Oh Cornwall, you certainly aren’t lacking in rugged beauty, tasty alcoholic beverages and dairy products! After a quick break to relax after Greece, it was off again to Devon and Cornwall. I may end up being the only American to come to the UK and not see a single sight in London, but I certainly have seen a good chunk of this country in three weeks!
Devon and Cornwall were certainly impressive (minus the ill-timed hike on the moors in the pouring rain…). Other than the rainy hike, the weather was actually amazing.
We camped at this really interested campground which Paul has assured me is VERY different from any other campground in England. No caravans, just tents. And you have to walk your stuff in – you aren’t allowed to bring your car to the sites. Also, you can have campfires. Our campsite was just on the other side of a pasture of sheep and cattle so other than the occasional bleat or moo, we were in a quiet idyllic setting.
The Hole Station (which was a converted old train station in the middle of nowhere) is very big on recycling and composting everything as well as providing local produce and very fresh chicken eggs. It truly is a lovely spot to hang out.
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| The chooks |
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| View behind our campsite. |
After we arrived we took a quick trip into Bude which is on the North coast of Cornwall. It is a surfing town primarily a surfing town which is not surprising given the awesome surf and kicking wind. The tide was out when we got there – I had forgotten how huge those Atlantic tides could be!
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| This isn't even half way to where the tide was out - it was easily 500 feet. |
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| Surfers at Bude |
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| Father and son |
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| Bude |
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| Beach Shacks |
Of course you can’t to Cornwall without trying some good Cornish scrumpy! We had to cheat and go to Sainsbury’s to pick some up since we hadn’t found any on our way into Bude. Scrumpy is a farmer’s cider which varies in sweetness but is usually small batch produced. I also tried this interesting ginger beer which is an alcoholic version of the soft drink – it was tasty!
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| Ok, so Stella isn't Cornish but is sure is tasty! Hope I can get it back in the States! |
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The next day brought an adventure to the moors. We ended up in the tiny little town of Sticklepath and headed up into Dartmoor. Sadly, it was raining so I didn’t get to take any pictures. The moors were beautiful and if I hadn’t been soaked from head to toe and half frozen, I might have enjoyed it a little more. But it certainly has a haunting beauty. And the sheep! There are sheep everywhere! I’m glad it was sunny the next day so I got to get some pictures of the moors. We headed back to camp to change and then headed to Tintagel.
Tintagel was every bit as I imagined it would be. Rumor has it, this was the place King Arthur liked to hang out back in the day. I was expecting it to be far more touristy than it was but it was not nearly as chaotic and busy as I thought. The Cornish coast is nothing if not amazingly beautiful – rocky, rugged and so much greener than I imagined.
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| King Arthur Land |
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| Seaside Pasture |
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| Slate Fence |
And then I met my new love – the Cornish pasty. Oooooooh flaky buttery steak filled goodness!!!!! Amazing. Scrumptious. Drool-worthy. I am going to attempt to make them when I get home. The famed food of Cornish miners, they are not unlike an empanada – a lovely crust filled with meat and potato goodness. In Cornwall this also includes a vegetable that we have long since forgotten in the US – the rutabaga, known here as swede. They are fabulous!!!
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| Steak and Potato Cornish pasty. Mmmmmmm! |
On the way home, we had crazy adventure when Paul’s sat nav decided to take us on the most insane route back to the campsite. Country roads in England are insanity – paved, one car-wide, hedge-lined madness! The hedges are cool but certainly keep you from seeing the sweeping views of the Cornish coast and the well-kept farms.
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| A country lane. Try meeting a car head on at 50mph on these suckers! |
The next day brought another Dartmoor adventures – this time minus the rain and walking part. The moors were amazing and I have to admit I was like a little kid when I say the Dartmoor ponies which I had read about since I was in 4-H back in the day. I’ll let the pictures do the talking but it certainly is a pretty part of the country.
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| Gateway to the Moors. |
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| Dartmoor pony |
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| Dartmoor ponies hanging in the sun |
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| Baaa. |
Of course no trip to the west coast is complete without a cream tea. Cream tea is deliciousness. After a mediocre cream tea in Holsworthy, we decided just to buy the ingredients and do one ourselves. Cream tea consists of homemade scones (yum!), Devon (or Cornish) clotted cream (double yum!) and a good quality jam or preserves (mmmmm!) and of course, tea. No, it doesn’t suck.
And that is it from Devon and Cornwall! Well I’m not there now – I’m sitting on the couch with a shandy waiting for Sunday roast! But that’s a whole different blog. Just two more days in England left…
Time for the touristy shopping! You are all getting a bottle of HP sauce!
Later gators! There's a hot crumpet and another shandy waiting for me!
xoxo
