UK/Ireland/France holiday, 2009

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(Week 4) Sunday 30 August 2009
A quiet day today. We left Usk and the pink hotel this morning, and braved the Motorways. First we were crossing the Severn by the first bridge, then trying to negotiate the M48 interchange to reach the M5. The bridge was enormous, and we were fortunate there was no toll for us heading East. First stop was at the Cribb's Causeway Shopping Centre. Not the biggest I have seen, but there was heaps to look at.

In the afternoon, we met Mary, a family history friend I missed meeting on my last trip to England. A nice afternoon tea at a specialist cider farm. Not far then to our b&b in Woolavington. This is the first private residence of the trip, and the hosts are very welcoming.

(Week 4) Monday 31 August 2009
We left the b&b after 9:00am today - we are getting up later and later as we go further into our trip. Drove to Wells first, mainly to see the cathedral. Drove through the curiously named village of Street, where Clarke's shoes have their headquarters. It is also where they shut half of their manufacturing plant and created a whole village of 'seconds' shops. It was hard to drive on.

Arrived at Wells about 10:30am and found a park easily. Went up the High Street to the Cathedral, and were just in time to join a tour of the building. It was extraordinarily informative and lasted an hour. We were shown their clock, the second oldest Cathedral clock in England. It comes to life on the hour. Finished by spending in their shop, and having lunch in the cafeteria.

We then drove to Dunster and Minehead. I had some misgivings about this because it was still the Bank Holiday long weekend, and they have a Butlins here. We went into Dunster first, through the narrow and historic main street, and found our way to the cemetery. My grant grandparents Squire were buried here, and I must say they had the brightest and best looking headstone in the cemetery. My Uncle Wally (also a descendent) must have had it restored on one or more occasions. We went back to the village and had a quick wander before continuing to Minehead. So far, the crowds were ok. We stopped to have a look at the Squire's cottage again (the one on my Home page, and then drove to the Esplanade of the town. Again, the crowds were ok for late on the Monday.

It was nearly 5:00pm by this time so we headed down to Devon and Bickleigh Castle. Yes, we are staying in a real Castle complex tonight - more tomorrow.

(Week 4) Tuesday 1 September 2009
We woke up to the view of a Castle turret outside the window. We were the only guests last night, and the owners were having a few days holiday in Cornwall. Our stand-in host would have been close to 90 years, but luckily he had staff to help with breakfast etc. The grounds manager/curator showed us around after breakfast, and we could see the rooms of the remaining part of the early buildings and the twelfth century Norman chapel. We left rather late today because I had to go to a separate building for internet access. Finally feft about 10:30am.

Stopped briefly at Launceston, and then Bodmin for a late lunch and wander around this more substantial town. We saw a nice looking parish church, and another operating steam railway. We finally found our St Austell accommodation, but had too ring the host because we could not find the place. We actually stopped in the right street with a sign next to us, but did not read it properly. Staying here for four nights. Smallish private house but a nice host and our room was spacious.

(Week 4) Wednesday 2 September 2009
Breakfast is not till 8:30 here, so we slept in a bit longer. First we went in to St Austell town centre and had a look around. Another parish church, observed the chaos of town renewal, although it may destroy the 'oldness' of the place, and looked at yet more shops. These towns have several op shops each, and they all seem very busy.

We drove to Truro, about 30 minutes distant, in pouring rain by now, to meet Pam's friend for a coffee. We rang and arranged the rendezvous, and arrived at the coffee lounge a bit damp. We chatted for about an hour, and then ran in heavy rain the the cathedral. This one is narrow but quite high, and was very different. It felt warm and in good condition, without being overwhelming. Lots of galleries in the upper reaches to speculate about hidden passages and access routes. Lots of shops too, to see while getting wetter and wetter.

It was only about 4pm when we got back to the car, and we decided to drive down to the port town of Falmouth. The harbour was huge, but parking was difficult. We walked around the northern park for a while, and then tried to drive through the narrow streets to get to the other point of the western side. Some great views of docks, houses, cliffs and beaches.

We were rather late getting back to St Austell, but spied a massive railway viaduct as we detoured through town to find something to eat. Drove to it and found ourselves on a narrow winding road heading into the hinterland. With no turning points, we kept going, and about 5 miles later, found a connecting road that headed back to town. On the way we found a pub in the middle of nowhere and stopped fro tea. Very nice for a pub meal.

(Week 4) Thursday 3 September 2009
First up we headed to the gardens at the Eden Project. We had read a bit but were unprepared for the scale of the place. It was built in a disused China clay pit, and the 'before' photos were alarming. On arrival we were confronted with huge steel and plastic domes looking like golf balls half buried in the ground. There were open air gardens, landscaping and a large education focus for school groups etc.

First was the tropical biosphere. We were in there for 45+ minutes, and it really felt like we were in Singapore - it was so steamy and hot. A cool drink later and we entered the Mediterranean domes. Much cooler and much more crowded. We spent about three hours here, but it was raining enough to make it hard to see all the gardens.

Then we went to Charlestown, the seaport for St. Austell. There were two tall ships in the harbour, protected by sea gates while the tide was out. There was also a shipwreck museum which we visited. The museum also used tunnels which were dug last century to transport china clay to the port below. The remaining stop was The Lost Gardens of Heligan, where the gardens had been abandoned for nearly 100 years before being 'found' again some 20 years ago. We arrived a bit late to see the forest and more distant areas, but got a feel for what was there and how it came to be abandoned in the early 1900's. Found our way back to our accommodation, and started to learn the shortcuts around the town. On the way back, we drive down this narrow road.

(Week 4) Friday 4 September 2009
Today it was time to head towards the pointy end of Cornwall. First stop was to be St Michael's Mount, close to Penzance. Tides were perfect to walk both ways, although there was a howling gale blowing. We walked over to the island, bought our tickets, and headed up to the top to see the Castle. To be honest, we thought the property interesting, but not a highlight. It had a great chapel within the structure, but I was happy to come down the hill, out of the wind. We decided not to visit the gardens because of the wind, and it was not at its best anyway. We had lunch on the island before crossing back to the mainland. The tide was already rising, and we we were able to walk back but it closed about 30 minutes later. After that, the boats started ferrying visitors.

Then we went to Sennen Cove, just north of Land's End. We were recommended this by a couple we met at the b&b in St austell. A pretty village , but too wet and windy to risk the 1 mile walk to Land's End. We drove to the gates of Land's end, but knew there was too much commercialism inside. We continued south around the coast and came to the village of Porthcurnow. We discovered this was one of the main undersea cable landing beaches for the U.K. We visited to obligatory Museum in the town and saw the history of early telegraphy and Morse code. In WW2 they created underground tunnels for sending and receiving code over the cables, and we saw extensive exhibits in these tunnels. A most unexpected find. We also visited the Minack Open Air Theatre created in the side of a cliff face. There were two performances today so access was limited. We returned back to our accommodation via Penzance to see the high tide and no causeway. Fish (Cod) and chips for tea tonight.

(Week 4) Saturday 5 September 2009
We packed up from St Austell today, and headed to St Ives. We knew parking would be a problem, so we used the rail Park and Ride at Lelant for the last four miles or so. Two diesel railcars, but comfortable with great views. Arrived at the St Ives station with views over white sandy beaches - just about the first we have seen. No wonder it is a favoured spot. We walked to narrow and winding streets with thousands of other people, and looked in many touristy shops. We went in the museum but gave Tate a miss. We stayed till nearly 4:00pm.

We were told to visit 'Just', and we assumed that meant St Just. Just another tiny village with narrow streets and no shops to speak of, but it lead us on tho Cape Cornwall. This was a pleasant carpark with nice views out to sea, and close enough to the most westerly point of England. We drove to nice accommodation near Redruth, although we did not stop in the town to look around. We are now (sadly) starting to head East to return the car on Wednesday.

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