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Sunday 4 September 2011

'Warning' Long Rambling Post with lots of Holiday Photographs!

Euan was very proud of his big pile of sand, it is called 'The big mountain'!  Has you ever seen 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'?
Henry was very proud of his 'Big Hole' I think he was trying to reach The Antipodes.
Lacey loves the beach too.
The Cornish coast is excellent for swimming, once you are all kitted out.  Beach shoes are necessary to avoid Weever Fish.  They have spines that can give a painful sting if they are trodden on.  Does anyone actually know if they can sting through shoes?  There are a lot of surfers, body boarders and Surf Schools in Cornwall.  The Life Guards did a brilliant job keeping everyone safe.
The boys enjoyed splashing around.
They practiced their swimming, while I enjoyed the views...

and breathed in the sea air.
The Beach at Bude was very busy.  My Mom was well organised so we could enjoy a flask of coffee on the beach.  I was happy not to swim in the sea, I did consider it though as I liked the idea of being rescued by a Life Guard.  The furthest I got was to roll my trousers up and have a paddle.  We had to have the customary 'Fish and Chips' at the seaside on one occasion.  On other trips we indulged in the odd Proppa Cornish pasty or two!  It may be a while before we visit Cornwall again so it really had to be done.
We also had a trip to the small Cornish village of Boscastle.  This was an interesting little place.  I loved the stone houses and the setting.  Boscastle had a terrible flood in  August 2004.  It has been predicted as a once every four hundred years event.   It was hard to imagine the devastation seven years ago, on our visit in August 2011.
The village has recovered well and it was a thriving little tourist village on the day of our visit.  We enjoyed Cornish ice cream.  Euan had 'Charlie Chocolate' Flavour, Mom and I were more adventurous with 'Lavender and Honey' Flavour.  Dad stuck with good old 'Rum and Raisin'.  Euan and I visited the Witchcraft Museum.  We enjoyed looking at the Mandrake roots and strange artifacts.  It was interesting to learn about the history of the persecution of 'Witches' and to read accounts of witchcraft trials.  Much of the museum was destroyed in the flood, but 90% of the artifacts were saved.
The flood level is marked on the door of the Museum, you can just about make out the green rectangle on the left hand white door.
As I start back to work tomorrow after a Summer of adventures, I have decided to make this a bumper post and share my holiday snaps.  I have one more visit I would like to share with you.  In a previous post I talked about the Grave of King Arthur at Glastonbury Abbey.  This was a visit to discover the place of King Arthur's Birth, Tintagel Castle.  We parked the car in 'King Arthur's Car park, walk past King Arthur's tea shops and gift shops and started a steep decent down a hill past some classic Cornish views.
I have a few sprigs of Montbretia that grows in my garden.  In Cornwall it is a prolific wildflower.  Beautiful.
This flower always makes me think of Cornwall, it lines almost every road you drive down.
English Heritage own the site at Tintagel.  Which has a Website here.  This is one of the sites that is said to be Camelot Castle, home of King Uther Pendragon, King Arthur's Father.  Many pilgrims visit the site and attempt to search out the truth.   I am not sure I discovered the truth, but if I thought climbing Glastonbury Tor was hard work this place made it look like small fry!  When you had climbed down the steep hill, you had by my definition a massive climb up to the Castle.  I saw about half the site and was more than happy to leave it at that!  Besides they have a Facebook page Here I can learn more from that!  Poor Euan seems to have inherited my Vertigo and got quite upset, he refused to go any further and was only happy on flat, solid ground away from the edge!  Even the beautiful view of 'Merlin's Cave' didn't wash with him.
It certainly is a magical place.
How it was built right up there I will never know and more to the point who would want to?
I am not sure if the gentleman in the left of the picture is real or not, he seems to be carrying a sword and a knights helmet.  I may have captured a photograph of an apparition!
My parents managed to get to the summit, but kindly assured me I did not really miss anything.  There was however a 'Well' right at the top.  I have a thing for wells.
I can't quite believe I managed to take this photograph from such an elevation.  I do not put myself in the situation to get a 'bird's eye view' very often and of course 'What goes up, must come down!'  I am not too ashamed about the traffic jam I caused on the decent as Euan and I clung to the handrails and crawled like crabs, slowly all the way to the Gift shop!  We very sensibly paid through the nose to take a Land Rover trip back up the very steep hill to 'King Arthur's Car Park', where we purchased another Cornish Pasty, Cornish Clotted Cream, Scones and Strawberry Preserve.  You gotta keep your strength up in these situations.
I think it is about now I end my story of Summer holidays and Adventure, I have my work bag to sort and my shoes to clean for tomorrow.  The boys are back to school on Wednesday.  It is sad, but in a strange kind of way I can settle down, back into routine and have a bit of a rest!  Bob the budgie and the chickens are glad to have us back.  I may even squeeze in some craft time again.

13 comments:

  1. Wow what a lovely holiday!!! I too don't like dizzy heights and would have tight hold of the rope!!!
    Argh Weaver fish!! Nasty critters... I remeber a few years ago on a camping trip in Norfolk my friends daughter got stung by one, but at the time we didn't know what it was. We couldn't see a thing and boy did she howl! We all feel very guilty becasue after an hour she was told to calm down now, yes we know it hurt but there was nothing to see it must have just be something sharp. She kept crying so to the hospital we went, even they didn't think of it or spot the sting. A few days later a huge nasty sting made its way out of her tiny foot and a camping neighbour who was a doc recognised it straight away as a weaver sting! Poor baby, she was about 7 at the time!!
    Welsome back to reality, I hope it wasn't too much of a shock to the system!
    Jane X

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  2. Wow! What a trip! I think it's safe to say you've had quite a cultural/educational holiday over the past month or so! As fun as it is to visit new places and do new things, it's always nice to get back home and into a comfortable routine again. I hope you settle back in happily and get around to enjoying your craft time once more :)
    ~Lacey

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  3. Cornwall is now firmly laced on my list of places I MUST visit!!
    Your photos are incredible, especially the ones of Merlins close!
    I find that the older I get, the more scare of heights I become, where I used to be relatively fearless in climbing mountains, now that I do it with children, I become quite afraid

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  4. great holiday photos thanks for sharing it makes my holiday in Scarborough look tame but there again we are a couple of oldies lol
    I've always wanted to visit Bocastle and now i have done through your blog

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  5. Oh wow, what a great time you all had! I loved seeing the ruins and all. My, what a work out! Thanks for sharing the photos of a lovely place I shall probably never see. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  6. Looks like you had a lovely holiday and photos are great :) x

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  7. It looks so wonderful there, and it looks and sounds like you had a lovely time :) xxx

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  8. Your holiday photos are beautiful and it looks like you all had a wonderful time. I will now make it a priority to visit Cornwall, a new one for my bucket list :) I totally empathise with the vertigo, it is not fun.

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  9. Gorgeous post Lucy! Photos are fantastic, what epic views.
    Glad you had a good holiday.
    I wonder what kind of car King Arthur parked in his car park? seems he had a good thing in the afternoon tea emporium line too eh?
    Love
    Tickety-boo
    xxxx

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  10. Lovely photo's :)
    My other half and I often go surfing at Summerleaze beach in Bude, where you were - it's a lovely beach! I'm glad you thought the lifeguards did a good job, my best friend is one of the lifegurads there!
    I'm glad you enoyed your holiday - thanks for sharing the photo's :)

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  11. Looks like you all had a wonderful holiday, always nice to come home though.
    I remember the Boscastle flood, glad to see things have recovered.
    I'm off to Cornwall next month, friend coming over from Canada, we too will be enjoying the views and doing more walking than swimming.
    Carol xx

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  12. this post is fabulous and your photography is amazing!
    your sons are so handsome and look like really nice caring sort of chaps. you must be ever so proud of them.

    i think weaver fish can sting through flimsy footwear like flip-flops and you have to be careful not to sit on them too!

    i was stung by a jelly fish on holiday in Scotland as a child. that was pretty painful. on the same holiday i got attacked by a gigantic eel, had my arm fractured by a goat and went down with mumps. it was still a great holiday though! i love Scotland.
    on subsequent holidays, i have been bitten by a rabbid dog. chased by an amorous sea-lion and had my arm fractured by a goat(again).

    it's been wonderful catching up with your blog again, i've really enjoyed it. you write such lovely and interesting posts.

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  13. Your holiday photos are beautiful and it looks like you all had a wonderful time. I will now make it a priority to visit Cornwall, a new one for my bucket list

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