Brian and Barbara RV'ing: Cornwall

Finally I drove Beryl home before going back and watching the Glastonbury music festival on TV and eventually getting to bed.

At last, all our family obligations fulfilled it was time to head out again. We returned the rental car, said our goodbyes and hit the road.

We have been wanting to visit the far South West of England for some time. It’s very picturesque with small fishing villages and tight steep hills. It is contained mainly in the counties of Devon and of Cornwall. The Westernmost point in England is called Lands End and is in Cornwall.

Being the “No Plan Kids” we intended to avoid Interstates (Motorways) as much as possible. Our friend Kit from our motorcycle days and with whom we shared a fun Steam Rally last year (add link), had mentioned a Pub Stop he liked not far from where he lives.

If we haven’t already explained Pub Stops it’s a movement where landlords of some pubs around the country allow motorhomes to stop overnight in their car parks on the proviso that the motorhomers buy drinks and dinner in their pub.

We love it and have found some really nice places that way using a UK app called “Searchforsites” which is very easy to use and is free.

Huge field for camping outside the Dockers Club

Nice welcoming bar inside.

The first stop was on the Severn River at a place called the Sharpness Dockers Club. Dockers are the Stevedores of the British waterfront. The trade has mostly gone away now due to containerization but their Social Club lives on! A huge area of land with enough parking for hundreds of motorhomes, they have reasonably priced drinks and a reasonable menu. Kit brought Poppy down in his motorhome and we enjoyed his (and her) company immensely.

Kit's dog Poppy

During one of our conversations Kit mentioned a good stop near Exeter called the Swan’s Nest and we followed his suggestion the next evening,. Thanks again Kit!

All dressed up for the 4th of July

The roads got twistier and narrower the further west we went and by the time we got to Perranporth some of them were single lane. Luckily there are frequent wider passing points because cars, vans, motorhomes and trucks use these roads frequently. If a truck is coming the other way you might have to back up 30 yards or more to a passing point where he can get by! A real test of driving skills.

Cornish seaside

At Perranporth we parked the van for a week and rented a car. Much easier to get down the narrow roads and to park in the tiny villages.

The rental car, dropped off and picked up from the campground.

Which brought up one of the problems down in this part of the UK. There are very few places to park in the picturesque places. You may have to park up to a mile away and hike down and back up some extremely steep hills to get to the places. Those places are also usually packed with tourists.

Many TV series have been filmed in Cornwall. Doc Martin is filmed in a real village and Poldark is filmed around this county and the county east of here, Devon.

We didn’t get to many of the famous places due to the crowding and lack of places to park but we did get to some nice places.

Special sign at Lands End for July 4th

Lands End had to be on the list just for it’s location. Travel west from this point and look for North America to be the next land mass you come to! Very tourist and expensive. We got it out of our system and moved on

Most of Cornwall has steep cliffs looking out over the sea.

Perranporth is a little beach vacation spot with a big bay. We enjoyed a few of the local bars and restaurants there.

Perranporth Harbor with the tide out

Down the road a short way is a place called “The Eden Project” that was built in a disused open cast mine. It consists of a couple of large “Biodomes”, plastic bubbles, and contains different artificial habitats such as a rain forest and a Mediterranean area. Lots of colorful plants and some small creatures too, well worth a day out. Similar in most respects to the “Biosphere” near Tucson Arizona.

The Eden Project domes

Another unique place is the “Minac Theater” which is an outdoor amphitheater carved out of a cliff starting in the 1930’s and all done by hand for a private owner. They stage performances regularly and each day an actor portrays one of the actual workers who built it.

Minac Theater clings to the cliff.

St Mawes has a castle and a nice little harbour. It has protected Falmouth and Truro from invasion for centuries, it was a fun drive there and we got to ride a chain ferry across the Truro River to get there.

St Mawes Fort

Fascinating Harbour of St Mawes

Our favorite place was probably Mevagissey, another quaint little harbor where we happily spent a day wandering to narrow streets and admiring the brilliant colours of the boats and houses.

When the tide goes out it really goes out!

Fun sailing boat

Gorgeous colors

The most awe inspiring was probably Tintagel. This is thought by some to be the birthplace of the legendary King Arthur, him of the Knights of the Round Table and the sword Excalibur. The castle is on the crest of a very steep hill on almost an island and must have been unassailable in its day. Luckily they built a pedestrian bridge across the chasm to make it easier to access, and there is a Land Rover shuttle service from the town to the bridge and even further down to the beach at the very bottom.

What a bridge!

Very pretty ruins

outstanding sea views.

And a Land Rover ride up the steep road!

An eerie statue looks from the very top of the fortress across to the mainland.

Such a great statue

the face of King Arthur??

With other days out to Truro and Padstowe the week went by really quickly and we had to decide where to go next.

Barbara has an urge to visit the Isle of Wight further east along the south coast of England so we picked a few likely spots to stop and looked for places to stay.

Our first stop was in a fortress! A place called Whitsand Bay Fort Holiday Park. It is in an actual fortress with the gun emplacements still intact and little tunnels for protection and ammunition storage dug into the cliffs.

Gun positions at the ready

Spooky tunnels.

These and a seemingly endless amount of other fortifications protect the harbour of Plymouth. Famous as the place Sir Francis Drake supposedly played bowls whilst the Spanish Armada bore down on England it has been one of the major Naval bases in England seemingly for ever.

Sir Francis Drake

He supposedly played bowls while the Armada approached

Playing the game of Lawn Bowls

The original Edistone Lighthouse

Royal Navy War Memorial

We also visited Devonport at the bottom of the bay. Also a major Naval establishment in days gone by. The Royal William Yard. Once the main supply base, it is now upscale housing, restaurants and bars.