Seaton to Land's End

I had stopped to look at a coastal defence construction which a passing local identified as a searchlight position. I had a chat to him and his wife and they told me that a ship (the Napoli) had run aground on a beach around the corner and that containers had washed up all along the coast. We had seen this on TV in NZ. There was a diving ship out in front of Seaton that was salvaging sunken containers, and we saw a barge go by loaded with them. This couple had been part of the community that picked up hypodermics that had washed up on the shore. Next day after another full English breakfast, we drove to Branscombe beach to see the wreck, but I'm afraid something happened to the photos. This is a rocky and dangerous coast and we were to see more evidence of this later.

We continued along the coast, stopping in at a picturesque port village called, of all things, Beer. I could have had a beer in Beer but it would set a bad precedent for Puddlebottom. Plymouth had a memorial to Scott (of the Antarctic) so a nice connection to Port Chalmers and home, but we didn't stay long there. We had lunch at a medieval castle/manor called Cotehele, another National Trust one. I'm sure that we'll soon be saying "Not another bloody picturesque village/manor/castle/church!" so we'd better take the photos now while it's all new.

We saw two accidents en route, both within minutes of our arrival. One involved a car pulling out from a restaurant, and the other at a round-about. Sadly the second seemed to be car on child as there was a small bike wedged under front of the car. Surpisingly neither of them were on the narrow roads.

We spent that night in Penzance, but didn't see a single pirate. (Although we saw the police called to a ferry on which a fight had broken out.) It was surprisingly quiet for a Bank Holiday we thought, but it is a long way from London I guess.

We drove past St Austell where CH lives. I worked and played indoor cricket with him in London all those years ago and then he visited a few years after that and we drove around the South Island. Sadly as close as we were we could not coordinate a catchup.

Sunday morning and I tried to lay off the full Brekky, with only partial success. We can't afford more B&Bs from either a financial or health point of view it seems. Our goal was to get to Land's End, and that's what we did, arriving before almost anyone else and also before the shops were open. Why you would want to go to Land's End to see a Dr Who exhibition I'm not sure but obviously many people do. It was suitably rugged and I guess we may one day get to John o'Groats (to see Land's Start?)

The next stop was Mount St Michael, back near Penzance. This castle and stately home was on an island but connected by a causeway at low tide. It was still covered when we arrived so we went for a ferry. By the time we got into the ferry the causeway was uncovered so we could watch several others apparently walk on water. It was a lovely castle on a site that had been used defensively for a thousand years or more. The family - St Aubyn - was a military one and had members in several wars. One was at Arnhem in the paras, for example.

Lunch was at another NT manor, Godolphin, but this time there was a 'Good Food' festival. It was pretty average but we did get to see some Morris Dancers, although for some reason J wouldn't volunteer when calls were made. And she could have got on TV too!

The rest of the day was a charge for Bristol, stopping only at Newquay, a strange town that was long a surfers' hangout but has morphed to be a Stag & Hen party town, complete with strip bars and nightclubs, etc. The beach was OK but there was no surf to speak of. Apparently the pommy surfing champs had just finished, but fortunately we saw none of the possible traffic. We got into C&Ms at 7-ish, rather tired.

For more shots of Devon and Cornwall, click here.