Cornwall 2013 (Part 5)
Tuesday 20 August
I wake quite early with the sun streaming though the blinds. We want to be up early this morning and get out pronto, but herself is still outers and I dare not wake her (on purpose), so I rattle a few things about pretending to make her a coffee until she stirs in her pit.
We are both up, washed, dressed and out of the door by 10am and make the short journey to the Farmer's market in Sennen Village. Trip Adviser waxes lyrical about it, so it was with some excitement that we pulled up.
Farmer's market my arse! Nanna Coupons and the Bryn WI have put on a better effort! Stall after stall of hippies selling over priced hippy tat with stall after stall of housewives selling a slice of home made lemon cake for £2.50. People were lapping it up FFS.
In the middle of this mire we did locate a meat stall and bought 2 very nice looking Sirloin steaks for supper tonight, some free range eggs for breakfast and herself dot suckered into buying some very expensive organic doggy treats. We did however fail to locate a loaf of bread that looked anything like a loaf of bread so took a quick spin to the sancity of the Co-op in St Just.
Outside there is a reminder of just how far away from civilisation as we know it we are at the moment. If you had a heart attack out here, rigormortice would have set in by the time the paramedics turned up. It's much the same in Llanelli but that's due to cut backs!
Most villages have these located in a central location - a sort of DIY ambulance.
We return to the van and breakfast on the recently purchased free range eggs. Herself said they were very nice. I wouldn't know because I had mine in a manwich with bacon and HP sauce.
After breakfast we go back out, this time to take a look at the Minack Theatre, a theatre built into the rocks on the coastline near Lands End. It's a fantastic setting and the Internet will tell you far more about its history so I'll let pictures do the talking for me.
It's very steep, and disabled friendly it is not. Climbing back out through the auditorium requires the agility of a mountain goat and my calves feel like they are ready to pop by the time we reach the top.
Herself wanted to know why I wanted to visit this place as I'm not at all interested in anything 'darling' but I explain it is to marvel at the engineering feat of creating this unique place. Though having now seen it with my own eyes I have to admit to being more impressed at what Grandpa Grumbles achieved in the equally steep back garden of their old house in Parc Howard Ave!
We return to site, and after doing the outside jobs the intention is to catch some rays.
The Beamer has yet to leave for the day, but all bodies are accounted for and moving around (even the scarecrow). He's a clever one but he's not got me fooled, I'm onto him and I'll keep you posted.
Our neighbours on the other side are horrible gits. They've parked their ageing campervan up on chocks at 45 degrees on the pitch so that whenever they look out they do so straight onto our pitch and into our awning. We have no privacy with them and they are for ever looking on and smirking in a condescending manner.
It's taken us a few days to work it out why they are continually whispering and smirking at us, but herself and I think we've cracked it. Both mammy and the 15 year old princess are wiry athletic types and look like they are heavily into running or something. Herself and I are on the other side of the spectrum. We think they disapprove or are mocking us.
Anyway, while I am doing the outside jobs they return from a walk down to the beach. Mammy and the princess appear but there is no sign of Daddy. A good 10 mins later Daddy turns up and he's blowing out of his arse after climbing this lot.
Obviously Daddy is not as fit as the other two and they left him to struggle on his own,
I fall asleep in the sun and herself informs me that I snored very loudly for a full two hours, it was that bad that the fit family retreated indoors to escape the din!
The steaks were superb and were grilled on the Weber to perfection while I watched ships glide past the campsite.
We cannot stay in tonight, nor can we walk along the front in Sennen. It's Magic in the Skies tonight and we have to escape for ours and the dog's sanity. Tali even had a moment earlier when an old VW camper backfired as it entered our field!
At 8pm we headed over to Mousehole for a wander before making for Marizon to view St Michael's Mount lit up in the darkness.
Returning to site we passed the hundreds of cars travelling in the other direction from Lands End - the display obviously over for another day, just one more for us on Thursday to avoid. The scrumpy and Rattler take a hammering before we turn in late as the Beamer pulls back onto site.
Wednesday 21 August
The dogs wake us up an start performing, I get a little cross with them before I look at the clock and realise it's 9.30am. After taking them for their (not quite so) early morning walk we breakfast leisurely in the (not so early) morning sunshine. The site is alive, and the gits next door have gone out so we have some privacy.
I manage to get a few words out of the Beamer owner and count 4 skins in and around their pitch so I am beginning to think that he's realised I'm onto him and has changed his plans. My alertness may have prevented a tragedy, not that Herself would think so, in fact she is of the opinion that I am quite (very) nosey!
After some discussion (arguing) about what we are to do today we pile into Miranda, complete with a packed lunch and make our way to the Roseland Peninsular, via the King Harry Ferry to the south of Truro.
This area is very pretty and as we drop into St Mawes it looks more like a resort on The Med, After only 3 circuits of the car park we bag ourselves a space and head off through the village.
The place is buzzing, pubs are heaving, there are long queues for boat trips and families play on the beaches.
We lunch on a bench over looking a beach in the shadows of the castle spending some time watching an artist at work and watching kids play on a pontoon, when suddenly Jaques Cousteu appears from nowhere!
We amble our way back to the car browsing as we went and took the road North towards Newquay. On arrival I park in Asda because it's free for two hours. I know that will be plenty long enough, but herself makes it known she is uncomfortable with the idea. Tuff, after all the cash the car parks of Cornwall have made off us this last two weeks, I'm having some back!
After nearly 2 weeks with surfers and hippies in the far west, Newquay's chavs are a bit on an eye opener. The place is rammed with tattooed Roid Heads and fat orange women with tramp stamps. The place is also Tat Central. We stay long enough to have two cushions printed with photos of our dogs and head back to Miranda for a good scrub down with Dettol and a wire brush!
We are hungry and start to make our way to Bowgies for some tea before hitting the road back west. As we sit in the queue of cars trying to escape Newquay we get a few spots of rain. herself wants to sit outside with the dogs to eat, so that plan goes out of the window.
Smart phone make things easy these days. I get mine out, have a quick conflab with it and find out the weather is better in the west. As the skies open back up the first pub we come across is ruled out because there is a play area and there will be too many kids, the second is ruled out because it's too near the road and will be noisy, the third because herself just doesn't fancy it!
Remember now that I am hungry! We then drive through Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole not finding anywhere suitable and get stuck behind a city slicker who has never driven down a lane before all the way to Porthcurno!
By now I'm losing the will to live (but have held onto my temper) and we resort to having cod and chips again from 190 degrees west. We park up looking over towards Cape Cornwall, let the dogs out and sit on the tailgate about to dig in.
Cerys curls a two bagger right in front of us that has to be cleared up before we can start!
Having said all that, it was a nice way to spend the last hour of a long day out before returning to site by 9pm. While I'm doing my outside jobs I note that the gits next door seem to have an electrical problem on their camper. None of the inside lights work and they are sat in the semi darkness. Ever the considerate neighbour, I go inside and light up our awning like Blackpool, just to make them feel better!
10pm and the Beamer pulls up, stops outside leaving his engine running and then pulls back out. I am now back to having some suspicions about him. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday 22 August
Two sure signs that this has been a busy holiday. Firstly, I usually read 3 or 4 books in the course of a fortnight break. So far I have read just 50% of Nigel Owens' book Half Time. Secondly we are sleeping late, and the dogs are happy to do so too.
This morning we woke at 9.30am with the van warming up to the temperature of an over. Flinging open the door I see the rozzers are on site. My first inclination is that they have caught up with the serial killer in the Beamer, but no, they park up outside a van a little further away.
Reluctantly I set off to take the dogs for their morning walk (they are no longer early) leaving herself under strict instructions we keep an eye on goings on so she can fill me in on the details when I return.
I took the dogs to our usual spot, and I swear there is no better place to wipe the sleep from your eyes. I'm going to miss this spot next week.
I get back to site, tether the dogs and ask herself what's happened (the rozzers have now gone). She does not have a clue as she didn't take much notice. I let her know of my disapproval.
The Beamer is being treated to a valet, including the boot. Perhaps he was spooked by the Rozzers turning up. Shortly after they rushed about and made themselves scarce. Herself says they just went out for the day, I'm not convinced and will keep you posted.
The gits from the other side have moved on (Yey!!!) and we have new neighbours in the shape of Giuseppe and his family in a large Mororhome. He's not told me his name yet, but it must be, he's Italian and they are all called that (the same way that all Welsh blokes are called Dai!)
I've been reading @Nigelrefowens book and last night I read that he's rather fond of a fried egg sandwich on matchdays, so that is what I declared to Herself that I wanted for my breakfast, and I must say the free range eggs tasted wonderful.
With breakfast dispatched we went about doing nothing. Yes that's right, nothing, sweet FA, ziltch, bugger all. The sun was out and it was declared that today was a day for kicking back. The most energetic thing I did all day was rub some used chip fat on herself and myself in a bid to get that bronzed Adonis look you see on telly!
Then my phone rings, I ignore it. herself's phone rings, we ignore it. The herself's other phone rings and with the moment gone herself jumps up to locate it in the bowels of Miranda's cubby holes. It's Roids wanting instructions on how to use the washing machine FFS!
With Roids happy the machine has started we settle back down on the tail gate and look out to sea and watch a tanker glide past on the horizon. The optimism gnome is talking to me on my shoulder when Tali kicks off, no amount of shwwching him does the trick so herself looks round the corner and he's guarding the adjacent car ........... stopping the owner of the car opening the door and getting in.
We see the sun set and decide to escape before the hippies climb down from the point and \Tali attacks one of them, and we make our way back to site.
9.15 pm comes with a bang as magic in the skies kicks off. She starts climbing the walls, panting uncontrollably and dribbling all over me while having palpitations as one bang is closely followed by another bang ...... then with all the upset Cerys starts playing up too cos she also doesn't like the fireworks.
By 9.30 it's all quiet again, and shortly after the Beamer pulls up. I wonder if he'll ever read this blog?