Well, not really….
Today, we departed Cornwall and continued our journey. When approaching a roundabout, our gps will announce “continue through the roundabout, THIRD exit.” Or first or second or whatever. The third exit basically means we are to turn RIGHT. We miscounted.
And so our 5 minute journey from St. Ives to the A30 in Hayle became a 30 minute trial driving down by far the narrowest lanes we’ve driven so far! At last we arrived at the A30 and began our trek north. From St. Ives to Ilfracombe, in Devon, is only 120 miles. Supposedly it would take us 3 hours. Not on these roads it doesn’t!
But first we had to detour (getting lost because we listened to the GPS) to Port Isaac. If you are a fan of British TV, you might have heard of the program “Doc Martin”. This delightful program about a successful London surgeon who develops a sort of fear of blood and so retires to the life of a country doctor in Cornwall takes place in a mythical town called Portwenn. Portwenn is, indeed, Port Isaac! The town is every bit as quaint as the tv show suggests. Though of course it is a huge tourist stop, with several shops advertising that they are the ONLY authorized distributor of “Doc Martin” souvenirs!
It’s a nice long walk down from the cliffs (on very nice wide paths) to the town and we wandered around for about an hour, then scedaddled for our next stop.
Just a short 10 minute drive (and 40 minutes later) we arrived at Tintagel. For those of us hindered by our American version of English, that’s pronounced tin TADGE l – the a as in CAT. Again, we parked outside of town and wandered around, visiting the old post office (check the photos) then wandering to the town hotel where we could view the Tintagel ruins across a little bay.
We then walked back into town, bought a Cornish Steak Pasty, and ate as we walked down the VERY steep hill to the ticket office. We saw a brief film, then went to buy our tickets. The lady suggested that there were “lots of steps, and of course there’s the bridge” and suggested we walk up to the bridge where we would be able to see the steps. There would be another chance to purchase tickets there (at about $6). Well THAT didn’t happen. You guessed it, about 50 feet shy of the bridge was yet another bridge…. and Eric was totally incapable of proceeding. I might have made it past the first bridge, but I could see the main one further up, and there was NO way I could handle it. Though, of course, the steps while hard would likely not have been too much!
I offered to go purchase a tea while Scott went on ahead but he assured me he’d done it 30 years ago and it was okay. So we turned around and headed out.
We are now settled in a very nice little place, the Score Valley Country House Hotel, a charming little B&B set quietly down a little valley. The picture we took last night before bed didn’t turn out for some reason, so after our day today I’ll get a good one, and post it!
It’s off to our Breakfast so, ta ta!
On The Road II 