Misty Cornwall

A rainy weekend in the Westcountry

Stepping off the coach in Bristol (after a refreshingly cooler ride) we had much of the day left to wander around Bristol again. We grabbed a city bus and checked Mom and Dad back in at the Downsview. This time their room was in the front, facing Clifton Down. Billy Smart's Circus was set up just across the way, and the big bay window in the room allowed for a great view of the big top.

After stopping in at home to dump off my backpack I rejoined Mom and Dad, as we got back on the city bus heading into town. We headed past the courts where a news team was interviewing some people in a murder case. Just around the corner was St. Nicholas Market. We wandered up and down the aisles for a bit, musing at the wares. Much to their amusement I showed them the shirt that said, "Alright my luvver" a very Bristolian phrase that I had been saying a lot to them in a heavy Bristol accent.

We stopped at pieminster, a local franchise of pie shops and had a nice chicken pie before heading out of the market toward the cathedral church of St. Mary Redcliffe, just across the harbour. We managed to get in for a look around just a short time before they closed. The attendant gave us each a sheet of facts and things to see within the building. This is an impressive cathedral, even amidst all of the impressive cathedrals we had seen thus far.

We headed up the road as evening was falling to Bristol Temple Meads, the main train station, and then out the side door to see Valentine's Bridge, which I had not known of until that point. We stopped in at the Wetherspoons pub nearby for a nice warming coffee. The after-work crowd was settling in.

We continued back toward town, and stopped in at Cabot Circus, the newly-opened indoor/outdoor shopping centre. This was one of three large shopping centres opening in the country this year. The other two we saw in passing: Westfield in London, and Liverpool One in Liverpool. This was only the second time I had set foot in this place, as it had been under construction the entire time I had been in Bristol. We stepped into Harvey Nichols, a high-end shop, and our jaws dropped at the sight of the price tags: gloves for £100, sweaters for £1000. I think most of the people in the store were doing the same as us. I wonder how successful such a place will be in such a place as Bristol.

We wandered in and out of the shops and then up through Broadmead, where we settled in for a nice meal of pizza, I believe one of the first we'd had on the trip. After that we were quite exhausted, and headed back to the hotel to play some crib before I walked up the road to my humble abode. I did, after all, have to work the next day.

On Friday Mom and Dad entertained themselves again, wandering down the hill to the Clifton Down Shopping Centre, and then stopping in at the Coach and Horses pub. After work, I strolled down to the car rental place and picked up what turned out to be a Mercedes. What luck have I to have two out of the three cars I've rented in Britain be Mercedes!

We went for supper that evening at the Port of Call, a little pub tucked away behind the businesses and homes of Clifton (just up the road from the Coach and Horses). We had some nice Real Ale and great meals for a decent price. It was a charmingly English sea-themed pub, with a nice patio in the back. The weather wasn't too bad, so we sat out there briefly after our meal.

The next morning, we hit the road. The weather was getting greyer, and forecast was looking gloomy, but we were determined to get down to Cornwall for the weekend. We headed down the M5, back along the route we had taken to our Somerset retreat. This time I turned off at the signs for Cheddar. We found our way into the town (known of course for its cheese, but known locally more for its cider and caves). We drove around for a while before we accidentally discovered the little villagey bit at the end. We parked the car along the busy gorge road, and headed out into Old Cheddar.

There were tea houses everywhere, and I figured we must stop in somewhere for a proper cream tea (even though that's more Cornish than Somerset). We first went to the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, which tags itself as 'The Only Cheddar Made in Cheddar.' We tasted a few cheeses and I purchased a nice oak-smoked variety. We found our tea house across the street, and sat ourselves next to the fireplace.
We ordered a pot of tea and a dessert each. Dad and I got a fruit dessert of some description with clotted cream on top, and Mom got a trifle... with clotted cream on top. It was a great snack to hold us over until our next stop.

I drove us down the road in the direction the car was pointing, which took us past the entrance to the caves and deeper into the gorge. The mountain goats were teetering above us, and cyclists were straining their way up the sloping winding road. The satnav told me I was going the wrong way, so at the first opportunity, I very carefully turned around, and headed back the way we came.

We continued to drive further and further south, into Devon and past Exeter. We crossed through the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park and stopped at a services there for a light lunch. Into Cornwall the weather was getting uglier, but the rain was not heavy, just a bit misty.

As we approached our target, the Eden Project, I listened for the satnav's directions, ignoring the blatant road signs that were passing me by. The satnav told me to take the exit, but there was no exit to take. I guess some new road construction had occurred since this navigator was last updated. We ended up travelling several miles beyond our turn to the next roundabout, where I was able to turn around and come back the other way. This time, I ignored the computer and used the old-fashioned road signs instead. Past the double roundabout and straight on. The satnav then said to go left, so I did. And down the narrow Cornish lane we went, winding our way down what is obviously a boondock route to the fairly newly constructed Eden Project.

We finally arrived at our destination, a massive network of indoor greenhouses built in an old quarry site. Unfortunately the rain was upon us, so umbrellas and rain coats were a must. We only had a couple of hours before closing, so we headed down the winding ramp into The Core, a sort of science centre. We browsed some of the exhibits there, and then headed back out into the rain to The Link, our portal to the Rainforest Biome. Inside the temperature was much warmer than it was outside. There were all kinds of tropical plants along the paths, including bananas and coffee.

We passed back through The Link to the Mediterranean Biome, which is the smaller of the two biomes. The workers were beginning to get that ready-to-lock-up look in their eyes as we finished out our tour, eventually finding our way back to the visitor's centre and up the ramp to the car. I keyed our hotel into the satnav and a short time later we arrived at the Victoria Inn in Roche, St. Austell.

The hotel exceeded our expectations for the price we paid. We really had had a mix of hotel experiences on this trip. We headed down to the pub to enjoy our last sit-down supper at a restaurant. The food was great and the ale was local.

In the morning, there was a fog about, but it slowly began to lift as the morning wore on. I had a full day planned for us, and part of it included a brief jaunt to the English Channel, just a twenty minute drive away. We drove south into Duporth and then across to the small seaside village of Charlestown. There the sun broke through and a rainbow formed over the houses. There were tall ships in the harbour and some kind of period drama being filmed onboard one of the them. We stood and enjoyed the great sea air for a bit and then headed back to the car to head back northward.

We travelled back the way we had come, through Dartmoor and then up the M5. We eventually came to Glastonbury, a strange town in Somerset. Known for several things, such as its ruined abbey, large hill topped with a tower and the annual music festival that shares its name, Glastonbury is a lively town, even on a Sunday. I had hoped to visit the abbey, but wasn't expecting the entry fee, so we decided to move along and make the most of the remaining daylight.

Our next stop, just up the road was the old town of Wells, which has a most impressive and unique cathedral, with a scissor-shaped quire screen. The cathedral dates to 1180, certainly one of the oldest we had seen. We also stopped briefly at the Bishop's Palace, a large fortified estate surrounded by a moat.

Our last stop before heading back to Bristol, was the historic Georgian city of Bath. We parked at Victoria Park and I proceeded to give Mom and Dad the historic walking tour of the city, starting with the famed Royal Crescent. From there we headed to the Circus and then into the city centre, past the baths and the historic abbey, eventually stopping in at a pub for a cup of coffee and a rest. We ventured into the park and across the Pulteney Bridge to admire the weir, before heading back toward the car.

Back in Bristol we had a bit of trouble at the Downsview. Mom and Dad had spoken to the owner about their late arrival. She was going to be out, but she said she'd leave the key to the room on the window sill. When we arrived and rang the bell, no one answered, so we proceeded to throw pebbles at the upstairs window to alert another guest to let us in. He came down and did so, and we found a key on the table beside the door. It turned out to be for room nine, the room Mom and Dad had had on their first stay. The room, however, had been stayed in. After much frantic searching we contacted the owner on her mobile and soon realised that the key to their room was on the outside window sill. Problem solved.

We decided to go for a traditional fish and chips for our last meal together in England. Dad and I walked around the corner, down Whiteladies Road to Fishers and picked up the food. Back at the hotel we enjoyed the tasty meal that would prove to feed me with leftover chips the next evening.

In the very early morning, I picked up Mom and Dad and all their stuff at the hotel and we set off down the M4 for Heathrow Airport. It had been a very full and enjoyable visit, and despite a few spots of rain, the weather had been brilliant. At Heathrow we said our goodbyes. I waited for word that their plane had departed before heading back to Bristol to return the car.

Just a few short weeks left in England for me.

Cheers.

Photo credits: Mom