Saturday 23 May 2009
I set off in my car at 9.30am from Surrey and headed south on the motorway. There was a bit of traffic, but it gave me the perfect opportunity to take some pics of Stonehenge out the window. Boy am I glad I've never bothered to go there! It's very disappointing. Very small and unexciting! and why pay 20 quid or so to stand and stare from about 20 metres away, when you can see just as well from your car window driving along.
After about 5 hours I arrived in Exeter, Devon and had a short break. I've never driven that far before.
I head off again and arrived at my first stop - Boscastle, a cute little village in North Cornwall.
I didn't stay long cos you have to pay to park, what a ripoff.I then drove onto Tintagel. I had planned to stay here, but it was very small and quiet and was still early in the afternoon and I had plenty more to see, so after taking a few snaps I set off for my next stop - Port Isaac.
Now, it was very interesting trying to drive into this tiny little fishing village, with steep and narrow streets, but I got in and found a place to park.
Port Isaac is the village seen in the English tv show Doc Martin. I was here on Saturday, but if I was there on Tuesday, I could have seen the show being filmed. Oh well. I stayed here for quite a while, wandering around town and taking lots of photos, it is a very cute town and well worth a visit.
Next stop, Rock. This village was a suggested visit by the woman I work for but not really worth it. Very quiet and the cafe's are very expensive, so I then headed for Padstow and to find Treyarnon, another place I was considering to stay the night.
The sun was starting to go down when I arrived and they had one bed left - for $50 in a share dorm, um, no thanks, that's a bit steep, so off I went again. I figured I would stay at a hostel I know of in Newquay, but when I arrived in town, it was dark and I didn't know what street it was on.
So now I was in a bit of a pickle. It was about 9pm and I had not yet found a place to spend the night. I decided to just start driving and stop off at a caravan park along the way and sleep in my tent. At 10pm, I finally found a campsite with room for me, only problem, I'd forgotten to pack sleeping gear, as I thought I would be staying in a hostel with a bed. Oops. So I decided to sleep in the car.
Wow! That was the most uncomfortable night of my life! Even more uncomfortable than the time I slept in a tent with just my sleeping bag and no mat on a rocky surface in the African bush! Oh and it was friggin freeeeeezing! I had on a jacket and covered myself with a towel, but nothing made me warm. I think I got about an hours worth of sleep.
I was so glad when I woke up and saw that it was 7am so I could head off for my second day of adventure...
