18th June 2005 – Helston, St Michael’s Mount, Lands End, Tintagel, Clovelly, Barnstaple and Porlock
Slight bonus on the campsite we found – we couldn’t locate the owners nor the reception, so we didn’t pay. We won’t tell you which campsite it was, although I have the name just in case I have a sudden attack of conscience and feel that I should send them a cheque.
Compared with yesterday, today turned out to be a bit crap in the exploratory-side of things. This was probably because of the time schedule that we imposed. We wanted to get have completed Bath or Bristol by tomorrow. It wasn’t the number of places that we needed to visit (although seven places was pushing it somewhat), but the distance that we had to cover – in and out of the deepest part of Cornwall and up along the northern side up to Porlock (Exmoor National Park area).
Helson, the town of the Floral (or Furry) Dance, was driven through with me missing the opportunity to photograph the “You are now entering…” roadside board. Next was St Michael’s Mount, a castle to be found upon an island just off the coast. It looked like it would be possible to walk to the island at low tide, but now wasn’t the time.
Westward-hoe to Land’s End, and what we found was hideous. They had essentially made Lands End into a themepark. There were tours to pay for (if you so desired) and shops and restaurants and the like for thee tourists. It really was atrocious. I managed to get a photo of the famous (is it really?) Land’s End sign post without their stupid “Your Town?” sign pointing in the opposite direction of New York, and then we walked on towards the ‘last and first house’ of England – which, according to Nav’s Mum is not actually the first nor last house, as there is one further southwards. Yah boo sucks to you, Lands End…
Out of Lands End Themepark(tm), we drove north-east towards Tintagel where legend has it that King Arthur had his round table made up for his. Nav was knackered and I was sweating like Michael Jackson in Mothercare (well done to Max on giving me this line) – it was another hot and sunny day. Nav stayed at the car and I wondered off to find this castle ruin. A short stroll and I had found it, and like the other visitors at the view point: “Well, this is a bit of an anticlimax” said one woman, to which a man replied “It’s a bit more than an anticlimax!” Take a look for yourselves – it really was quite crap.
Next stop, Clovelly. Now this village was totally unexpected. It was strange in that at the top of the hill there was a car park, surrounding it were a few shops and what seemed to be an information centre – all were closed. There was a sign directing visitors to Clovelly village. It presented itself like a tourist attraction and that was a real shame. When I saw Clovelly, I was amazed – it looked absolutely lovely, so scenic it seemed like you would only find it in the movies. However, I did feel a bit odd about taking pictures of their village – I don’t know why, maybe it was because to the residents there didn’t seem to be anything tourist-like. The place wasn’t meant to be ostentatious or presented just for photography, yet it all seemed so perfectly made up for such things. Through the hillside village there were a couple of shops and a pub, and further down the path it led to their small port. Fishing seemed to be their local trade and also made accommodation for visitors to go out in their boats for fishing.
The next stop was Barnstaple. Well, I say stop, maybe that should be drive through, which is exactly what we did. We may have stopped and I don’t remember about it (obviously uninteresting) but also, I’ve not got any photos.
Last on the list of the day’s travel was Porlock. Travelling from Barnstaple, we made our way towards Exmoor National Park taking signs towards Lynton to reach Porlock. Being the passenger, I had the advantage of viewing Exmoor and it was scenic indeed. Hillsides and valleys, winding roads, great views of greenery and what-not, it was a mix of Dartmoor and in-yer-face The Midlands countryside landscape. Unfortunately, what with me starring out the window it meant that I wasn’t directing Nav which ended up with us going towards Lynton and then back down away from it. We more or less reached the southern edge of Exmoor National Park before we realised our error (long roads with few signs in between make it essential that you know which roads to take). And so, we decided that enough was enough and drove eastwards to South Petherton, Nav’s home town, where we stayed for the night.
-- steven
Compared with yesterday, today turned out to be a bit crap in the exploratory-side of things. This was probably because of the time schedule that we imposed. We wanted to get have completed Bath or Bristol by tomorrow. It wasn’t the number of places that we needed to visit (although seven places was pushing it somewhat), but the distance that we had to cover – in and out of the deepest part of Cornwall and up along the northern side up to Porlock (Exmoor National Park area).
Helson, the town of the Floral (or Furry) Dance, was driven through with me missing the opportunity to photograph the “You are now entering…” roadside board. Next was St Michael’s Mount, a castle to be found upon an island just off the coast. It looked like it would be possible to walk to the island at low tide, but now wasn’t the time.
Westward-hoe to Land’s End, and what we found was hideous. They had essentially made Lands End into a themepark. There were tours to pay for (if you so desired) and shops and restaurants and the like for thee tourists. It really was atrocious. I managed to get a photo of the famous (is it really?) Land’s End sign post without their stupid “Your Town?” sign pointing in the opposite direction of New York, and then we walked on towards the ‘last and first house’ of England – which, according to Nav’s Mum is not actually the first nor last house, as there is one further southwards. Yah boo sucks to you, Lands End…
Out of Lands End Themepark(tm), we drove north-east towards Tintagel where legend has it that King Arthur had his round table made up for his. Nav was knackered and I was sweating like Michael Jackson in Mothercare (well done to Max on giving me this line) – it was another hot and sunny day. Nav stayed at the car and I wondered off to find this castle ruin. A short stroll and I had found it, and like the other visitors at the view point: “Well, this is a bit of an anticlimax” said one woman, to which a man replied “It’s a bit more than an anticlimax!” Take a look for yourselves – it really was quite crap.
Next stop, Clovelly. Now this village was totally unexpected. It was strange in that at the top of the hill there was a car park, surrounding it were a few shops and what seemed to be an information centre – all were closed. There was a sign directing visitors to Clovelly village. It presented itself like a tourist attraction and that was a real shame. When I saw Clovelly, I was amazed – it looked absolutely lovely, so scenic it seemed like you would only find it in the movies. However, I did feel a bit odd about taking pictures of their village – I don’t know why, maybe it was because to the residents there didn’t seem to be anything tourist-like. The place wasn’t meant to be ostentatious or presented just for photography, yet it all seemed so perfectly made up for such things. Through the hillside village there were a couple of shops and a pub, and further down the path it led to their small port. Fishing seemed to be their local trade and also made accommodation for visitors to go out in their boats for fishing.
The next stop was Barnstaple. Well, I say stop, maybe that should be drive through, which is exactly what we did. We may have stopped and I don’t remember about it (obviously uninteresting) but also, I’ve not got any photos.
Last on the list of the day’s travel was Porlock. Travelling from Barnstaple, we made our way towards Exmoor National Park taking signs towards Lynton to reach Porlock. Being the passenger, I had the advantage of viewing Exmoor and it was scenic indeed. Hillsides and valleys, winding roads, great views of greenery and what-not, it was a mix of Dartmoor and in-yer-face The Midlands countryside landscape. Unfortunately, what with me starring out the window it meant that I wasn’t directing Nav which ended up with us going towards Lynton and then back down away from it. We more or less reached the southern edge of Exmoor National Park before we realised our error (long roads with few signs in between make it essential that you know which roads to take). And so, we decided that enough was enough and drove eastwards to South Petherton, Nav’s home town, where we stayed for the night.
-- steven
posted by Steven | 12:44 pm
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