how the weather has changed, dull very, very grey skies and lots of rain, thank goodness we cleared the site last night; the skies are full of it!!!

No stopping in this miserable weather on the way home today but strangely when we got back to our neck of the woods, it had stopped and everywhere had brightened up, so much so we could empty Rosie in the dry; bonus, and return her to storage

Thursday 19th September 2024

We have nothing particularly planned for today, we are staying local as it is such a nice sunny morning.

Just a tiny bay we thought!

Around mid morning we decided to head down to Chapel Porth, our local beach knowing the tide will be out and the dogs can have a wale of a time.   Easier said than done, there was a sign at the top of the hill stating  the car park was full, so naturally we ignored this and drove down; no kidding, the car park was heaving, no doubt as the tide was out.    The decision was taken, Christine would get out and take the dogs and leave me to sort things out!!

I hung around the car park and eventually got my space, flashed my National Trust membership card and I was off to catch-up Christine on the beach, shouldn’t be too difficult as it is only a small cove.      After clambering over the small rocks and stones I was on the sandy beach and as I walked towards the sea I was “gobsmacked”;  tucked around the corner the beach opened up and it was enormous, probably a couple of miles long and a real hidden gem when the tide was in, so big I couldn’t see Christine or the dogs.    I headed on round the corner and eventually “clocked” two pooches charging around that had to be Tom-Tom and Rosie, soon after, and trailing, was Christine on her way back having been nearly to the end.   We now understood why the car park was so busy, a wonderful beach for sun worshipers, surfers and dogs not to mention walkers, who would have guessed this beach was here when we came down the other night at high tide.

Heading up the hill from the beach is a cottage with a couple of containers in the garden, all looks a bit “Steptoe & Son” but Wednesday to Saturday they sell fresh fish so we decided to have a look.   Inside the shop was quite different, a very modern fishmonger so was tempted and bought his last pot of fresh crab.

Back at base we sat down to an extremely fresh crab salad lunch, you could certainly taste the sea it was so fresh; just goes to show looks can be deceiving!!   Our snack lunch turned out to be a full meal!!!

About a mile away from this camp site is “Wheal Coates”, an old derelict tin/copper mine so headed over to take a look.   Again parking was National Trust, we must have re-cooped our annual fee to the N. T., in parking charges alone, we just flash our membership card and “hey presto” we gat a “fee paid” ticket for the car!!

Wheal Coates is only the dramatic ruins hanging on the edge of the cliffs, carpeted with heather and gorse and crisscrossed with narrow footpaths, but again the dogs were limited to charging up and down the paths, the gorse obviously hurts their feet!!!   We enjoyed the walk looking out to a bright blue sea with the sun beating down on us and no wind, idyllic.

Eventually we arrived back at site, dogs “panting for England” and we just collapsed into chairs, poured a couple of drinks and sat in the late afternoon sun, very contented.   Though the earlier part of this break was not blessed with sunshine, these last few days have made up for it.   Eventually our thoughts turned to dinner but as we had had such a big lunch, “grazing” was the decision.

After the sun went down with some spectacular sights in the sky, we went inside for a spot of tv and bed.   Tomorrow is our last full day 🥵🥵, just hope the weather holds again

Wednesday 18th September 2024

No rush this morning as we are staying local so decided to test out our recently repaired shower tray.  This site does not have a toilet or shower block so we showered in Rosie; not the most roomy of showers but adequate.

This morning we are heading to Godrevy where we understand this is where seals congregate on the rocks below the Cliff with their own “private” cove.

It was  another warm, sunny morning and our route went along the Cornish coastal lanes where every now and again we dropped down to a small cove, all busy with the last few visitors of the season and surfers of course.

National Trust own all this area where a number of car parks had been cut out of the heather and to our dismay nearly everyone was full; where are all these people coming from?   Having a small car is useful around these lanes and it also paid off in the car park; we managed to find one small slot by the entrance, result, mind you had we gone a bit farther we came across loads of parking!!!      We followed the crowd who led us to the cliff top overlooking the cove and rocks where the seals “hang out” though it was low tide and they were all spread about.   I have no doubt at high tide the few exposed rocks would be teaming with them, just unfortunate our few days didn’t match the tides!!!

It was lovely and warm day without a cloud in the sky and everywhere you can see are paths cross-crossing the heather so we followed one around the headland passing the Godrevy lighthouse situated on a small island off the coast.  

The walking in the sunshine was good but not so for the dogs, they had to be on their lead so we decided to drive further away from all this activity.  A couple of miles along the cliff, also National trust owned land we parked and the dogs had total freedom though this was limited as neither of them liked walking on the heather!!!, so back in the car and we headed to St. Agnes.

Whilst passing through St. Agnes a couple of years ago, we stopped at a rather “olde-worlde” boutique type cafe and enjoyed the food and atmosphere, so headed straight there.   Arriving around lunchtime we asked for a bacon bap, sorry run out of bacon so chose again.  We also noted the cake display cabinet was very bare and the place didn’t quite feel the same. Also the owner closed the cafe early, her reason was, she was too busy and needed time to get straight,What??  We then overheard she had sold the business and completion was imminent so naturally that was the reason for poor choices, she was “demob happy”.

We now headed down to the beach but it was impossible to park anywhere around so headed up to St. Agnes Head for a walk and take in the view a the bonus, we parked in an empty carpark so the dogs were away!!!    Up here there was also a coastguard lookout station so we went to have a look.   The coastguard chap on duty must have been bored as he welcomed us in and we chatted for about 10-minutes or so.  What I hadn’t realised is that all coastguard folk manning these lookouts around the country are all volunteers; you learn something every day.

With the dogs exhausted we headed back to “base camp” and being such a glorious evening, bar-b-q was the order of the day, again!!!

Tuesday 17th September 2024

Refreshed after a good night’s sleep and a quick breakfast we headed out.  Our destination today is “Pendennis Castle” near Falmouth, 18-miles away and another English Heritage site.    As all the major routes in this part of the world go east-west, going north-south means country lanes and side roads hence the 18-miles took nearly an hour!!!!

The car park to the castle was a 10 minute walk but fortunately nowhere as steep as the Tintagel walk!!!

The attraction of coming to Pendennis Castle for me is the history and its strategic defence uses over the centuries.   The original castle overlooking the mouth of the “River Fal” was an artillery fort built between 1540-1542 by King Henry VIII as part of the “King’s Defence’s ” to protect England against an invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, It was later expanded in the 1590’s to cater from the threat of the Spanish.   In 1627 New ramparts and ditch were added during the 30-year war that England was trying to influence!!!   During the English civil war it was a Royalist stronghold  but fell to Cromwell after a 5-month siege in 1646.   The site was further strengthen and modernised between 1732 – 1739 as a part of a strategic review of all coastal defences and  when the Napoleonic wars (1793 – 1815) came along, there were additional improvements including a fully manned garrison.    At the outbreak of WW1 Pendennis again became an important part of the British defence strategy and was manned accordingly.   When the second world was started the extended castle was again part of the strategic defence system but this time it encompassed the entire Falmouth area, as Falmouth was the first and only port accepting ships from neutral countries, the fear was it would be easy for Enemy agents to get into England.  I was fascinated by all this so it was my choice to do the visit.

Upon entering the castle over a dry moat and through the entrance with portcullis gate, past the guard house you arrive into an area with a very large, beautifully manicured lawn with buildings surrounding it.   The exhibition today is all about the castle during the First World War, shame as I prefer history from by-gone eras, still never mind as we had a very informative and enjoyable time whilst visiting and it was all in glorious sunshine.   Though this visit was more for me, Christine enjoyed wandering around the big open spaces, taking in the magnificent views of the river and estuary in the sunshine and where possible letting the dogs of the leads watching them charge about the place.     One can easily see why Pendennis castle has been so strategic during the centuries guarding the entrance to the river Fal and the docks in Falmouth.

After a very enjoyable visit with time to see everything and snatch a light lunch, we headed back to the car, and as we had plenty of time left we decided to head to Trelissick House, a national trust place the other side of the estuary.   This was Christine’s choice but Originally we were going to go to this house on a different day but having spare time, it made sense to do it whilst in the area.

Arriving at the National Trust, “Trelissick House” set in more than 400 acres, we headed in but o course, no dogs allowed in the house and gardens, so Christine went first whilst I waited “my turn”!!!!

This place is not one of the grand houses of England, no, it started out as a “bog standard” 4-bedroom farm house built in the early 1700’s but it has such a wonderful commanding view over the Fal river and Estuary that a wealthy chap called John Lawrence acquired the building and started to enlarge and upgrade the old house.  Several families have owned the house over the years and one Thomas Daniel, who inherited it had the front elevation completely changed by having Greek Porticos built; very impressive and though they face the river, this is not the main entrance, no that still remains at the side of the house.

During WW2, the house was commandeered by the US army 776th anti-aircraft artillery unit protecting Falmouth and also by the British army preparing for D day.   The house was gifted to the National Trust in 1955.

The inside of the house wasn’t very grand, but the garden and surrounding area and stunning views more than made up for that.   After we had both wandered around the house and gardens, we headed on one of their highlighted walks down to the private beach on the estuary; Christine and the dogs made it all the way where TT & R were soon in the water.   I went half-way down the hill but called it a day, the hike back up would have been a struggle at my stage of rehab, but just sitting in the sun, no wind and  thinking this is what we missed most about England during nearly 20-years living in Spain, today was “purfect”.    

After a thougfhrly enjoyable day, we headed back cross country to our camp site but made a quick stop at Tesco.

Tonight was a beautiful warm evening so a couple of cocktails as we bar-b-queued, the first one of our holidays and we enjoyed it, hence the “triple header”

Monday 16th September 2024

Up and away today after a “far-too-short-a-visit”, we’re now heading off to St. Agnes for the next few days and after breakfast we set about clearing up and stowing everything away.   The only minor issue is we have to be out of this site by 1100hrs and can’t get into St. Agnes site until 1400hrs and the journey only takes an hour!!!

Today is another bright and sunny morning, typical the day we are moving, so we managed to stretch the 1100hrs out which helped our timings a little and then decided to stop for an early lunch in a lay-by along the route.

Arriving at our next site was painless a little after 1400hrs and set up our pitch.  Because the forecast is for better weather we went the full-hog, groundsheet, wind break and set up the bar-b-q, hoping the appropriate weather to spend time outside.

With time running on we headed to the nearest beach, Chapel Porth, a small cove a 1.5 miles away but to our dismay, no beach, it was high tide!!!  Not too dismayed we went on the coastal footpath though we did have an ice cream which included clotted cream on top, scrumptious.  Not having a ball today the two pooches made the most of the steep banks and again turned into mountain goats though they did find a fresh water stream running down to the sea.

Back to our new campsite for dinner, a spot of tv and bed, we’re off to do some exploring tomorrow

Sunday 15th September 2024

Today our plan is to visit Tintagel and the castle, 22-miles to our north but through Cornish country lanes, about an hour away.

To set us up for the day Christine produced yet another “full English”; I hadn’t realised our fridge was so spacious with all the food being produced and we haven’t even been shopping!!!   

Fully replete and after a few chores, we set off through the Cornish lanes and arrived at Tintagel an hour later, found a car park that had just one space left; again the place was heaving.

A few days ago we decided to join English Heritage and Tintagel Castle is the first ancient monument we are visiting.  What we hadn’t realised is the position and more importantly the walk to get to it from the car park, this walk was certainly putting my new knee to the test,

deep-end stuff or what???  Just under a mile to walk down a “very” step hill, fortunately there are resting benches at regular intervals, a “must” for those walking up!!   Anyway we reached the entrance, not quite at the bottom and entered the remains of Tintagel Castle built by Richard, first Earl of Cornwall in the 13th Century the second son (spare!!) of King John.  This castle was built in a precarious outcrop, a small island standing out in the sea and joined by a narrow strip of land.  Of course the strip of land was eventually eroded away and today we only have the remains of the original walls accessed buy a modern cantilever bridge. 

  However there is a small natural harbour below and during the Middle Ages, it was busy trading with countries around the Mediterranean but especially with south Wales; Welsh coal for Cornish slate.  The exit from the remains on the island is down a very, vert steep staircase carved out of the rock, fortunately there is a strong bannister alongside to help the descent.  Upon exiting you walk over a more traditional wooden bridge to get to the exhibition building, shop and cafe where we indulged in a cream tea!!!!!

Whilst walking down the hill we noticed a couple of Land rovers heading back up full of people, ah we thought!!!   After out tea we headed up the road and there was the queue for the ride back and we joined it; probably the best £6 we spent, what a hill!!!  

Anyway back in Tintagel we headed to the “Old Post Office”, a grade 1 listed, old stone house dating back to 14th Century with a lovely garden at the back overlooking the countryside.  Over the centuries this building has been many things but the name that sticks is the Old Post Office.  It  was divided into several rooms all with big fireplaces and low beams to bang your head on!!!

The overriding theme of Tintagel is their association with the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table made famous by numerous writers and poets over the years. There are many references to the myth such as the “Merlin Arms”, the “Camelot Castle Hotel”,  the “King Arthur Cafe” and various other references to the myths and legend all of which has made Tintagel a tourist “hot-spot”; still we had an enjoyable visit.

The nearest beach to us is “Porthcothan” so headed there to give the dogs a good run round.  Yes they had been on the go most of the day ie no sleep but they had been on leads most of the time so it was a chance for them to have a run about.  He best bit of this beach is the fresh water lagoon at one end, an ideal place to wash the sea salt out of their coats after running in and out of the sea.

Back to Rosie for dinner after a very enjoyable day