23/8/26 Fowey & Polruan

 

Today we are going to the Town of Fowey - pronounced Foy apparently - and it's perched on the banks of the River Fowey . Again parking is at a premium , so we drove around town a bit before finding this elevated view over to Polruan - the town on the other side of the river . 

We drove down through the main street in Fowey , and were amazed at what we saw , I made sure Lyn was taking photo's , and then a video  , just to jog our memories later . The main street looked like it ended in front of a shop , but no it continued with a 90degree turn down the next narrow section , pedestrians hopping out of the way as we drove through at 5mph .

Couldn't believe we were driving through this .

After what seemed a long way , we came out at a ferry , so we stayed and waited for the ferry . It was 7pound 50p to go across ( about $14 Aus ) for a 100m trip across the river , but we could access Polruan , so away we went . 5 mins later we were across and off up the road , google leading us down the road .

Google then told us to turn right , so we did and it turned into a very narrow goat track - it was still bitumen , but only a small car width wide , grass was growing in the middle of the road - it was like driving down a farm track !! Hoping not to meet anyone worked for a while , then someone came zooming around a corner and found us . I reversed back , as we knew there was a gateway about 50m away , then proceeded up the track again . Managed to get to the top without more dramas , some other cars had to give way to us though .

We stopped at the obligatory top of the hill carpark , paid and wandered down to this rocky outcrop down below for some great views of the coast . The weather was amazing , and the breeze was picking up , so lots of yachts were coming out for a sail , by the time we left there were over 50 out there enjoying the water & weather.

The walk down to the harbour was great , lanes , steps & more , as well as the awesome views of Fowey on the other side of.

A couple of yachts heading out .

This was the end of the lane , for cars anyway , I'm sure you could fit a motorbike down there though .

There were some level sections of the lanes , but not many . A lot of these homes are also holiday rentals .

Continuing down to the harbour , we went past so many entrances to houses down below - they were just steps that descended out of sight . Interesting fact , they have flood gates fitted at the top of the steps to stop water running down the steps and straight in the front doors when it rains heavily . After a quick toilet stop , we headed back up the hill to the carpark . Yes the street was as steep as it looked . We actually turned into another laneway to get to the carpark in a shorter way , and it was steeper again , yes it got the heart rate up !!                                

We paused at the top to take in the view again , it was awesome !!

Some of the fishing boats were in dry dock for a repaint etc , getting ready for the season .

This was the track we walked up .

We reached the car and set off again , google took us back down the same track again , so away we went . Better luck this time , didn't meet anyone till we got back to a 2 lane road . From here we headed back toward London , finding somewhere to stay in Honiton for the night . 

Here's a map link:- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1JNordo0LJ6qwCS0IuqT19QflAn0_VP0&usp=sharing

22/8/26 Port Isaac , Trebarwith Beach & St Austell

 

    Today we head to Port Isaac , better known for the location of the Doc Martin Tv Series . We arrived to some glorious views of the coastal cliffs . There's  a parking station at the entrance to town , so we pulled up and parked there , paid for 3 hours of parking and went for a walk - about 800m down to a walking track along the cliff tops . This is the view from the carpark .

There's some magnificent houses lining the harbour .

 Most roads are narrow, steep and drop down into the valley & the harbour .

Here's the harbour beach & boat ramp .

To say it's a popular destination is an understatement , we arrived early before most , but they caught up .

There's lots of little laneways that go in & around the village - you're not sure if you should be walking up these or not - it looks like you're going into someone's yard .

We walked around and dodged people , then decided we'd wander back to the car . Found a laneway that wound its way round some back lanes and gradually took us upwards . It then turned from gradual to steep in a couple of turns . Across one wall of a house was the following quote for all to see .

This laneway turned into a street - definitely one lane only , complete with pedestrians .

 

 We left Port Isaac a bit underwhelmed , yes it was a pretty little village in some beautiful coastline , but spoilt by some over tourism - yes we were part of that . We headed up the road to the next village along the coast - Trebarwith . We wanted somewhere we could just pull over for lunch , and the carpark fitted the bill nicely . It was nice & quiet with about 20 other cars and room for plenty more . After lunch we walked down to the village to check it out , some holiday houses , a bakery , a pub , a beach complete with lifesavers , all they need is a beach . There's a tiny creek running down to the beach , it's walled off and is on the right handside of the photo .

And this is the beach , I'm sure there's some sand down there somewhere , maybe ???

There was a hotel up to the left of the beach where everyone was , but we chose to wander off again . This little house used all the available space between the road and the the rocks .

Back to St Austell , and this is our apartment - The Old Chapel .

We headed down the street for a walk , we've driven up & down the streets here every day without looking too much .

There were alleyways going in all directions . cars also drive along these 

Down on the pedestrian mall was this globe , it had lots of different patterns & designs on it . It is to represent the clay industry , all these tiles were hand made from the local clay and designed for this sphere. 

We enjoyed our walk around , chatted to a local about a strange smell , turns out it was the local brewery , so now we know . We headed back to the apartment for dinner and get ready for tomorrows adventures . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1XseR_M5wjPvyYW0g1HtCRD38t6nCNkk&usp=sharing

21/8/26 Lands End , St Just & Cornwall Point , Marazion

We went to the southern most point yesterday , so it seemed logically to go to the western point today - Lands End . We pulled up in the carpark and paid for our parking before heading in for a look . It seemed to be geared up for kids & families , with 4 different attractions to keep the kids happy & entertained , there was also a pub .  There were a couple of red phone booths contrasting the whitewashed buildings , that have souvenir shops , cafes etc.

Then there was the all important spot where you queue up to have your photo taken with the sign telling you how far you are away from various cities in the world - you do get your family name on the sign as well !! We declined , it wasn't warm enough to hang around that long 😉

There's a light house out on a rocky stretch off the coast as well .

Leaving Lands End a little underwhelmed , we headed over to the next small village of St Just - seemed appropriate to us anyway 😁 We came upon this driveway leading down to a large manor house - Forthledden House , the Warner Family so the sign said .

Continuing down the road to Cornwall Point , we had stone walls either side of the road , there were a couple of houses down below and a tower or something on top of the rocky outcrop .

We parked again , another National Trust area , so free parking for us , and went for a walk down to the houses - being used for holiday accomodation again .

We walked down past the houses , as the track continued on . We could have gone upwards to the top of the rocky outcrop , but decided to go here first .The views back across the bay were excellent , with a few more cottages perched on the side of the hill.

We followed the track around the headland and had great views back along the coast towards Land End .

The track started going upwards , and we paused to let a younger couple come down , and chatted to them for a minute or two . They were from Manchester, and down till tomorrow . They told us the track led up to the top of the hill , so we continued on .

 

The path and rockwall stopped and steps appeared , so did a small building perched on the cliffside . It was a coast watch building , manned by volunteers and you can wander in and have a chat with the volunteer , so we did . Said Hello to this gentleman in uniform and had an Aussie accent straight back at me , G,day . He was from here as a boy , but moved to Melbourne with family many moons ago , now lives in Penzance , and has done for the last 26 years , and loves it ! After chatting for about 15mins , we headed off up the steps? , rocky slope to the top , near the tower .

The views from up here were extensive and well worth the walk up . Down in the bay is a boat ramp and boat sheds . There are a couple of commercial fishermen that fish out of kayaks - filling their kayaks as full as they can , even using the buoyancy tanks to store their catch in .

In the valley on the other side are the ruins of many buildings - Boswedden Mine - mining for copper & tin in the 1900's 

The views are stunning with stone fences dividing up the hill into smaller paddocks . We also noticed there's a golf course on top of the hill just above the houses just right of centre .

We made our way back down then up to the car and headed toward Penzance for a look . Well Penzance was another big place with little parking , so we continued driving the narrow streets and found an island out in the bay - St Michaels Mount , complete with castle on top , so we set out to get there for a look .

  Finding our way round the bay was easy , but again parking was a fair walk away from anywhere we wanted to look at , so this next shot is from the cemetery . Penzance is the town in the background , and access to the castle is via a ferry - or there is a causeway at low tide apparently ,if you don't mind wet feet.

We settled for our view and headed back toward our apartment in St Austell , but with a slight deviation to Charlestown , also on the coast very close to St Austell . It's a port where they used to export clay , you can see a shute near the boat on the left . Apparently it was as dusty as hell with clay dust flying everywhere whilst they were loading up . The water in the bay didn't look very palatable - a very off browny green colour ( that was what I was seeing anyway). We walked around the bay , and there was a bridge at the ocean end to cross over , which was handy !!

A hotel , restaurant & shops beside the harbour.

Break walls protect the harbour from the prevailing weather conditions , which can be far from what we were having today .To the left of the small inflatable is a lock , so that the boats in the harbour stay afloat at low tide ???? That's where the bridge across was , across the top of the lock .

That was our day , here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xGyzEDCK1lDJ8XQKSO2440EqVb9kB_Y&usp=sharing

 

20/8/26 The Lizard

 

  Today we head to The Lizard - the southern most point of England .This part of England is quite spectacular , with rugged coastal cliffs and great views , rolling countryside and a reasonable climate due to the surrounding ocean keeping the climate a bit more stable - if that's possible 🤔 We followed some roads and took a couple of diversions to reach Housel Bay and the resort , which we parked in for a few minutes . Even down here beside the water , it's dry and parched , not it's normal green .

We drove back into Lizard - that's the town - and down Lighthouse Rd to a parking area . It is under the control of the the National Trust , so we got free parking and entry with our National Trust membership . There's walking trails here ( there's walking trails everywhere in UK ) that lead down to the cafe and also along the cliff tops , going in both directions .

It's certainly a rugged coastline here and we did spot some Grey Seals in the water , they were just there with their heads sticking out of the water - probably looking up at all the tourists .

The road down to the cafe also went further down to a lifeboat station , it certainly was a steep track !

We came back up and thought we'd have a look at the lighthouse , but no , it's now holiday rentals only .

There's plenty of narrow little lanes around this part of England , thankfully we didn't meet anyone on this one .

Along the coast a little further is the Devils Frying Pan 

And for a size comparison , a small boat cruised in and back out again .

There were great views of the coast as we drove along , there weren't too many places where you could stop & have a decent look though .

Continuing on , we headed to Falmouth and Pendennis Point . There's a Coast watch building , then a round turret which is part of Pendennis Castle .

   Back down in Falmouth to Castle Beach - we didn't see much beach , appeared to be a lot of rock shelf .

Falmouth Hotel is on the right , with further accomodation all along Cliff Road . 

 Another interesting habit in the UK , if you need to park , it doesn't seem to matter which direction you're driving , you just park , so you end up with parked cars facing all directions !

That was our day in Cornwall , more to see yet . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=19VTMVb-FdPtZ_zXxmD0FBKu3qjCpFCU&usp=sharing