Now for the rest of our adventures in Cornwall... We did a lot of hiking around the cliffs and exploring the small little coastal towns. Dad did a lot of staring out of our windows at the sea when we were home. Was an amazing little place, which all of us were sad to leave on Wednesday. The driving roads left something to be desired however. We watched The Holiday one night and laughed pretty hard when Cameron Diaz is in England and freaking out driving on the wrong side of the road. It totally feels like that sometimes on the tiny roads which are not wide enough for two cars. Yet, cars are hauling down the roads (which incidentally are two way, so you have to be on constant look out for cars coming the other direction), I really don't see how there are not always accidents on those roads. Learned skills I am sure, just us 'visitors' are the real hazards (as we drive half the speed limit and inch our way around the blind curves) :-)
Kettie and I in front of our home for the week.
Our adventure day to the Eden Project. A group of people got together and decided to turn this old quarry into little biospheres. Was amazing to see how they had it all working. I must admit, I did spend the whole time thinking about the movie Bio-Dome (with Pauly Shore), yea, horrible to admit but I love that movie and I felt like I could easily have been in it here :-)
One whole side was tropical and sweltering hot, while the other side was more arid and not so hot. Was cool to see the differences in the vegetation, I remember again why I am always vacationing to the Mediterranean over here. If I am going to the warm sun, I would like it to be dry, otherwise I am just a sticky hot mess. I start to malfunction in the humidity after about an hour. Think I made it about that long when we were in there this time. To be fair, my boots were NOT a SMART choice for the day, nice outside where it was cold, but total overkill in the jungle.
I love this place, makes me want to be a biologist and work here. Would feel pretty awesome to feel part of this whole project, and share the message with all the people that come through. :-) They even have some special programs for kids where they can learn, and do some hands on stuff with the flora and fauna. Teaching them young is the way to go, lets hope that there is hope for this world yet.
Kettie jamming away ;-)
The birds nest at the top of the tropics biosphere, immediately when starting to walk up there my face started to literally drip sweat. Not attractive. I felt so bad for the guy that was up there monitoring all the visitors, his whole shirt was saturated. ICK. That is not a job I would take.
On to the desert (well maybe not desert exactly, but the dry, not humid climate).
I look a little lost for some reason... maybe I am still a bit dazed from the tropics ;-p
Dionysus the god of harvest/wine :-) These sculptures were my favorite. Doin' a little dance for the grapes.
Dad pointing something out to Mom
I am however too big to crawl through as I am sure the kids can... my final exit was not so graceful.
I liked both these pics of Dad with his ladies too much not to put them both in here.
Our side trip out to the cute little town of Fowey, we wandered around the little streets and the cathedral. It is really interesting to see the difference in the extravagance of the cathedrals in each of the towns we visit. This one was very simple and quaint.
Off limits area, of course I had to stare at the castle behind the wall from every angle I could find. Curiosity killed the cat.. It hasn't killed me yet, maybe gotten me into trouble a few times though. Ha ha.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan - our final garden exploration in Cornwall, not as cool as the Eden Project, but was still fun. Probably should have started with this one so we didn't have such a vivid memory of how awesome the Eden Project was. We have lucked out with the weather being pretty nice these days (not as nice as I hear Oregon has been, but nice for over here.)
Our major hiking day; Kettie Kins ready for our 11 mile hike... We weren't quite that chipper when we got back, very happy tired though. The 600 mile coastal trail I bet is really beautiful. We met an English man who says he hikes sections of the trail every year, and at the rate he is going he will finish the entire thing by the age of 93. Made me want to start up on the Pacific Crest Trail, and mark off the sections I complete. It is always good to have goals. This trail was beautiful, so I can totally see wanting to do the whole thing too (if I lived here of course)!
Our first stop along the hike to investigate the Pirate Ships in Charlestown harbor. It was really cool to see the different pictures of the movies the ships had been used in, and the changes that had been made to each of them for the specific movies. They are quite impressive in person also. We played pirate for a few minutes.
Watch out Grey Beard, you have some competition!
Investigating the hole
The fisherman's shacks, I guess these were being used in the filming of a Disney movie just two days before we were down there, we had seen the Pirate ship out in the water in front of our house when they were filming at sea, but we just had no idea that we were seeing a movie in the making. Not that I can remember the name of the film now, but will probably remember when I see the name when it comes out (would be fun to see now that we have seen the ships and area) :-)
Hiking at Port Isaac. Mom and Dad watch this show called Doc Martin, which has it's setting in this tiny little fishing village. They found the different things from the show, funny to watch them on the hunt :-)
Hiking around the cliffs looking into the caves in the cliffs.
Kettie heading down to a waterfall.
Our little lunch stop, I may be possessed.
Kins doin' a jig down the street. Dorkiness definitely runs in our family, we just can't seem to help ourselves. That's one of the many things that makes us so fun. he he.
St Michaels Mount - strange that people actually still live on the little island. We saw a little old lady being helped back up to the castle/fortress who apparently is one of the occupants. She was joking about with people as she went. I guess if you lived in a place which was also such a popular tourist destination you would need to be a good sport. I really can't imagine having so many people wandering through my property every day. Is a very beautiful location though, so I can understand why they don't want to move out all together. There are still many of the islands workers who live down in the cottages at the bottom too (gardeners, boatmen, etc). You can get out to the island at low tide by walking across a causeway, at high tide though this is covered and you have to take a boat over and back.
On the Mount about to hike up to see the fortress
Watergate Bay - very popular surfing beach. We stopped to see if there was any good surfing to watch. The waves were very small however so there were mostly just the beginners out there messing about.
There was a fun sand sculpture of an upside down surfboard. They had actually built an arm coming up over it and put a glove on to simulate someone under the board. I love this kind of stuff.
We had a wonderful time in Cornwall, I can see coming back to visit one day again. On to our next home in Cotswold for the final week.
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