Wednesday 11th September
Surprise surprise; not too early we opened The curtains and no rain with some hints of blue sky, that’s better.
After breakfast Sarah came over with her 3-Labradors and the two of them headed out for their morning dog walk, during which we learnt Tom-Tom and Rosie like blackberries as well the Labradors, apparently they were hoovering them up along the hedgerows as they walked.
Though they are down in Cornwall in their motorhome, Lee is actually working; a new meaning to the phrase “working from home” so Sarah joined us and we headed to Newquay. Again, we brought our car with us so we can get around, just as well as we are in a very isolated part of Cornwall.
Arriving in Newquay late morning with the sun shining we found a parking slot in a side street; lucky or what; reasonably close to the beach. Always a challenge to find somewhere to park for free and with no time limit, wow!!!
The three of us with TT & R headed down to the beach. The quickest way was down steep steps but though I have a new knee, it still isn’t up to loads of steps so we carried walking along the promenade high above the beach until we found the road down; naturally the other end!! Fortunately being September, dogs are allowed to run free on this lovely sandy beach, and they did, with the wind up their tails they were in and out of the sea, running around in great big circles and playing with other dogs; a lovely sight to behold. We on the other hand meandered along the beach watching the surfers and enjoying the blue skies and sun beating down on us, only spoilt by a cold northerly wind whistling around our ears.
One challenge we set ourselves for today apart from going on a beach, was to have a Cornish pastie and low and behold there was a bakery at the top of the beach selling them. The bakery turned out to be a hut and the only seats available were outside but fortunately this seating arrangement was in the lee of the cliff so we were fairly well sheltered whilst we all enjoyed rather nice Cornish pasties, hot drinks and freshly baked donuts cooked to order. With all the “beach–running” TT & R did, they were very happy to lay down!!!
Christine wasn’t too sure if she had been to Newquay before, but for Sarah it was a nostalgic visit, she used to come here as a child.
Back up the steep road and we headed into town, now a pedestrian only area and we were surprised just how many tourists were still about. Oh yes, we also noted nearly every second shop sold pasties; we didn’t have to rush to get them!!!!
After a very pleasant day we headed back to the car and yes still where we left it and no parking ticket was a bonus, as one never knows if there are restrictions bearing in mind the numerous official car parks charging extortionate amounts for the privilege.
On the return journey we stopped at Mawgan Porth Beach, a small haven with a clear expanse of sand where dogs are welcome all year round. Unfortunately this place was heaving and parking was a nightmare so I dropped the girls and dogs off to head to the beach, agreed a time for collection and I headed into the countryside to wait in the car. When we met back up, the dogs were soaking and covered in sand; they certainly had another good time and where do they get their energy from??? At least they will be asleep when we leave them in the motorhome for a couple of hours tonight as we are heading out to celebrate Sarah.s birthday.
Showered, shaved a changed we met up at the appointed hour and headed off to Padstow, Lee had booked a table at a restaurant with the strangest of names, “Prawn on the Lawn” (link below). Again we were amazed how busy Padstow was, the car park was heaving, still we found a place and being early walked into the first pub we came across, the “Old Custom House”, a very old building turned into a pub.
We strolled up into the old part and entered the restaurant, hmmm interesting and extremely busy; apparently you only get a two hour table booking slot due to its size and popularity. Being Sarah’s birthday Lee had set everything up and soon after arrival a bottle of champagne with fresh oysters arrived to kick things off, though Christine exchanged her oysters for huge tiger prawns. When the four of us go out we don’t do “conventional”, ie starter, main and desert, no, each of us select a starter and have them delivered to the table one at a time, tonight we kept up the tradition, but with “Prawn” in the name of the restaurant, everything we ate was out of the sea. The courses kept coming, scallops, tuna, mackerel, crab, etc., but all cooked in different herbs and spices, every flavour different, quite “a-mazing”, and as a finally we shared a whole turbot, cooked to perfection on the bone and filleted by Lee at the table, wonderful; me-thinks we will be back again!!! Copious amounts of excellent New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region accompanied our food and a “finale” of local Cornish ice cream with a “twist”, and I the time honoured tradition we were the last people to leave the restaurant.
Christine drove us home and we all finished up in Rosie for a night-cat.
Thank you both for a well organised and thoroughly enjoyable evening and honoured to be invited to help you celebrate your birthday, Sarah. It’s a shame you have to leave tomorrow morning just as things were getting interesting!!!
The best thing about our feast, being all fish we didn’t have a problem getting to sleep, had we had meat, it would have been a different story.
** prawnonthelawn.com Highly recommended