Thursday 3 June 2010

Go West | day one

Ever since our UK tour last year, Cam has been eager for us to do another road trip. Anna said it would be good for us to go, and with the half-term holiday upon us, there seemed no reason not to. I’d mentioned that it might be cool to revisit the West Country, perhaps go as far as Land’s End, and this met with my co-pilot’s approval.

After an emotional farewell from Anna, and a jubilant “good riddance” from The Cat, we set off, making our way across the country, past Ringwood, Dorchester, Honniton and Exeter. Listening to The Lord Of The Rings audiobook, we drove around the Tolkienesque landscape of Dartmoor, and on down into Cornwall, at times wild and bleak, at times lush and verdant. Tall chimneys remain from the long-gone mining days, and we saw the scarred landscape and pyramids of debris formed by China Clay excavations as we approached St Austell.

Our hotel was ideally situated next to a Costa Coffee, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut, but we had made good time so we went immediately to the sea. On Charleston beach, we enjoyed an excellent afternoon of skimming stones and generally mucking about. We had an excellent time, marred only a little when I noticed that my iPhone had escaped my pocket, and presumably been taken by the rapidly incoming tide. We decided to purchase a pay-as-you-go phone and a quantity of Cornish Clotted Cream Fudge. Both of these may have been mistakes – the phone is from the dark ages and the fudge is impossible to stop eating.

So now, I face a few days without the net. Which, though daunting, led to an excellent evening of chess and chatting with my great friend. All in all, a great start to our Cornish Caper.

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