taraabit

March 22nd 2023

Today is the last proper day of this short trip, we have broken the trip approx half way home here at the caravan and motorhome club site. Tomorrow we will visit friends at Ilminster for coffee before finishing our journey. On route we stopped twice for breaks and site seeing, firstly Totnes and then Sidmouth.

We were last here a few years ago with motorhoming buddies Alison and Peter on a break between Covid outbreaks.

I love the “ hippy vibe” of Totnes the shops and the way people dress would give it away even if you didn’t know. I think there’s a wonderful business opportunity for someone to open “ a greasy spoon cafe” here with no healthy food just white bread, bacon, sausage etc it would make a change from all the lentil based foods on offer😊

From Totnes we headed to Sidmouth , we have never visited there before even though we have been to all the other towns along this section of coast. We enjoyed a walk along the pebble beach even though it’s was wild and windy, time was short for our visit so we only had a quick walk around town, it was very pleasant and I’m sure we will return.

It was a short hop from there to the camp site it was something of a miserable trip in heavy rain. Every evening on this trip after we have settled down we have had heavy rain and strong winds which thankfully have died down by morning.

It’s been an enjoyable trip made easier by being out of season quieter roads and less busy resorts.

March 21st 2023

We drove a total of 121 miles today on a day out from the area where we are based, we headed to Lands End. Driving was easy along relatively empty A roads.

It was rather wild and blustery and the wind had a cold edge, trying to take photos was difficult at times as the wind buffeted us.

After leaving Lands End we drove onto Penzance parking on the harbour car park which had plenty of spaces. We had a wander around the town which sadly like many other UK towns seemed a little down at heel. In the centre of the town is a statue to Sir Humphrey Davy, I only knew of him re the miners safety lamp but he was a very productive scientist in many areas.

There is a very large and active harbour at the foot of the town.

As we drove out of Penzance we drove along Western Promenade Road which gave a different impression of the town with some fine buildings.

March 20th 2023

After leaving The Eden Project we drove the short distance to the picturesque harbour at Charlestown. The harbour is set on the south Cornish coast and is the last open 18th century Georgian harbour in the UK and is a UNESCO world heritage site. There are tall ships moored in the harbour and unsurprisingly the harbour is regularly used for filming historical programmes including The Poldark series.

March 20th 2023

The Eden Project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit approx 3 miles from St Austell. It has two main domes that house thousands of plant species. The larger of the two domes simulates a rainforest environment and is the largest indoor rainforest in the world.

The second biome has a mediterranean climate and has plants from around the world with orange and lemon trees, olive groves and gnarled vines amongst many others.

In the strange building shown above was a display dedicated to micro organisms too small to see.

There are also extensive gardens surrounding the biodomes with a large range of plants, sadly we are too early in the season to see them at their best.

March 19th 2023

This morning we walked to The Lost Gardens of Heligan, from Homer’s door to the Reception was 100 metres 😂 no great strain there.

As it is Mother’s Day today I thought it would be a nice treat for Michelle ( I will get a refund from the daughters later😂) at least she got a bunch of free daffodils.

The Heligan Estate has been owned by the Tremayne Family for over 400 years and covers 200 acres. After WW 2 Heligan House was sold and converted into flats, the amazing gardens were created in the mid 18th century and continued to be developed until the beginning of the 20th century. Having fallen into a state of neglect over several decades in the 1990’s a restoration project began which continues today.

We started our exploration by taking the woodland walk path, here there were banks of daffodils and interesting sculptures.

The gardens contain aged and colossal rhododendrons and camellias, and these lead to and area called The Jungle with sub tropical tree ferns.

Closer to the original house are more formal maintained gardens, including a large enclosed vege plot which included a pineapple growing greenhouse. Several of the original buildings including the original Stewards house have been converted into cafes/ food outlets, the food looked amazing but we didn’t indulge ourselves today.

March 18th 2023.

Today we took the Pentewan Trail cycle/ footpath that runs from St Austell to Mevagissey part of the National Cycle Trail maintained by Sustrans, it passes through the campsite and we used it to get to Mevagissey, 95% of the trail we used was tarmaced so it was easy going under foot. At first it was easy walking with a gentle rise and fall along the way until you reach a steep section dropping down to Mevagissey, no problem going down but a killer coming back, altogether we walked 6.8 miles.

Mevagissey was named after two Irish Saints, St Meva and St Issey and dates back to at least 1313. It’s narrow streets lead down to its distinctive twin harbour providing a safe haven to many fishing boats that catch mackerel,skate,plaice,sole,lobster and scallops.

We deliberately chose to visit Cornwall at this time of year as it isn’t too busy, there were just enough people around to give it some atmosphere without being crowded. We were able to get served without queuing and view what we wished in comfort. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants, gift shops etc to entertain the tourist trade.

March 17th 2023

First task today was the acquisition of the LPG we needed, the app indicated that Girdano Services on the M5 had it in stock and as it was on route we headed there. Thankfully it did, although it cost a great deal more than we normally pay, beggars can’t be choosers. We then continued our journey south to our destination, it was was very windy , rained at times and 10 miles from our destination the road was closed with no alternative route given. We turned round and with some excellent map reading from Michelle did a 10 mile detour to get back on track. Just before we arrived here we clocked up our first 1,000 miles.

We are staying on this site for the next five nights, It’s very well laid out with luxury facilities, a nice treat, and is our base to explore this area of Cornwall.

March 16th 2023.

We are staying the night at this pub stop for the sum of £3 as we had a meal in the pub, very nice too.

We had to make a detour from home to Ludlow to have a fault corrected on Homer at Moran motorhomes where we bought our motorhome. We headed south from there in search of LPG, unfortunately over the past week the motorhome had decided to switch over to running the heating on gas instead of mains electricity😖We tried three different places identified on our LPG app but all had none in stock. We had identified a stopover for the night with no electric hookup but with no gas that was no longer an option,so again a quick search on the Search for Sites app threw up tonight’s stopover a pub stop which was en route for the next stage of our journey. He ho.

Sat 25th/Sunday 26th February 2023.

We have spent a pleasant two days being chauffeured and tour guided by our friends Peter and Alison who were proud to show us the magnificent scenery and places to visit in their area.

Firstly on Saturday lunchtime we met up with another good friend we had made in France, Gwen. We had a pleasant and relaxing meal in The Royal Oak a pub close to the Bolton Football ground.

Gwen was flying to Malta the next day and couldn’t spend too much time with us and after she departed the rest of us went to Rivington, there’s a lot to be written about this area but I’m not doing that here, we went for an after lunch stroll around one of the reservoirs there.

On Sunday we were collected and driven to Whalley a large village on the River Calder overlooked by Whalley Nab a large hill. It is well known for the ruins of its Abbey, a 14c Cistercian Abbey destroyed in the dissolution of monasteries.

From here we meandered our way to Clitheroe stopping en route at Stoneyhurst College the UKs leading catholic boarding and day school for 3-18 year olds.

Clitheroe is a market town with a long history towering above the town is its castle which has its origins in Norman times, it is surrounded by a very pleasant park. On our wandering around town we stopped for refreshments in a brewery which had been created in an old mill., it had a superb range of beers.

No tour of this region would be complete without a visit to and mention of The Pendle Witches and Pendle Hill whose summit rises to 557m above sea level. The trials of The Pendle Witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history. Twelve people were accused with murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. Eleven people went to trial, nine women and two men, ten were found guilty and hanged. One of those accused was Alice Nutter and we visited the village where many of her family are buried in the churchyard, Newchurch in Pendle.

We had a great weekend away, good company, a gem of a site, and a chance to get even more used to using Homer, I’m sure we will return in the near future.

Friday 24th February 2023

A swift and uncomplicated journey on mainly motorway to reach this destination. The owner was out but had left detailed instructions pinned to the gate so we were soon parked up and had the kettle on. The site is a delight well kept with fantastic views, the normal grassy camping area was a little wet so we were asked to park on a hard area near the water and electric hookup.

After lunch motor-homing buddies Alison and Peter, who live locally arrived and took us for a walk in the locality where there is a series of reservoirs filled by the River Roddlesworth and a network of public footpaths, altogether we managed a 5 mile walk and celebrated at the end with a couple of drinks in a local pub The Hare and Hounds. It is obviously a popular pub as every table was booked for an evening meal, the menu was interesting as it had a range of German dishes on it.

After Peter and Alison had departed we decided to cook our evening meal, I had just started when there was a knock on the door and the owner of the site appeared to tell us there was a power cut in the neighbourhood. Thankfully we could switch over to 12v and gas, so life continued as normal, in total the power was off for 3 hours returning at 9.15 pm.