Cornwall.
We headed South from Twickenham to Tintagel, but detoured slightly to Stonehenge- afterall when i went to Cornwall as a child we used to always go past Stonehenge, so why not now too- only difference is that 30 years later there are lots of new roads in place, and I actually didnt have to go past there.
It was about an hours drive from London. When we arrived it appearred a big money making scheme. You had to pay to get into the carpark- there was no where else that people could park, and then you had to pay 7 pounds each to get into Stonehenge. We were lucky though, just flashed Uncle Nobbys card at the carpark and entrance to stonehenge and we didnt have to pay a cent- or pence. As you enter in, you are each handed an audio guide. They have different numbered posts around the henge, where you stop, enter the number on your audio guide and then hear all about the significance of what you are looking at. Most of it was really interesting - without it we would have thought that we were just checking out some old stones that didnt really mean all that much to us after all. But with it we learnt lots.
One thing that stood out at Stonehenge was that there was a constant flow of people (100's) around the stones whilst we were there, and they spoke lots of languages. People were flocking there from all over the place - a bit like us i guess.
We eventually arrived in Tintagel around 5.30. Woottons is a lovely little country hotel, owned by uncle Ian and aunty Felicity. Hazel showed us to our rooms. Everyone was excited to be in a hotel. Josh and Dillon shared a room, and me and Dom had a room. It was nice that all four of us were able to sleep in our own beds. We had amazing views from our room. From the girls room we could see the old church up on the cliffs, and from the boys room, you looked across the cliffs towards King Arthurs castle, you could also see the sea.
Once we unpacked the car, and made ourselves a drink, we went off to look around Tintagel, until Uncle Ian returned from fishing. We walked around the village - it had changed a little bit since i was little, but not much at all. I was suprised though that my grandads old doctors surgery had now been converted into a fish and chip shop, and they had replaced the old leadlight windows with normal glass. I asked the owners when they had done that, and introduced myself. They said that they had heard stories about the old doctors - people in the waiting room, could hear the doctor and patients conversations! After making conversation we grabbed fish and chips for dinner, then headed back to the hotel.
We all sat in the bar with uncle Ian and aunty Felicity catching up on stories from the past. It was a really nice time. They are both lovely people. They didnt charge us at all to stay in the hotel, or to drink and eat. I commented to Uncle Ian that it was a shame we never saw much of them when we were children. They sugested to us some things that we could do the following day, and invited us to come down for breakfast - uncle Ian makes the most amazing breakfasts. Each morning we had a cooked English Breakfast, toast, coffee juice etc, it was lovely. We were made to feel like kings and queens, the whole time we were there.
We walked upto the old church from the hotel. When we first arrived it was full of tourists with a tour guide, who was speaking loudly to their group about the church - despite signs asking people to be peaceful. We sat and waited and eventually they left, then it was peaceful just like it used to be. It was lovely there. Graves were from the early 1800's - the ones that we saw, and their were lovely stained glass windows. It was a really special place. We lit candles, and sat enjoying the moment.
We then continued on along the cliffs, for a few miles to Trebarwith strand. it was lovely on the cliffs, Dillon descended some of them, for photos etc. I decided it was best to walk on ahead rather than worry that he might fall, as there was nothing that i could do to stop him embarking on his adventure across the slate (loose slate) cliffs. Walking the cliffs bought back lots of memories from when i was a little girl - it was like being in a timewarp.
Eventually we got to Trebarwith, which is a beach, that has lots of rocks, that form rockpools when the tide is out. It was an incredible day, and it seemed like all of Britain had gone to the beach. People had found flat ledges onhigh rock where they sat their deck chairs, and perched themselves, it was amazing- so different to back home. After our long walk we decided that pasties would make a good pub lunch. The pub wanted 8 pounds each $16, so i politely declined and went elsewhere a few meters down. It cost 2.50 there! We enjoyed our pasties, then went onto the beach. Dom spotted a crab i a rock pool, it was about the size of the palm of a hand. We went to take a photo, but someone else had heard her, and grabbed a net. They quickly scooped the crab up in a net and put it in their bucket, much to the shock of me and dom.
When it came time to leave we went to text Uncle Ian who had kindly offerred to come and pick us up at the end of our walk. There was no cellphone reception, so we started to walk up the hill back towards Tintagel, in the hope that we would get some reception. After walking one mile up hill, in the heat, we still had no reception, so we continued on along the main road, until we found a payphone. Once back at the hotel, we rested for a little while and then me and Dom headed down to King Arthurs castle (aka Tintagel castle). It was mostly ruins but was lovely to walk around. In the end i decided that people in the days of the castle, would have had massive calf muscles as they were so many steps to climb, and most of them were quite steep. We also went down onto Tintagel beach, and entered Merlins cave, which is where Legend says that King Arthur and Merlin used to meet. After all of our walking that day we had a nice early night.
Next day we got up and had another look around Tintagel. Me and Dom went into the old post office, and looked around - it wasnt at all as i remembered it - maybe cos i remembered it as a shop, not a national trust property. We then headed off to Boscastle - apparently my grandad used to visit the Cobweb Inn lots- and there was a chair in then - kind of like a memorial to him. Uncle Ian had told me that if i asked behind the bar, they would show me the chair. So in we went--hahahahha-- there were loads of old bottles hanging from the ceiling, and it was clear that the old bar had lots of character. I ordered our drinks, and the girl asked if there was anything else, so i said yes - i would like to see my grandads old chair. She looked at me blankly, so i said his name and said he had a chair there, she still had the blank look. Then a man behind the bar, said that the chair was out in the garage as it had broken, i laughed, had my drink and left- funny.
We looked around Boscastle, and saw an old witches museum, i didnt go in, but thought about a friend at work, and laughed as i remembered the time that i wouldnt go into hell pizza, because of its name. I wouldnt go into the witches museum either. After Boscastle we went to Bysinney beach. You had to walk half a mile across the cliffs, and then went down to the beach. It was a nice little beach, with an elephant rock. The tide was out, and there were loads of winkles and mussels. We didnt have any spare bags with us, so couldnt get any.
We had a lovely time in Cornwall, and had a great time at uncle Ians. It was a shame that other family werent available.
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