Month: March 2018

Not a good day. Rained for most of the day. Heavy too.

Went up to Clovelly on the A39. It’s a private village and they wanted £7:50 to get in. Thankfully it was raining so gave it a miss.

I quickly went through Biddeford and Barnstable and headed to Ilfracombe to have a quick look round. Still raining.

On to Minehead where I’ll be stopping this evening. I had a walk along the sea front overlooking the Bristol Channel. The sea was grey and dank. There were some fishermen fishing from the harbour wall. Not very exciting.

Im going over to Weybridge in the morning to spend a couple of Easter days with Sophie. I’ll be back out again on Sunday.

More rail overnight but signs of it clearing up later on.

First stop was Boscastle a little bit up the coast. Something in my head was telling me that this place was hit by a flash flood years ago. It had all the hallmark of this being true. Fast flowing river into a gorge like estuary.  The harbour itself was only a breakwall actually but very scenic. Several shops and cafes lined the river to the sea. Eventually found the flood level line from 2004. Boy was that high.

On to Bude. I’d forgotten what a lovely place Bude is. Perfect for a family holiday I would have thought. The surfers were out when I got there. High waves for them. Good beach and facilities. Cheese and onion pastie for lunch. Love it.

First stop today was Rock which is across the estuary from Padstow. There’s a ferry between to two. Bigger than you’d imagine. There’s supposed to be a brewery but I couldn’t find it.

On to Port Isaac which is a picturesque port just north of Rock. It’s where they shoot Dr Martin for the TV. It’s got a chocolate shop so it get extra marks.

On to  Tinagel which judging by the number of car parks must be one of the most popular places in Cornwall. It’s judges to be the home of Camelot the seat of King Aurther. Anyway it’s got a very up market hotel right on the cliff face. RR outside so it may be true. Also an Aston Martin painted in flowers. Cool.

Im staying at the best site so far on this trip. Right overlooking the sea.

More sunshine!!!! Two days in a row.

Headed up the coast road on the B3276 From Newquay to Padstow. Stopped off at a NT at Mawgan on the cliff path for cup of tea. Then on to Travose Head to have a look t the lighthouse. Beautiful spot with views out to sea.

Then on to Padstow. Parked up by the harbour for two hours. Enough to have a look round the village. I had a look t Rick Steins seafood restaurant. Exspensive s you would expect but it did look good. A three course lunch cost £32:95. Stein hs several food outlets including a fish nd chip shop by the harbour. Large queues outside.

The harbour itself is small. At the mixture they re building a break wall between the inner and outer harbour. Quite a few tourists about but I bet it’s manic during the summer.

Woke up to sunshine!!! It’s sunday and it’s sunny.

Made my way up the coast stopping at Hells Mouth to take photographs of the gorge. Nice. After Portreath made my way over to St Agnes and Perranport. This is proper Cornwall with wall to wall beaches with white horses and surfers. Stopped for an hour taking in the scene. There must been something on during the morning cos the place was packed. The beach was full of kids playing in the surf all chasing dogs. You could spend a holiday here for sure.

Decided to visit Newquay but did not stay as it looked just like a seaside town.. staying at Perraport for the night.

It rained all through the night! Cold and windy this morning. Headed north through St Just towards St Ives along the B3306. Stopped off at the Levant tin mine. A NT site. All along the coast you can see the chimney remains of the mines. This one is right on a cliff face and the mine went out under the sea. Lots of mining remains plus the original beam engine.

onto St Ives. Had to park outside the town and walked down to the harbour. A small bay with a harbour t the far end. There was a guy fishing at the harbour end but he looked as if he should not be there. A few turnstones were scampering along the prom.

From St Ives went east to Hayle to the campsite beside St Ives bay sands. Raining but easing off.

Stayed overnight at a place called Marazion in a quiet site there. First thing I headed off to Penzance and called into see St Michaels mount. The weather was not great at all and did not stop long. Grey and overcast. Took one photo but it was not brilliant. Penzance is a reasonably large town with a good size harbour. I had a quick look round the harbour.

On to Lands End which is just s cluster of souvenir shops plus a restaurant. In heavy rain I had a walk along the cliff face to the last piece of land before America. I’m not sure it was worth the visit other than to say I’ve been.

Rained for the remainder of the day.

i had my best nights sleep last night. Obviously getting used to the van again. All these sites are pretty deserted with the wardens painting and cleaning up before Easter.

First stop was Falmouth. I was going to go via the ferry but in the end opted to go via Truro(nice church there). Falmouth is OK with quiet a few tourists around which was a surprise. The narrow Main Street was full of artisan shops selling paintings and local clothes plus several Cornish pastie shops,!!! There were several navy ships in the harbour.

ive come across my first Rick Stein experience of the journey. There was a restaurant plus a take away. The restaurant did not appear to be that expensive. Wait til Padstow!!!!!!

On towards Penzance stopping off at Porthleven which is an historic harbour. Nice place but blowing a Gail off the sea. Damn me but it had a Rick Stein restaurant as well. The mans taking over the world.

First stop this morning was to a garage that the site warden had recommended. The pump on my windscreen wipers had stopped working. I could not see a thing! We had figured out it was a fuse but could not pinpoint the exact one.

Anyway the garage found it without an issue and I was on the road again. First stop was Looe. Over the Tamar bridge into Cornwall. You may recall this is where the Brunel rail bridge is. Proper bridge.

looe is a real Cornish village by the sea with a river running out to the bay. Narrow street with at least five shops selling Cornish pasties. Smugglers Cove pub. Sea gulls everywhere. Do not feed The seagulls!!!! I had a walk along the short pier before having lunch in a pastie shop. Horrible. Worth a visit though.

On to Polperro but did not get beyond the car park. They wanted £4:50 to park the can or even a car. How can that be good for tourist??? Did not stop.

my site was near St Mawes so called in there for a last stop of the day. Picturesque little village that has. Ferry over to Falmouth. It’s on a headland with a small castle on the hill. Nice place for sure. A few tourists about but not too many.

Good day.

eventually I got out of Exeter Racecourse. Not easy as there was still a lot of snow around. As I’d done absolutely nothing yesterday I headed back into Exeter to have a quick look around the cathedral. Nice building in the centre of a green. Work is still going on at the hotel that burnt down a few years ago. Too cold to stay long.

instead of going across to Plymouth I headed down the coast and passed though Teignmouth and Torquay but did not stop for long in either.

The site at Plymouth is over Plymouth Sound. Nice view over the Sound with navy ships coming and going.