2011 Summer Holiday 3 - Globe Vale, Redruth (the middle of our stay)

3 August 2011 – Wednesday: Porthtowan and a brewery!!

Breakfast seem to be getting slimmer this week – just a Bacon sandwich today!

After the calm sea at Kennack Sands yesterday, our daughter was in need of waves, so we needed to go to the west coast today. Porthtowan seemed to fit the bill so we headed off towards the beach mid-morning. Our daughter was very happy with the waves today. Entertainment on the beach was provided by one family who decided to put up a windbreak. It looked like the sort that ought to have guy ropes, but the decided just to stick the poles in the sand. I thought it wouldn’t be up much more than a couple of minutes. I was wrong! It took them four minutes to realise it wasn’t staying up, so back in the bag it went! Further entertainment was then provided by a lady and a small toddler. She erected one of those small tent shelters. The toddler had great fun going behind the shelter and launching himself on to the back of the ‘tent’. Weather very good but began to cloud over by 2pm. And we were beginning to feel a little cold just sitting.

I’ve never been a fan of sitting on the beach and eating food so we headed off the beach for a lunchtime drink at the Bridge followed by a very late lunch. The last time we visited the Bridge I sampled some Poseidon real ale brewed by Coastal Brewery in Redruth. No Poseidon today so the landlady gave me the address of the brewery so that I could go along and order a polypin of beer. We left the pub in search of the brewery. It turned out it was only about a mile from Globe Vale, but sadly. No-one was there. Fortunately there was a ‘phone number so I sat outside the unit and rung up and ordered a polypin for Friday – to collect midday.

We got back to the caravan ay about 6pm and were so tired, we slept. This meant that tea was not until after 9pm. By this time weather was cloudy with some drizzle so I ‘cadac’d’ sitting in the awning with the cadac outside. I cooked gammon on the cadac while my wife fried eggs on the cooker in the van.

4 August 2011 – Thursday: Camels and Ice Cream

(Photos in the slide show above: First photo: Cornish Camels, Other Photos: Roskilly's)

Weather today seemed a little cloudy but settled. We headed off in the direction of Helston and pulled up for lunch on the green at Burras. We headed down the Lizard to try and find ‘Cornish Camels’, and after one wrong turning eventually arrived.

I don’t know what I was really expecting, but other than a signpost showing the distance to various places, an a handful of camels sitting in the middle of a field, there seemed little else to go on. There was a large barn type structure, which offered some refreshments and also sold a variety of other things from craft items to second had books, CD’s and DVD’s. To be honest I thought it was all a little ‘un-focused’ so after a short trip to the loo, we moved on in search of Roskilly’s Farm.

Now Roskilly’s, on the road to Coverack, was certainly worth a visit. The craft shop sold a variety of quality goods, including some expensive wooden furniture. The main ‘courtyard’ was very pleasant and the tables acted as an extension or alternative to the indoor restaurant, which served a variety of meals. Cream teas and cakes could be had so we ordered our afternoon tea. My wife and daughter had a toasted teacake and I just had to have a fruit scone with home made jam and clotted cream.

During the course of the afternoon we had a little look around the farm and went to watch the cows being milked. We rounded off the afternoon by buying ice creams – after all that is what Roskilly’s is famous for.

On our way back we stopped of at Sainsbury’s to buy a little cake and candles for our friend’s 55^th birthday, to go with the card we got from the craft shop at Roskilly’s. When we arrived back at Globe Vale and friends had not arrived back from their day out, so we took the card and cake over and left it in their awning, in case they arrived back really late. They arrived back just as I was cooking the steaks (and gammon for our daughter). They came over straight away to thank us for the card and cake and we joined them later on in the evening for drinks. Our daughter wasn’t feeling too well so she stopped back at the caravan.

5 August 2011 – Friday: Godrevy

After breakfast and getting ready, as it approached midday, it was time to go and pick up my polypin on Poseidon beer from Coastal Brewery. Coastal Brewery seemed only a very small brewery and was basically run by one person. In spite of this, he still managed to distribute his beer to all over the country. I paid my £45 for 36 pints and rushed back to the caravan to sample my purchase. A pint of Poseidon went down well with lunch.

After lunch we headed off for Porthtowan beach, stopping of at the cycle hire Elm Tree farm (?). My wife wanted to ask a few questions about the Coast to Coast cycle route as they were interested in doing it next week at some stage. We went on to Porthtowan but, alas, couldn’t find a parking space. Instead we went on to Godrevy and parked for free, now we were National Trust members. We had to use the top car park, near the lighthouse and we walked back along the beach to where the lifeguards were patrolling, so that our daughter could go into the sea with her bodyboard. After a pleasant afternoon in the sun, we headed off to Hayle to buy pasties for tea.

No wine with tea tonight, but beer in abundance. A young family arrived opposite us, on a grass pitch, in a tent. They only came from Redruth and had come to try out their new tent for a couple of nights. We lent tem a knife – they had managed to leave most cutlery and utensils at home. Our friend, his daughter and her boyfriend came across a bit later to sample the beer.

6 August 2011 – Saturday: The car and East Pool Mine

Took my wife and aughter to Porthtowan beach this morning, while I took the car in to Quik-fit. The rear off-side of the car occasionally seems to lose height. I wondered if it might be the shock absorber, but when the man at Qwik-fit looked at it he said that it was probably a leak in the air-assisted suspension. Not a job for quik-fit, so I dropped in at the local garage at North Country who confirmed the previous diagnosis. He suggested I ran the car until it became more of a problem. Still being concerned, I continued on my way and picked up my wife and daughter from Porthtowan. We headed to St Agnes head for lunch and on the way had a quick look at Chapel Porth beach, which looked well worth a visit on another occasion. After lunch we headed to the East Pool Mine (National Trust), and had a good look around, before returning home for tea, via Tescos.

7 August 2011 – Sunday: Chapel Porth and some sad news

Today we decided to go to Chapel Porth and sat on the beach for a bit. I even went for a little paddle in the sea.

We stayed for a cup of tea but then we felt one or two spots of rain. By this time it was time for lunch so we headed up to St Agnes’ Head once more, for our sandwiches.

We were just about to leave and I picked up a voicemail message from my substitute holiday organist at the Abbey, with the shock news that one of the Abbey Choir members had died suddenly yesterday. We were all shocked and went back to Globe Vale to take it all in, and to check and send out emails informing people. This evening we decided to go out for a meal at the Treleigh Arms, where we had a really good meal.

8 August 2011 – Monday: A bit of a quiet day really!

We had a fairly quiet day today and were still coming to terms with our shock news of yesterday. We went to Portleven for lunch.

After lunch we set out to find Devoran in preparation for my wife and daughter’s bike ride. On the way back we dropped of at the Range, just outside Truro to buy a wet-suit for our daughter.

9 August 2011 – Tuesday: The Lizard

Decided to head off in the direction of the Lizard today and ended up on the National Trust car park near to the Lizard lighthouse where we had lunch. After lunch we headed off to Kennack Sands, once more, where we spent the afternoon on the beach. Our daughter tried out her wetsuit for the first time. The weather was lovely and warm today and we sat on the beach for a long time. I managed to get sunburnt on my front. Still managed a shower later on in spite of sunburn, but had to treated it with after sun cream. Had some lovely steak medallions for tea – cooked on the Cadac, of course.

10 August 2011 – Wednesday: The big cycle ride!

This was my wife and daughter’s big day – the Coast to Coast Cycle ride (almost). They had been threatening to do it and were hoping for a fairly dull day to complete this task. Not so. It was a really nice day, and had they not had pre-booked, we would have probably have headed for the beach. Now my wife hadn’t been on a bike for a number of years, so was beginning to feel a bit nervous about it all. We arrived at Elm Farm at about 10am and they got kitted out. They upgraded their bikes, for an additional fee, so as to make it more comfortable and were given a map a puncture kit/ pump and a helmet. I asked for an extra map for me as I intended to shadow them in the car, waiting at strategic points with drinks.

The car route was probably more difficult than the bike route. Some of the roads were very narrow and I ended up unable to stop at the one place as I had to move on because of another vehicle wanting to get by. They seem to find the journey down to Devoran quite reasonable, but were a little ‘saddle-sore’ by the time they had arrived.

We arranged to meet at the Old Quay Inn, in Devoran for lunch. There was no car park as such, but luckily I managed to get parked right outside the pub door and waited for them. In common with many others who did the ride, we decided on lunch at the pub. There was a little wait for food and I reckon we were there for more than an hour. We ate our food on the bench outside the front of the pub and they were decent sized meals considering they were classed as ‘sandwiches’.

After lunch they began to head back. Feeling very confident, they asked me not to meet them on the way back. I went back and waited at the Fox & Hounds at Scorrier and passed the time playing solitaire on my ‘phone. It got to 4pm and I was beginning to get a little worried as they had not yet turned up. I gave them a ring and they were almost at the Fox & Hounds. It was about 4.15pm when they arrived. My wife had certainly had enough and was very tired and sore having swapped bikes with our daughter half way back. They began to realise why it was easy on the way to Devoran, but more difficult on the way back. Down hill to Devoran, up hill on the way back. Our daughter carried on back to Elm Farm but I took my wife and her bike back to Elm Farm in the back of the car. I think they enjoyed it and it was certainly another good day for weather, but I think the jury is out as to whether they would do it again.