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Cornwall

This holiday was my first real road trip in the UK. The scenery from the moment we left the greater London area was spectacular. Despite just coming off shift after working 9 straight days with only 6 hours sleep a night, I couldn't let myself fall asleep and miss something! It was just as well, because we were barrelling along the motorway when Stonehenge loomed up in front of us. I was taken completely by surprise, I knew it was in the South West of the country, but I did not expect to see it on this journey.

We also took a detour into Exeter on the way, which was quite a quaint city. Anette and I ended up having a cream tea in an 'Olde English Tea Shoppe' on the square surrounding the cathedral. Its not often I get coffee with a view these days, so it was a real treat for me.

We eventually came into St. Ives at about 20:30 in the evening, which was actually quite good time considering we were rather slow off the mark leaving London, and we took several detours. St. Ives is one of those few places that really does look like the post cards. I was enchanted by it. Being high season, it was swarming with tourists, but they gave the evenings a buzz, rather than made it unpleasant.

On our first day, we spent a little time in the town itself, shopping and drinking coffee, but we soon got the urge to move and took a drive along the costal roads from St Ives to Marazion to Lands End and home. We passed through postcard perfect fishing villages like Mouse Hole, forests and rolling emerald hills dotted with sheep and cows as far as the eye could see.

On our second and last day, Julia ditched Anette and I for more entertaining company, so we drank coffee at the Tate in St. Ives which has massive glass windows allowing you to really appreciate the beauty of the coastline stretching out from the St. Ives harbour. We then jumped in the car and set off to see what other wonders we could discover in Cornwall before night fall.

 

Stonehenge
This was very much an unexpected stop on the way down to Cornwall. Needless to say, it was awash with tourists, which meant there were long queues to get in. I, fortuitously, purchased an English Heritage membership when I was at Dover Castle last year, which enabled me to jump the queue. I practically jogged around the stones, taking pictures from every angle because Julia and Anette had to wait outside. I would have liked to have had enough time to take the audio tour, but I still think you wouldn't need more than about 2 hours at the site to see it all. If I had missioned (and without a car it is a mission) all the way out there, I probably would have been quite disappointed. Without being able to touch the stones, or walk amongst them, it was no more thrilling than seeing photos of them. But, Stonehenge has been on my 'must-see' list for many years, and now I have.
St Ives Harbour - Low Tide
This is pretty much exactly the kind of view you see whenever you're looking for information about St. Ives. I didn't really expect it to actually look like this, but, as you can see, it does. I took this photo quite early in the morning, before all the other tourists were awake, so the only people I was sharing the walkway with were locals. This is actually a working harbour and it was fantastic to see people in good old yellow fishing gear. In fact a young boy, no more than 13, in yellow plastic overalls whizzed past me on his bicycle clutching a thermos of coffee, which he was obviously delivering to the other fishermen on one of the boats. It was nice to think that tradition is still passed down in some places in the world.

 

St Ives Harbour - High Tide
In a matter of hours, the harbour was transformed from a quaint, but somewhat derelict looking natural dry dock into this Mediterranean looking fishing village. The seas around Cornwall were quite spectacular, and certainly not what I would have imagined anywhere off the coast of the UK. These waters belonged somewhere hot and exotic.

St Michael's Mount
This little island is just a short distance offshore from a town called Marazion. It is a working island and the imposing building on top of the island is a functioning castle which houses a real lord. When the flag is up, the lord is in. You can get to the island via a walkway when the tide is low, otherwise you have to take a ferry. I really wanted to go and see it, but there were simply way too many other tourists with the same idea.

Minack Theatre
This amphitheatre was created by one woman and her gardener. They carved this entire working theatre out of the cliff-face creating what must be one of the most unique open-air theatres in the world. It is an operational theatre with performances every night.
Lizard Peninsula
Anette and I took an unexpected diversion to the southern most point of the UK after a failed attempt to visit the Seal Sanctuary in Gweek (not a spelling mistake). We parked the car in the village and walked along the cliffs right to the cafe I took this photo from. It was breathtaking. The area is renowned for the Serpentine rock which make up the unusually shaped jagged outcroppings and also encourage an abundance of wildflowers.