Monday 5 October 2015

And Back to Devon

And Back to Devon

Friday 2nd October 2015

Today we left the Tardis intending to cycle to Lizard to buy Cornish Pasties for lunch from 'Ann's Pasty shop www.annspasties.co.uk/ - a place that is supposed to sell the 'best' pasties in Cornwall.   We 'd visited a couple of times before, but on both occasions it was quite late in the afternoon and the shop had 'sold out' and was closed, so this time we set of with a plan to get there just after mid-day.  However, on the way we got talking to the owner of a local campsite and he told us that, as the business had grown in size and popularity, it's quality had diminished! Therefore, I asked him where he would recommend and he advised us to go to Ruan Minor because it was there that the ladies who used to work for Ann had set up their own shop called 'Leggy's'.   Luckily Ruan Minor was on our planned route so we decided to delay our lunch for the time being!  

We continued on our way which led us to Cadgwith - a tiny fishing port that is in a dip between two Bloody SERIOUSLY steep hills - one we rode down clutching our brakes for dear life, and the other we walked up with a fair bit of huffing and puffing!   


Entering the village is like stepping back in time with it's huddle of lovely thatched cottages and the shingle beach where fishing boats can be seen hauled up onto the beach following delivering their catch to the tiny fishmongers that shares the thoroughfare with cafes  and  gift shops.  Sadly, I forgot to take a picture, but because it was so unique I've pinched one from Google to give you the general idea!

From here we didn't have far to go until we reached Ruan Minor and had the opportunity to purchase said pasties.  The lady asked me if we wanted medium or large - I'm very glad I opted for medium - they were about a foot long and very VERY hot.  In fact they were so hot we couldn't eat them straight away so we popped them into our saddle bags and cycled on to Poltesco where we found a small garden area belonging to the National Trust.


As we approached we thought we could see a woodpecker but it turned out to be a Koppaburg. 😂 (I'll try harder next time!)

Anyway, by this time our pasties had been in our possession for about 15 minuets but they were still boiling and much finger blowing and sucking air occurred in our attempts to eat them but not burn ourselves, - they were the best pasties so far!

After our feast we continued on our way to Goonhilly Downs which is a huge expanse of heath-land that provides a diverse habitat for lots of wild plants that are so rare that they are found almost nowhere else in England, and it also home to all manner of creatures great and small.   It is also here that a good number of satellite dishes loom out of the landscape belonging to Goonhilly Earth Station, and apparently the site's main claim to fame was for receiving the first ever transatlantic satellite TV images broadcast by Telstar on the 11th July 1962. Additionally the site was also used in the Second World War as a link in a chain of radar stations that scanned the skies for hostile aircraft, and now, it is  a fully operational satellite communications teleport that carries business internet data and is a command and control centre gateway for controlling various satellites.  And finally the site provides a nature reserve and  visitor's centre but presently the latter is closed for refurbishment so we rode on by.

Old Arthur - Involved in the Telstar communication
Our ride was about 27 miles altogether, and as you can see from the pictures the weather was still being very kind to us so very enjoyable it was to!

Arriving Home (I beat him)

Saturday 3rd October 2015

Another moving day, but on the way we visited Helston to do some shopping at the Farmer's Market - lots of goodies to choose from - our basket was filled with goodies such as monk fish, steak, goat's cheese and olives to name but a few!

And then we continued onto our new home at Doubletree Farm Campsite near St Austall where we thought we would be stopping for 3 nights - but it wasn't to be!   We had a water problem !  Usually, when we travel we do so with empty water tanks because this reduces our overall weight and improves our fuel consumption - and this time was no different - we had maybe 20 litres of fresh water on-board.

When we arrived the owner informed us that there had been a burst water main somewhere nearby but that it had been repaired, so although the water had been discoloured it was now ok .  Luckily, the water tap was far enough away from the van for us not to be able to use our hose to fill the tank -  our other method is to fill our 25 litre container and manually pour it in, but as John started to fill it I could see that the water  was a horrible muddy colour, so obviously we discarded it.  We tried leaving the tap running to see if it would clear but it didn't - and then the water went off altogether.  Later, apparently the water board delivered some water to the site owner - 5 litres for the whole camp site!   We just about managed overnight with what we had on board, but when the problem wasn't fixed by morning we decided we had no choice but to move on, because by then all the local shops had sold out of bottled water.


A beautiful camp site with fantastic far reaching views 

But no Water!

Sunday 4th October 2015

We left Doubletreabout 11am and made our way to Lanhydrock,  A Victorian Country Home that was gifted to  The National Trust in the 1950s.  The house can trace it's origins way back to the 1600s, (when sacrilege was committed and it was painted first red and then yellow!), and it's history also includes it's devastation by fire in 1881. The owners at that time died within a year of the fire and then  Thomas Charles 2nd Lord Robartes, inherited and rebuilt it to make a family home for his wife Mary and their ten children. 

Apparently somebody painted it red, then yellow - I'm glad it's been restored!

Usually, touring stately homes isn't top of our list of interesting activities but this one was different.  Many of the rooms contained a little something that made them more interesting - real bread and butter and vegetables in the kitchen, and lots of personal artefacts in many of the other rooms, and that, along with information boards and very knowledgeable guides brought the whole place alive and you could easily imagine the family living there - it was quite a special  experience!

Spits for Roasting whole animals

The bread might be stale but it was real!

Luckily these weren't real!







There were certainly some strange characters in there!
And Magnificent Gardens

We're now settled in at our new campsite, The Woodlands  near Dartmoor.  It's  another ACSI site that has only cost us £10.20 per night, and apparently they have a Theme Park attached with free entry for campers - no roller coasters but plenty of big slides - maybe we'll relive our childhood and have a go tomorrow!  I'll let you know how we get on.

Click to see our UK Camping spots

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