Ice Cream and Chips

We started the day by heading to Roskilly’s, a working dairy farm and cafe! Before we got as far as the ice cream we had a look around the farm. The first piece of entertainment occurred almost as soon as we got out of the car, as a goat we were looking at casually jumped the fence keeping it in. It stood happily grazing just outside its enclosure as if to say “because I can”. We went into the cafe to let someone know, and upon reporting the goat’s antics were told that it was a regular occurrence and someone would come around and stick it back behind its fence soon. We were also asked if we would like a goat.

We moved on to the chickens and other fowl, and clearly inspired similar thoughts of escape. These fancy chickens lined up along the fence to pose for us.

We went back down to the cafe and had some delicious ice cream outside in the sunshine. There weren’t many people around, but it was nice that the place was open given it’s November. After we’d finished, it was back in the car.

I snapped a quick picture of Goonhilly as we went by. The huge satellite dishes just appear over the brow of a hill – very impressive.

The next stop was Perranporth. Perranporth is named for the patron saint of Cornwall, St Piran, who apparently arrived here from Ireland. It’s a popular seaside holiday destination because of it’s beautiful beach. Something about the place rung a bell for me…

There was another reason for visiting Perranporth, as if you needed one. Pieces of Lego have been washing up on Cornish beaches for a long time, and I had read about this recently in a BBC news article. It would be interesting to find some Lego washed up here.

We walked along the beach for a while and had a quick hunt around the more stony areas but to no avail. But what a gorgeous beach! It was when I saw these pools that I was certain – I came on holiday here when I was about eight.

By this stage I’m really starting to think that Jon’s stories of Cornish bad weather are purely a fabrication.

We left the beach to go on a hunt for fish and chips – an ultimately fruitless search! Lots of cafes and chippies about, but none of them open when we were hungry. Happily, we managed to get our hands on some when we got to Truro, and they disappeared very quickly when we got back to Jon’s.

Moonrock and Geocache 114

Jon had mentioned that parts of Cornwall look like the Moon from above, and sure enough if you look at satellite images, you can see vast expanses of white with the odd bright blue/teal lake scattered around. Who would turn down a trip to the Moon?

I can’t take credit for the first picture below – it has been borrowed from Wikipedia – click on the picture to go to the article about St Dennis. This image shows St Dennis parish church in the centre on a hill, surrounded by trees. You can also see the modern houses of the village of St Dennis. The two pointed hills near the top right of the image, and the strangely coloured lake, are the result of china clay mining in the area, which supported the village.

I’m getting ahead of myself. We started the day not on the moon, but on top of the hill by St Dennis Parish church, pictured below. We walked around the church yard and Jon spotted a headstone dedicated to a Mr Kent – a clue for a geocache but we couldn’t find the cache itself. The hill provided a fantastic view of the area.

We came down from the church and parked in the village. It was fairly quiet – let’s just say it is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone. We headed off up the path towards the two big heaps. It wasn’t far into the climb before my boots were smeared with plenty of wet white clay. We dodged the biggest puddles and somehow avoided most of the mud to discover this alien landscape. The weather was quite changeable and damp, and the strange light led to some quite unearthly colours.

As we walked around the lake there was another fruitless geocache search, and we met a nice dog who quickly detected where we’d stored our sandwiches. The odd works vehicle rumbled by on the road. The hill below looks a bit less moonlike, but still far too pointy!

Elsewhere on the tops we came across some rare Cornish Mangroves, complete with water lillies. You can see a pointy hill in the background too. I’m really not sure what exactly the landscape is going for here. I think it has just picked all of its favourite things and combined them.

We came out of the other side of the moonscape onto a road, and walked alongside it when what should appear but a geocache! Water Hole (GC4FFK0) was a nano cache right on our walking route, and didn’t take too long to fish out.

We eventually ended up back in civilisation – can you spot the Cornish flag?

Next up was the village of Roche – pronounced to rhyme with coach. I thought that it seemed like quite a French name for a place in Cornwall, especially if that place had a big rock in it. So why did we go to Roche? There’s a very cool big rock there. And on top of the rock, there is a ruined chapel.

A very muddy path led up to the base of the rock, and we avoided most of the puddles again to get to the foot of this ladder. We climbed right up to the top for a lovely view of… well, Roche.

Jon bravely ventured outside of the chapel walls on the top, but I stayed by a doorway and tried not to think about the wind and the drop… It’s a very dramatic place to put a building, and was made even more so by the wind and drizzle.

That was a really fun way to get mucky boots.

Postcards from Cornwall and Geocache 113

I was lucky enough to receive some invitations from some friends to go and spend some time in the far and distant (and opposite from the North East in every way) South West of England. First stop – Cornwall!

I almost missed the train because of a silly fault with the Metro, but happily I’d set off far too early and made it! The train took around nine hours (no changes until Plymouth when the train withdrew itself from service…)

After a warm welcome from Jon and his family and a good sleep, the next day we headed off out. First stop, St Ives.

Now as someone who has always had the sea firmly under control “in the East”, the geography of St Ives struck me as all wrong. You’ll see what I mean in the next picture. See those two beaches? I don’t even know what direction anything is in any more.

However if you do look at just one of the beaches it is very pretty. Jon had promised rain! Would you think this is November? So pretty. Just be careful not to share this with too many people – Cornwall has completely escaped tourists so far and I don’t want to be accused of starting anything.

We stopped off briefly by the Tate, which I had not expected to find in St Ives. I assume it was also on holiday. By the time we got back to the car, it did rain a bit!

Along the road we paused at this old engine house which was part of the old Giew mine works. Jon told me about one-legged stools. I had a suspicion that this would be a good place for a geocache, so after we looked around the building I checked my phone and I was right! A jar of fruit (GC41YFZ) was hidden nearby. It was a quick find, and my first in the south. I dropped off a travel bug too as it was a huge container.

Back on the road, we drove through Newlyn via Penzance. As we drove in we saw the weird Penzance rail station, where all the main lines literally stop. You’d think they’d run out of country. In Newlyn we had some fish and chips and made a friend.

In the far background of the picture above you can see St Michael’s Mount, which is very similar to Mont Saint Michel off the Normandy coast. You can get to the island via a causeway at low tide.

The next stop was Mousehole, a very picturesque village with a tiny harbour, with an even tinier gap for you to bring your boat through.

The lights along the coast are maintained entirely by volunteers, and donations are collected for the upkeep of the lights and for charity.

Could this be the West coast of Scotland?

Mousehole also has a plaque to the last recorded native speaker of Cornish, Dolly Pentreath, who lived there.

We drove back up to Penzance and had a quick drink at the Admiral Benbow, which wins the prize for the most idiosyncratically decorated pub I’ve ever been in. It’s spectacular inside! You can see some pictures inside here. We were shown around upstairs too. It’s definitely worthwhile dropping in.