Seaton

After breakfast this morning we walked out with Trudy & Andrew and their dogs to Kennall Vale, a beautiful woodland with remnants of it's industrial past as a gunpowder factory.

En-route as we walked through the village, we admired the colourful flowers scrambling over stone walls. There was something to admire at every turn.

At lunchtime we bid our farewells and headed into nearby Penryn where we stopped to lunch by the harbour. The tide was out, and boats sat on the mud flats in a state of collapse, waiting to be righted on the incoming tide. In the shallows a lone swan dived into the weed taking advantage of the low tide to feed. lunch eaten we drove to a nearby industrial estate to collect our grotto mirror from Creams warehouse.

The mirror seemed a lot larger than we remembered and to keep it safe for the journey we secured it across our bed. The drive from Penryn to Exmouth was long and tedious. We'd decided on this visit to

Exmouth to stay on the seafront, cost £11.00.

Mistake. After we'd showered, eaten our evening meal and taken a short walk we were displeased to see some young girls parked right next to us in their car playing music loudly. After a few words were

exchanged we decided it best to move on. Time now 9.15 pm, too late to drive to Poole, so we re-routed to Seaton where we are now spending the night.

As soon as we arrived some young men in vans admired Marge. She just an't help herself! They've gone now, but assured us we'd be O.K. here. So, here's hoping. It certainly seems very quiet at the moment. According to Google, the population of Seaton as a whole is older than the Cumbrian average (odd statistic!!!), and older than the national average.hopefully tomorrow morning the view we have now of the headland in the darkness peppered with a few lights will be fantastic in the morning.

Mean while, the logistics of the grotto mirror have to be addressed so we can go to bed!

Ponsanooth

Did the atrocious weather yesterday actually happen? And did England 'just' lose their football match with Italy?

This morning Marge and our outdoor clothing were still a little wet so once we were dressed, we moved down to the car park at Pendennis point where Marge could bath in the sunlight of a new day and we could put our soggy clothing and shoes out to dry.

As we breakfasted, enjoying 'proper' coffee from a nearby vendor we enjoyed the views across the river Fal to the Roseland peninsula, Angela shared a few left over rice crispies with the gulls. The tan and cream sails of the sailing boats billowed in the light winds as they headed for the open sea and the clouds skimmed across a backdrop of blue. It was Monday morning. It's great this van life, our Mondays are like other people's Sundays.

After a telephone call with Angela's son Chris, we packed up Marge and headed to Posanooth, just a short drive away, to visit our friends Trudy and Andrew. It is not long since we last saw them but we had plenty to catch up on as we enjoyed a salad lunch. Water topped up in Marge, we drove out to Mylor harbour from where we walked to Flushing, stopping to take in the views across the Penryn river to Falmouth.

By now the evening sun lit the boats that rocked contently on their anchors. Andrew had booked a table for a meal in the Seven stars pub for our evening meal, a welcome rest after the walk, for us, and the dogs.

The walk back to the car at Mylor, partly along Flushing beach was picturesque, tiny shells sparkled in the sand and the calm water reflected a rainbow of colours from the boats in the harbour.

It was a beautiful evening, what a contrast to yesterday.

We are now settled in Marge who is parked at the front of Trudy and Andrews bungalow. You have this spot all to yourself Marge, no need to worry who might be joining you, so enjoy.

Falmouth

Yesterday evening Tintagel reverted to a small sleepy Cornish town. It was so quiet on the main street that the local children were cycling and skateboarding up and down it quite safely. We walked over towards the path down to the castle to catch a glimpse of the sunset, sadly spoilt by the thickening cloud.

This morning the weather on the change, we revelled in the lovely spot we'd spent the night. To the right a small farm, where when we arrived yesterday cows and a bull were grazing on the lush vegetation. If only we could find more overnight spots like this. However tonight is all about the football. We need a good mobile phone signal so we can tether Angela's Chromebook to John's mobile phone.

So, our destination today is Falmouth. We saw a grotto mirror in a local shop called Cream when we visited here in early May this year. John was quite taken with it and thought it would look good in our new house, so he telephoned the shop and finding out they only had one left bought it.

That is the reason for our return to Falmouth to collect said mirror. We visited the shop this afternoon, walking down to the town through horrendous wet and windy weather dressed in our waterproofs. the hard-core holiday makers of course were in shorts and flip flops. The mirror we will collect from Creams warehouse in Penryn when we leave Falmouth on Tuesday morning. Today we purchased two handmade lampshades for our lounge and some coasters and placemats. These will be posted to us at the end of the month.

Sadly, the terrible weather has meant we have not been able to take many photographs for the blog. As we sit in Marge, her windows steamed up from our drip-drying waterproofs we can hear the haunting sound of the nearby foghorn sounding through the mizzle in the estuary. But tomorrow is another day, and the forecast looks better. Our parting quotation today taken from a sticker on a nearby van this morning is. 'Live your life by the compass, not by the clock', something we intend to do.

Sunset over Falmouth, at half time during the football.

Tintagel

Looking at yesterday's blog this morning we noticed the photograph of Marge made her look like she was in a compound in a country you wouldn't want to visit, not in the centre of a picturesque resort in north Devon. O.K. Marge let's find you somewhere nicer for tonight's photo shoot. Ready to explore more of the area we set off bidding farewell to our overnight neighbours one of which was a lady travelling with her dog as her companion. In the last two days we have seen four women on their own in vans, and why not? On one of the vans a sticker read ' the adventure starts here'. We couldn't agree more.

Today's drive took us along the Atlantic Highway. Our destination Tintagel. The weather was an improving picture with clouds like pleats punctuating a blue sky. The views expansive both coastal and country.

Arriving in Tintagel at lunchtime there was only one option for lunch, even for the dieters amongst us. It had to be pasties. One vegetable and one steak.

We knew they'd be good from their weight and because we'd eaten pasties from Pengenna Pasties before, when we visited Tintagel whilst on our honeymoon twenty-two years ago.

We decided to walk down to the beach to eat them. The path down is quite steep and for those not wanting to walk it English Heritage provide a fleet of land rovers (for a small charge) to ferry people up and down. It amused us to see you could either take a ride to just above the beach, or just half way down to the ice cream van, a journey that our friend Trudy would say was her kind of trip!

We could see coasteerers jumping from the cliffs into the sea, quite a spectacle.

Pasties eaten we set off along the cliff path above the beach where not far along Angela slipped and fell catching her arm. Feeling shaken nauseous and light headed we sat for a while, Angela head between knees expecting the return of her pasty. John noticed it could have been worse, we were precariously close to the edge. No need for a helicopter this time thankfully.

Angela feeling a little recovered, we carefully retraced our steps and headed down the steps to the beach having to negotiate some slippery rocks at the bottom. We don't learn do we! We walked into the nearby cave, the roar of the breaking waves bouncing off the rocks, then we sat for a while in the shade as Angela felt a little unwell, and watched the water of the incoming tide flash over the stones.

Then the ascent back, scrambling once again over the rocks and up the steps. Angela's wound despite being covered in antiseptic cream was still bleeding so we sought assistance at the English Heritage ticket office where a first aider was summoned.

Today has been a little eventful, but despite this we have enjoyed our time travelling along the north coast of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall with its striking rock formations and dramatic scenery.

Tonight, Marge is nestled on the edge of a small field just of Tintagel high street along with many other vans, and the cost £8.00 for twenty-four hours parking, the same as last night, for which there is no comparison.

Here she has country views and even a glimpse of the sea.

Tomorrow the weather looks to change, but we'll just go with it. Every step of a journey is an adventure, every day an introduction to new people and new sights. Bring it on!

Ilfracombe

An early start this morning as the nearby construction site sprung into life at seven o' clock. Throaty lorry engines with rasping banksman's are not the ideal alarm call. Never mind, the sun was out and the view not bad. We'd enjoyed our time in Watchet. the people were friendly, no noisy youngsters, bins were emptied and flower displays watered. If we come back to this area, we will defiantly return.

Off early to be sure of securing a motorhome parking spot in a designated area in a car park near the harbour in Ilfracombe, we embarked on a journey of narrow roads, high hedgerows, uphill and downhill and lots of bends. It's a good job Marge is quite slender as we met three coaches along the way. As you know, Marge is left hand drive, so John who sits in what he calls the 'suicide seat' near the centre line had the line of sight and had to warn Angela of approaching vehicles. All in all, an interesting drive. Arriving at Ilfracombe just before midday, Marge unscathed, we took a walk out to the pier to view Damian Hurst's statue Verity which is constructed of stainless steel and bronze and stands just over 20 metres high. The statue represents truth and justice and is on loan to the town until 2032.

Lunch in Marge, then keen to walk out again we headed over to the other side of the harbour to avoid the throngs of holiday makers, a little too many for comfort.

Rapparee Cove at the foot of steep cliffs was quiet and undiscovered by the visitors over near the town. We walked on the beach scattered with thin flat pebbles worn smooth by the movement of the sea. Sparkling in the light like an assortment of Christmas chocolate coins. Despite the signs not to climb on the unstable rocks and to be aware of fast incoming tides John picked his way across them to view the next cove.

Early evening and the car park is filling up, there are four vans at the moment and lots of cars arriving spilling out people and luggage ready to fill the accommodation in the already bursting nearby narrow streets. Meanwhile, for us it's curry night!