Saturday 14th September.
Awoken by the dogs barking this morning, probably due to more people visiting the camp site as it’s the weekend. The good news is the sun was shining with hardly a cloud in the sky, and as we’re out this evening, no rush today, also being so nice and sunny, shorts are the order of the day.
After breakfast we headed to the dog friendly beach at Mawgan Porth. This pretty cove about 5-miles away from us has a large beach which allows dogs on it all year round, so expected to see numerous dogs chasing about!!!! This is also a favourite beach for surfers and includes a surf school and has a manned RNLI patrol vehicle parked at the waters edge, “just-in-case”.
Being the weekend there was more traffic to contend with in the narrow lanes, therefore it took longer to get there but in spite of this, the car park was reasonably empty when we arrived though there seemed to be far too many people meandering about for the cars parked!!!
Holding the pooches back as we walked to the beach was interesting, they were so excited all discipline had gone out of the window and the moment we hit the sand and released them, they were gone. The ball thrower went into overtime and still they came back for more, and more, and more, our arms were feeling it more than the dogs!!! Being a weekend and with reasonably warm sunshine, there were many families making the most of the beach, not to mention the number of dogs, all running in every direction, it was nice to see. We even found “that rock” we all want to sit on to admire the view whilst TT & R still kept running,
After an hour and a half we headed back to base for lunch but first Christine gave the dogs a shower, much to their disgust, but at least they will dry in the sunshine!!!
Our booking at Rick Stein’s seafood Restaurant in Padstow is early evening so a leisurely afternoon before getting ready to go out. We had already viewed the restaurant and decided shorts and tee shirt was not the right attire, so donned smart clothes and headed to Padstow. Again the place was buzzing and parking spaces were sparse but did find one right outside our venue; lucky or what? We were a little early so popped into the pub for a quick drink before entering the “posh” restaurant where we were immediately shown to our table and looked forward to an excellent experience.
Christine had originally booked a table here for a date in May as my birthday treat, but for several reasons we couldn’t come so she transferred the booking to tonight and now it’s my “belated” birthday treat, and I have had several months to look forward to it, we are finally here.
Drinks and appetisers of Oysters and Padrons on their way and then we set about studying the interesting menus. We could see why one has to book months in advance, it was extremely popular and their service was slick; as soon as a table became available it was cleaned up in seconds and ready for the next customer and just like magic, they appeared: there were a lot of staff about.
Being Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant, naturally we had fish: Crab and Scallops to start and a Dover Sole each, though cooked differently. Our efficient waitress was from Madrid so we had a bit of a laugh and got to practice some Spanish. When Christine booked, we were informed each booking is for a two hour slot but with their speed and efficiency this was more than sufficient, though we must confess we did not feel rushed at any point.
Feeling well satisfied Christine drove us home. Thank you Christine for a culinary delight that will stay in my mind forever.
Arriving back at the camp sight where the dogs went berserk, anyone would think we had left them for a week or so!!!. No night cap tonight as we had enjoyed superb wine and I had had several excellent large, and very dry martinis to start!!