Friday, July 17, 2009

home

Thought it was time to post again!


Today was Phil's final day at Lincroft and the students and staff gave him some lovely things. Some took such time and care... this cake was made by one of the girls he taught...




He is starting a 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language' course in two weeks, which lasts all of August. He's then hoping to go abroad - probably Indonesia, to work.

Some of you know about The Ashes tour...


...well the women play too, and Katy and I went to watch their fourth one day match which was very exciting. England won on the last ball of the match! :-) I will say no more!

Thought you maight like to see the progress in Katy's garden too...



She is very pleased with it - it is looking really lovely.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Port Isaac to Padstow 24th March

We were again given a good breakfast before being delivered back to Port Isaac to continue the walk. This was more familiar ground and again we were blessed with wonderful weather... sun and wind :-)

This walk talk us via Port Quin



... The Rumps and Pentire Point through Polzeath and on round to the ferry at Rock.




We watched the dredger taking sand out of the estuary,

and later saw it being offloaded at Padstow pier.

We found a good place to eat, and a willing pair of hands to take a photo to mark the end of Stage One.


We decided to stop here for the summer, Tim caught a bus back home, I stayed in another B&B and then caught the train back the next day.

It has been wonderful - we have walked about 160 miles and climbed about 30,000 feet (36,974 apparently!). The weather has been amazing, from snow to blazing sun, the scenery could not be bettered and the company perfect.
Roll on September/October when we can continue...

Tintagel to Port Isaac March 23rd

To complete the first stage... along the edge of one path huge slates had been stood on end as a boundary,



natural flaws in them had left holes... I couldn't resist experimenting!




The path took us on to Port Gaverne (not pronounced with a hard 'a' as we had always said it as children, but with a soft 'a' as in 'gave') and round to Port Isaac which, with its narrow streets was as charming as ever, but would be a nightmare in the summer!



We found a little cafe for some more sustainance... pity this wasn't real!


Our B&B was some way out of Port Isaac so we were picked up in the car park and whisked off to our final, for Tim, overnight stay.

Here is a little look back at one of the 7 valleys we crossed between Trebarwith Strand and Port Gaverne to give you a taste of the size of the valleys and the type of path, although the steepness is lost as you look down to Tim and follow the path back up to my feet!

Our final day's walk took us on mostly familiar ground from Port Isaac to Padstow - it was beautiful, sunny and very windy.

Tintagel to Port Isaac March 23rd

Our Bed and Breakfast in Tintagel was lovely, and we were treated to another scrumptious breakfast, from Julie and Keith - another place we'd happily recommend :-)





I have to mention the fudge shop again because it was so gorgeous! The pic below is dark, but worth including to see the guy, Tim, working on the fudge on his marble slab







- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kjS0aIH9U0 try this link to see him in action... it's a pity you can't smell it because it is wonderful!


We walked on along the cliff, by the youth hostel (closed again - as have been most of them - we were too early in the year!) and along the slate cliffs which have been quarried leaving fascinating shapes and sometimes dangerous paths to walk on.







We descended into Trebarwith Strand which we visited a lot one summer when we rented a cottage nearby and it was our nearest beach.


From Trebarwith you climb the cliff path to about 300' and drop back down to sea level almost imediately - there were 6 more of these to do before we'd finish the day!





These descents into gullies with little streams tumbling into the sea were wonderful and felt completely away from it all. Places you want to explore with a rug and hamper to help!




The guide books repeatedly warned how dangerous these paths can be, especially in the wet, so were were very lucky to have such fabulous weather and be dry underfoot on the slate/shale. It was easy to see how tricky this path might be but we navigated our way safely.



This was one spot I stopped at for some time, just watching the sea.