Cornwall

It was an awfully long time ago now that my friends and I went on a little journey. I say little, but to the locals around here, it was downright madness. Seeing as I now have a car, and my friends were soon to depart for the land of the moose (Canada), we felt it was necessary to go to Cornwall for a weekend. We knew it would be quick: a chance to see the main sights for them, a taster for me so that I knew where to go back to. Regardless of our lack of time, we hit the road.

We left Saturday morning, heading for Southampton first of all. It was pouring rain, so of course it was British seaside weather. We made it down there with no problems, and drove around trying to decide what to stop and see. We made a half-hearted effort to find a Titanic memorial, having figured out through random trivial information and using the internet on Mil's phone that we were in the right spot for it. We didn't end up finding the proper one, but we did find another one. It was a memorial for the engineers on board the ship. Close enough, we figured. We wandered around the park for a while before jumping back in the car, and continuing our journey.

We had decided to take the slow roads down there, and see what we found along the way. This meant it was going to be at least two hours longer than by going on the motorways, but we didn't care. In the end, the total trip down there was 13 hours, including stops, but we enjoyed it! We stopped for lunch a bit further down the road, at a town that I'm not sure I knew the name of even when we were there. We found a trusty JD Wetherspoons pub - a staple on our travels.

Getting back on the road was a tough call, as it meant leaving the warmth of the pub (it was cold and wet outside, as usual). We eventually made it to Penzance, what we figured was our destination. We had planned to find a B&B to stay the night at, but of course they conspired against us and we were stuck in a bloody Travelodge. We took a spin through nearby Hayle, and found a local pub for dinner. We were clearly the tourists, as you could understand us clearly, but nobody seemed to mind us being there. We did a bit of night-time site-seeing that night, which included seeing St Michael's Mount all lit up.

The next morning we were up and about early, with one destination in mind - Land's End. I don't know how to use my words to adequately describe it, apart from saying that it was absolutely stunning. The weather had cleared up, so it was a perfect, sunny day. The cliffs are awe-inspiring. It's easy to imagine why people thought it was the end of the earth, as they're certainly formidable. I do think the most classic moment though was the three of us standing on a rock, simultaneously realising that it was Father's Day back home, and also then realising that we had no phone coverage. We all eventually managed to get at least a message to our dads (luckily!).

John O'Groats is generally regarded as the most northern settlement in Great Britain. It's in the Scottish Highlands. The post box in the last photo above is the first and last post box in England. I don't understand why it's both first and last, but either way, it's no longer in use. You have to use the normal free-standing red one a few metres away. I don't see the point in that, really. I did, however, send Nan and Pop a postcard from there, and Mum and Dad as well I think.

We wandered around the cliffs for a bit longer, before doing the one thing we knew we had to do on this trip. That's right, we ate a genuine Cornish pasty. Just because you can buy them on every corner in London, from places like the Cornish Pasty Company, doesn't make them real Cornish pasties in Cornwall. Actually they didn't taste any different, but they were certainly the genuine thing!

From Land's End we took the back road over to this Roman-style amphitheatre, set right on the edge of the cliff. It was in a place called Porthcurno. As with most things in this country, you had to pay to see the amphitheatre, so we strolled to the left of it and overlooked the most beautiful beach I've seen on this side of the equator. I know part of it was due to the gorgeous weather and our view over the cove, but it was still fantastic. It reminded me a lot of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.



Next up we headed back to Penzance for some fuel, before heading out towards Newquay. We knew that Newquay was a surf town, but I think we were all a bit unprepared for the kind of surf culture that permeates (check my vocab :P) the Sunshine Coast. It was another town perched high above the actual beach, but there were REAL waves there. Something new everywhere we go!

We didn't stay long in Newquay, as - predictably - there was nowhere to park. We headed this time for the Eden Project. It's kind of like a biosphere type place. It's made up of these giant half golf ball things, each containing a different kind of ecosystem. It was a loooooooong walk down from the car, just to find that it was going to cost us £15 each to get in. We knew we only had an hour or so to look around, so that was a bit outrageous. We then had to walk allllllllllllll the way back up to the car. We were so knackered!

That was pretty much the end of our trip to the South West corner of the country. We jumped straight back on the motorway and headed home. Total driving time for the outgoing journey - 13 hours. Total driving time for the return trip - 5 hours. For serious.