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The Path To Polzeath
Something is slightly different this morning as we stir from our slumbers, though it takes us a few minutes to register that it’s the air coming in through the bedroom window: it’s even colder than yesterday. A quick peek through the curtains reveals white grass and sparkling roof tiles – so here we are in mid April, way down in the South West which rarely sees harsh winter, with a proper, sharp frost to start our second day. Whatever happened to that global warming thing??! Today’s walk takes us along the northern side of the estuary from Rock to Polzeath, so we begin with the ferry across the River Camel…
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Cornwall Coastal Path
When you really fall in love with a walk, when you genuinely do have a favourite, your love of it doesn’t diminish with the number of times you walk it, in fact, if anything, you love it just a little bit more each time. And this is one of my favourite walks, probably anywhere, and Michaela has now fallen for it too. It’s still a little cold for the time of year here in the UK and England is struggling to shake off the winter; even on a beautiful day like today, the air has a crispness to it which is normally gone by mid April. But today, set relatively…
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Welcome To Padstow
In truth it feels more like “welcome home”, so often have we visited this lovely place down the years that returning to Padstow often feels like coming home. To get here is a 320-mile, five and a half hour drive from our actual home but our drive down was stress free and sunshine virtually all the way, and arriving to see the picturesque estuary and harbour bathed in the afternoon sun was a treat. The current COVID restrictions mean that only outdoor catering is permitted, and a quick reconnaissance around the harbour established that just 2 of Padstow’s 6 pubs are open, augmented by a number of eateries serving outdoor…
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Cornwall Calling
We aren’t yet in a position to organise any foreign trips but with COVID restrictions easing we can at least now travel within the UK and so tomorrow we head off down to Cornwall, where we will be based in Padstow for the next ten days. We are fortunate enough to own a property in Padstow itself, which we rarely get to visit in high season as in normal times it is used as a holiday let to provide some income in our retirement, but this year we are so starved of travel that we’ve snaffled a few weeks for our own use – in fact we will be there…
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Photographic Memories #17
Photo #17: Cornish Sunset Our last photographic memory featured a sunset, and whilst on that subject we shouldn’t move on without mentioning Cornwall. I have been a regular visitor there for over 40 years now, and still get a feeling of excitement every time we cross the River Tamar and pass the Cornwall boundary sign. Having travelled to many wonderful places around the world, the Camel Estuary, with its heart at Padstow, remains one of our very favourite places on Earth. There’s actually two photos today, in the first you can see the twinkling evening lights of the village of Rock across the estuary dwarfed by the glowing sky, and…
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Two Sides Of The Coin
As England takes strides to relax the COVID restrictions, we find ourselves experiencing the consequences of the changes from both sides. We are lucky enough to own a small cottage in the beautifully picturesque harbour town of Padstow in Cornwall – you can view it HERE – which is for the most part a holiday let. We have used the lockdown period to have some works carried out at the property, leaving us with some making good to do in the form of decorating and new flooring, figuring that there would be an amount of time to get this done before we could reopen for guests. That wasn’t how it…
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Legends, Kings & Storms in Wet and Wild Cornwall
With just a couple of weeks left before our travels we take one more trip down to Cornwall. We arrive at the tail end of Storm Brendan battering the UK, the Cornish coast is being buffeted by the strong winds and the Atlantic is crashing in making a dramatic scene. The Atlantic is in an angry mood. So after reacquainting ourselves with some of the Padstow pubs on our first evening, we spend the first full day here battling the elements at Tintagel, Boscastle and Port Isaac. Tintagel is of course the legendary site of King Arthur’s castle, with its wonderful tales of Merlin, Arthur and the Knights of the…
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Padstow & The Camel Estuary
A visit to Padstow, one of our favourite places and probably the last time before our epic journey around the world
