Summer Fun

In August as planned we drove to Cornwall. It took a little longer than the six hours we had thought, nearer nine hours altogether, but taking into account of the stops along the way we did not do too bad.

Andrea even did some of the driving. I would have found it very tiring if I had ended up with me doing all the driving.

We got to there about 6pm. On entering the campsite I saw there was a food stall selling curry! That’s a good idea we thought. If we would have waited to eat until after the tent was put up it would have ended up quite late.

We was able to get a couple of plates and some cutlery out as I had packed them where they were accessible. The camp site itself was good quality and we enjoyed our stay there for the week.

We thoroughly enjoyed visiting various place including The Eden Project and The Lost Gardens of Helligan.

On one of the days we took a bit of a drive to most southerly point in Britain - The Lizard peninsula. We took a walk around and viewed all the lovely rugged scenery. I was hoping to see a particular bird called the Chough, a member of the crow family, but disappointingly it di

d not show.

On the way back I got Andrea to drive. The roads are not that wide around there so Andrea felt a little intimidated by the oncoming traffic. Suddenly a large lorry on the other side of the road came towards us. He seemed oblivious of the speed he was doing. Andrea thought she

could swerve onto the grass verge to avoid it, but it turned out there was no grass verge but only what looked like a grass verge. Instead, behind it, was a wall made of local granite!

BANG! It was an awful sound. We pulled into a drive way and surveyed the damage. We had not hit the lorry but we thought we had damaged the wing. As it turned out we had only clipped the tyre and caused it to blow.

I am glad to say we have free breakdown with our bank

account. Normally it be easy to change a tyre but on this car the seems to be extra precautions so any spare tyre cannot be stolen. therefore it was down to to recovery to all the hard work.

The particular driveway we had chosen (or had chosen for us) was, I am glad to say, well out of the way of the busy road. No one seemed to be in so we were not told off.

It only took half an hour for the recovery to arriv

e, so that wasn’t too bad. He struggled and pushed and shoved eventually the wheel got changed

In the meantime the owners of the house arrived home. They were surprised to see us in their driveway. After explaining to them what had happened they told us it happens all the time on this road. That made us feel a it better and not so stupid. We got back to our tent at the campsite glad that God had looked after us.

After being at this particular camp site for one week it was time for us to break camp and move to a new site nearer to Land’s End. We had to take down the tent in the rain. It was quite heavy rain and we both got very wet.

We drove through Penzance and stopped for lunch at the beach there. It was lovely.

We arrived at the new site in the afternoon. The weather was a little different here. It was sunny but there were more clouds and a little bit cooler.

The site itself was a lot more exposed and we had to put up the tent in a bit of a breeze. this helped dry out the tent. The

re were thundery showers rattling around but did dod get to us. What was nice though was we could see the sunset over the sea. Although the site was not right on the beach we still had a good view of the sea. And every night we were able to see glorious sunsets.

Of course, while there, we had to visit Land’s End itself. The car park was only a m

atter of 15 minutes drive from the camp site. But to park there costs £5.00! Still, we intended to stay a while, so we handed the money over.

Having parked up, the distance to the furthest edge of England wasn't that far. We had to go through the usual tourist shops but our focus was further on.
There were lots of people doing the same as us: taking photos, peering at the scenery, etc. The scenery was indeed great.

Just off the coast was a rock formation called Shark Fin Rock. I didn't know this and

made the mistake of thinking it was a real shark!

Another place we visited was St. Michael’s Mount. This is an island castle off the coast of Penzance. Here is a write up about it:

“Dominating Mounts Bay is St Michael’s Mount, which rises majestically almost 230 feet from sea level to the tower, chapel and battlement of the

castle. Situated approximately 500 yards offshore the Mount is reached by small ferry boats which ply between Marazion and the Mount's harbour.

The grandeur and wealth of history of St Michael’s Mount, with its fairy tale castle, make it a unique attraction in Britain.

An island at high tide, from the great flood in 3000 BC, the Mount is now a treasure of the National Trust. It features a harbour, shops and a restaurant, "The Sail Loft". The castle and gardens are open to the public some days and details can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centres.”

It was a lovely sunny day so we parked the car nearby and walked on to the beach. The sea was warm as we walked along the edge of the surf. There were quite a few people on the beach. Children playing in the sand and splashing in the water. I took my sandals off and and enjoyed the sand beneath my feet. Andrea was busy taking photos.

There was a river that came onto the beach and we had to cross it before we got to the causeway leading to the island. As we approached the children were playing in the water. It did not look that deep, maybe it would up to my knees I thought. I was bare footed and had shorts on so I wasn't that worried. I took some precautions making sure cameras and stuff were well out of the way by hold them above my head. Surprisingly the water was getting deeper and deeper until, in the middle, it almost reached the top of my thighs! Still we got through and stepped onto the causeway.

This causeway is available to walk on when the tide is out. It leads right out to the island. I think it was constructed a long time ago and is made of great big flag stones. We probably were there at the best time because we would not need to worry about the tide unil some three

and a half hours later.

As we arrived on to the island I saw the castle was right up the top of the island and it looked a very steep climb. We took our time to tackle it and sat and had an ice cream first. It was lovely Cornish Ice cream and quite delicious.

So onwards and upwards we went. I am glad to say the climb was not as difficult as I had feared and and so we reach the top fairly quickly. The view from the top was spectacular! Looking right across the bay, to the beach we had just come from, every thing looked small. The town of Penzance, with it’s quaint white painted houses and shops, glistened in the sunshine.

Everyone of course was taking photos. We met a couple who were taking pictures of one another, so I offered them to take them together. In return they took a pictures of me and Andrea.

The Island and the castle on top are all part of The National Trust. We are members so were able to have a tour of the castle. There was love paintings and lovely furniture to look at and admire. And it even had it’s own church that is still in use for people to attend.

Getting down the hill, though seemingly easier, there was still need to be careful as the path had big stones which we had to step on slowly.

We did not need to cross the river to get back to the car as we went a different route through the town.

When we got back to the car park we sat by the car for a while having a cup of tea fro

m the flask. We noticed a man scanning the horizon with binoculars. We said hi and we got chatting. The conversation turned to what birds we had seen recently. He described how only yesterday he had seen a very rare bird called the Western Bonelli’s Warbler. This bird, we found out, was very near our campsite. We made plans the very next day to try and see it.

Going out to find and see a rare bird was not our normal thing. But, as it was so near to where we were staying, it was worth the effort. We drove the 10 minutes to a small village and parked up. There was a bit of a walk along a quiet road where we found others with telescopes and binoculars looking for it. And there it was amongst the planted pine trees. It wasn't much to look at but, the fact it was unique to mainland Britain, made it quite special.

And so it was the end of our Cornish holiday. We packed up and made it on our way. I decided a more direct way home and not to use the motorways as we had found out the was a bit of traffic on them.

It may seem that all we have done this year is have holidays, because in October we were able to have a holiday in Cyprus. Our daughter Sarah-Jane has access to a free villa there. All we had to do is pay for flights. She has been going there herself for a couple of years now and has even got Andrea to go with her. I was reluctant to go in the past as the 4 hour flight seemed a long time.

Going to Cyprus was the furthest from home I had ever been. Cyprus is 2 hours ahead.

We landed quite late at night but Pathos seems to have quite a good bus service. I was reluctant to take a cab as the distance to the villa was about 13 kilometres away . So we caught two buses.

While on the bus it was raining quite heavily. This, we feared, did not bode well for the rest of the week. However when we finally arrived at the villa at around 11:30pm the rain had stopped.

The villa was within the main night club area of the region and music was already blaring forth. We thought it best if we went straight to bed. But as the temperature was still very warm, even at that time, we had to keep the windows open. This meant we were “entertained” by Elvis and other tribute acts. The first night then, was a little difficult. It finally calmed down at around 3 in the morning. The temperature and humidity were still quite high so I was glad of a fan in my room. Andrea and Sara-Jane had another room and I slept alone. Good thing too, probably, as I do have tendency to snore!

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping. The rain and cloud of the previous night had completely disappeared and there was sparkling sunshine; all was quiet and it certainly wasn't cold.

So, what to do on our first day? We decided to go to the local beach. This was about 15 minutes walk away. Coral Bay beach is reputed to be the best beach in Cyprus. The beach indeed was lovely. We all took a swim in the lovely warm Mediterranean water.

I am afraid we would be here all week if I detailed all that we did in Cyprus. But here are a few highlights.

• Andrea and I took a walk up the hills nearby while Sarah-Jane sat by the pool of a local hotel. We got a bit lost, but eventually we did complete the circular walk as described in a local guide book.

• We took a trip the the ruins in Pathos itself. Although interesting, I was more interested in the birds there.

• A coach trip to the north of the island where the views were lovely through the mountains.And for not much money either.

• We had look at a church that was at the place that St Paul visited as told in Acts of the Apostles in the Bible (Acts 13)

The flight home was at a reasonable time and was was quite uneventful. and so we got home with no problem.

The time difference did affect us a little and for the next few days I found it difficult to get up at normal time as Andrea and I kept waking up around 4 in the morning

.