Weekend at Cornwall & Devon (Part 1)

This is a bit (or quite a bit rather) belated. But our weekend trip at Cornwall & Devon was great! :) Weather could have been better at times, but overall a relaxing trip with unexpected sights and yummy food!

First of all, although I just made it up on the spot, there really was a place called Cornish Delights (the title of my last entry)!




Here's the route we took:

Day1: London - Launceston (for lunch) - Land's End (tip of England) - Penzance

Day2: Penzance - Newlyn (drive thru) - Mousehole (drive thru) - Marazion (to see St Michael's Mt) - St Ives (lunch) - Padstow

Day3: Padstow - Lynton (lunch) - Valley of Rocks (Exmoor National Park) - London




















dAy 1 (fRi, 26th Oct)

We headed off bright an early for the car rental office. Our car? A Vauxhall. Good sized car for the two of us. So off we went - Jon at the wheel, and me the navigator, armed with the road map that Shan & Ben lent us! Winding our way out of London, avoiding the congestion charge areas (you think ERP is ex? Here driving into the 'CBD' area is 8 pounds a day!), and charging down the motorway heading for the tip of England!

Was rather foggy, but it was still quite a lovely drive. We passed quaint little villages and several English cottages covered with creepers. And many sheep and cow farms :) mooo...baaaa...

Lauceston was an unplanned lunch stop.. we were just getting hungry, heh. When we first drove in it seemed like a small hilltop town. But the more we drove the more of the town we found, but always in compact doses. An interesting place with small, narrow winding roads, and old walls emerging suddenly next to new buildings.











We had our first taste of true blue Cornish pasties - curry puff looking pastries filled with meat and other fillings - from apparently the oldest bakery in Launceston. Something funny happened outside the bakery. I wanted to have a photo of Jon and I outside the bakery, so approached the only people around us - some elderly folk. Lovely people, but I think some serious miscommunication occurred :) I asked if they could help us take a photo and the man thought I wanted to take a photo of him and his companions. They all gave me this bewildered look. Then I tried to clarify, and it became even worse! They thought I was saying they spoilt the scenery!! Gahh! So anyway, I ended up just taking a photo of Jon :)










Anyway, onward to Penzance, our intended final destination for the day. We arrived around the area rather early, so decided to press on to Land's End - the western-most point of England, where the land tumbles into the sea. A beautiful place that reminded me somewhat of Cabo da Roca in Portugal, but with slightly different geography.



















Was pleasant roaming the cliffside paths, though the metal poles they put around to guide visitors along the cliffs kind of spoilt the sense of space and freedom, I thought, even if it was meant as a safety precaution.

We left for Penzance eventually and checked into Chiverton House - our B&B for the night :)

Dinner was yummmyy. Jon had a giant plate of mussels - the largest we've seen anywhere (there were at least 70-80 of them!), and I had surf'n'turf (to try the local beef and seafood). The restaurants there pride themselves on using local produce and meat :)










So after a lovely meal, what better than a romantic stroll by the seaside promenade back to the B&B? ;)

-End of Day 1-