Oldies On Tour

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

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!!

.Friday 13th September 🤞🤞🤞

Today we are doing something touristy, we are heading to Par, and particularly Par Beach, near St Austell, by train!!   But first and to set us up for the day Christine excelled herself and we had a full-on English Breakfast, black pudding naturally🥰🥰.

We arrived at Newquay station with plenty of time to catch the train and even get a coffee before boarding but then we ran into a “wobble”.   Half the car park had been cordoned off as there were building works going on, so no space.  We turned around to head out and “lady-Luck” struck, someone was just leaving as we were about head out at the exit, result.   Then we had to pay, well naturally it was on the ‘phone but neither of us had this app so we had to go through the process of registering; the bottom line was we had to run to catch the train and missed out on our coffee!!!

It was a very pleasant 50-minute run from Newquay to Par, not a heritage line but a normal GWR service, so we could use one OAP travel cards.    The interesting thing is our return journey for two, was £8.50, no charge for the dogs: Our car park charge for 8-hrs was £10.70, how does that work!!!!

We arrived at Par Station (actually on time!!) and headed to Par Beach, just over half a mile away but en-route found a Football pitch to let Tom-Tom & Rosie stretch their legs, well charge about that is!!!, It turned out this football pitch was part of a much wider sports complex that supported a rather nice cafe, so later than planned we enjoyed hot drinks and again succumbed to more cake😡😡.

It is rather strange, everybody has heard of St. Austell, (Par’s PO address), but it turned out this “nondescript” small harbour “village” has a fully functioning GWR station that is one of the stops on the mainlines: “Paddington to Penzance” and “Cardiff to Penzance” rail routes and perhaps many more, not to mention the direct link to Newquay, so why I ask myself is this so; I did some research.

Surprisingly Par has quite a history.  This quiet fishing village came into prominence in the early 1800’s when a Fowey Businessman, Joseph Treffry, acquired a local copper mine in Par and to be able to export his copper he had to build the harbour.   The copper expanded but when it petered out, tin was also being mined, followed by china-clay, all being shipped out of Par harbour.   This same Joseph Treffry started to build a tramway to Newquay as at that time his copper was being sent to Swansea for processing, having to sail around the dangerous waters off Lands End.  Though he died before his tramway was completed, this was the start of the Newquay – Par railway line we used today, and due to the importance of Par, when the great western railway from London was built, it came via Par and still stops here.   Par harbour is now owned by English China Clay and is still in use.

After our coffee break we headed to Par beach; a pretty walk, firstly through some woods then over the sand dunes and into this large bay and as the tide was out, an enormous expanse of sand, the dogs were in heaven.

After a couple of hours enjoying a very pleasant walk along the beach in the sunshine with no wind we headed back towards the village.  TT & R continuously ran in and out of the sea, along the beach, chasing other dogs balls etc.  they never stopped; how do they do it???   There are three pubs to choose from in Par: the first one didn’t appeal as it was in amongst a row of houses but the second looked more interesting so in we went for a pint but being virtually empty, no atmosphere so didn’t stop for a second.

Heading back to the station we passed the same football pitch, but this time on the opposite side and unknown to us there was a stream there, in they went, one would have thought by now they would have been shattered but no, it was if this was their first run of the day.   The good news, being fresh water, it washed the sand/salt out of their coats.   Arrived back at the station but this time no running!!!   

Another pleasant train ride through the Cornish countryside arriving back in Newquay around 1700hrs then back to Rosie.

Today we had both done in excess of 10,000 steps, around 4,5-miles, quite the norm for Christine but a record for me for quite a considerable time thanks to my new knee, but we were knackered@!!!!   

A very touristy but really enjoyable came to an end with another early night

Thursday 12th September

After two enjoyable, boozy and late nights with Lee and Sarah, a gentle morning was called for, so after waving them off, we settled down for a quiet morning.   Apart from a few housekeeping chores and a dog walk it was soon lunchtime but the un-forecast rain kept coming.

We can’t stay in all day so after lunch headed out to the National Trust Trevose headland area where we could blow out the cobwebs and walk to the Trevose Lighthouse and later into Padstow for a cuppa.

The 4-mile journey took the best part of half an hour to accomplish through the narrow Cornish lanes, and the last 1/2 mile was speed bump after another speed bump; the lanes were so narrow with minimal passing places, I think so many speed bumps were rather “over-the-top”; [just saying!!!].  We were surprised by the number of holidaymakers around, but I suppose with the children back at school, retirees can come out and play!,

The car park was at the top of the cliff and didn’t we know it when we opened the doors, the wind!!!! Anyway, coats on, dogs out we trudged down the hill to the lighthouse.  Trevose Head Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1847 as a guide for vessels in the Bristol Channel, a lighthouse was first proposed for this area of the North Cornwall coast as early as 1809 there being no light at that time to guide ships trading in the Bristol Channel other than Longships Lighthouse to the south and the old Lundy Lighthouse to the north; obviously it couldn’t have been that urgent as it took the best part of 40 years to complete!!!    When we got down this hill we were disappointed as it was closed😡😡 so up we went again.  The dogs had a “ball”, the road had been cut out of the cliff and all of a sudden our two turned into mountain goats, up and down, up and down still they were happy and I got to practice walking up hill and Christine was happy I’m not on a scooter, win win all around!!!

Next we headed to Padstow and by now the wind had blown the clouds away and the sun was shining.   My-My Padstow on a sunny September afternoon, parking was a nightmare, we had to circumnavigate the town twice before we found a space in the enormous car park by the harbour and finished up at the far end; further to walk, but good for my new knee!!!!.

We wandered around the harbour and some of the old town and finished up in the “Cherry Blossom coffee house” for a cuppa and a nice, and an unusually very large slice of “calorie busting” cake, lovely-jubbly.

On our walk back to the car we had a good look into Rick Stein’s fish restaurant.

Back at the motorhome, what a beautiful sunny late afternoon, pity it is so cold otherwise we could have been outside and enjoyed a bar-b-q.

Due to being so knackered, this evening we just watched TV from the comfort of our beds, followed by an early night.