Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 8

Knowing the weather was changeable, I put many of my wind and rain proof layers back on.  On the way back, M5 was still being a pain.  After making past the chaos, I stopped at the same place for a coffee, and I treated myself to a chocolate scone.

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 7

On the last day of West Cornwall, we thought to actually exploring the area.  We started at Mousehole.  It is nice, but St Mawes was much better.

I set Sarah walking back along the coast, and I met her in Newlyn and Penzance on the bike.

I got a pack of Newlyn crab from the W Harvey & Sons factory and Sarah got a souvenir scallop shell. 

We made a giant crab sandwich at the beach. Only half a pack would fit on the bun!

We finally got back to Penzance, we explored around town.  We saw Rowes Bakery, but I stopped myself from having another pasty!  We went to The Honey Pot for a scone.  By now, Sarah was full of clotted cream and we opted for cheese scones.

I had the joy of picking up the luggage and rode all the way to Exeter and caught Sarah in town.  We initially wanted to go to Hubbox, but since they give us some ridiculous wait time, we looked around, and found a little independent Portguese Restaurant, The Cork and Tile, and we were very happy with our find.

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 6

Today was meant to be an easy day with only 2 scheduled stops, but it turned out to be exhausting!

We went to St Michael's Mount, but instead of parking at St Aubyn's car park, which were already full, we parked at council's car park incurring extra walking.

The beach was empty, but the causeway was full!

After the long walk up and down the beach and the island, I had a Philp's pasty.  It has a lot more meat and other, the crimp is slightly off the side and the seasoning was quite distinctive.



We started driving to Lizard, but I was distracted by the large Porthleven Harbour Market sign, knowing we were ahead of (scone) schedule,  I made a detour and an unscheduled stop.

We finally parked and Lizard and walked to Lizard point with extra detour to keep to schedule.  We got to Polpeor Cafe, the Britian Most Southerly Cafe at good time.  The scones were very rustic, elementary, but the jam was very disappointing.



We started walking along the coastal path.  Sarah was going to walk to Kynance Cove, but she also abandoned the plan after I was caught in the wrong path.  We stopped at Kynance Cove just to have a look.

I was exhausted by the end!

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 5

We were on the move again, further West to Penzance.  Sarah took the train and stayed mostly dry, and by the time I got to the hostel to drop off the luggage, I was a drown rat.

It was only 7 miles from Penzance to St Ives, but it felt so much further.  As soon as we parked up, we looked for place to hide from the rain.  The queue at the Tate's cafe was too long, so we went to Cornish Bakery for a coffee, followed by Cornish Deli for lunch.

Luckily by then, it was all cleared up and we explored both beaches and headland before we went to Land's End on the coastal road.

We did the obligatory walk around and took the picture in Land's End before going back to Penzance.

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 4

Inspired by the Kingswear Ferry in the GLME ride, I crowbarred in St Mawes as a reason to ride on the King Harry Ferry.  St Mawes Castle and village of St Mawes were surprisingly nice, we even got a bonus local crab sandwich as elevenses.

On the other hand, the King Harry Ferry was a little disappointing and came with an unwanted hairpin bend.  In hind sight, Sarah could have taken a ferry directly to Falmouth.

Falmouth was also quite full, so we just parked and marched to Picnic for another top rated crab sandwich.  Unlike most crab sandwiches, this is all mixed in, not layered.  It was quite nice.

Pendennnis Castle was larger than expected.  We were hoping to find food in Charlestown, but nothing tickled our fancy.  By the time we came back to St Austell, we could not be bothered to buy dinner, we went out to a Cantonese Restaurant.  The waitress told us about Charlestown being used in TV and movies.  I managed to got another signature for the Petition for the Ex-British Colonial Hong Kongers.  If you haven't signed, please so, and send around.

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 3

We left Devon and went into Cornwall.  I stopped at Eden Project for a quick coffee before picking Sarah up.

We went straight to Tintagel.  I was shocked by how busy it was, I nearly cannot get parked!  We just managed to squeeze into a parking space and got changed.

After some debating, we chose to eat at Pengenna.  We were sceptical about any eatery in Tintagel, but the food turned out to be very good.  Sarah's "small" salad was very substantial and my pasty was fresh, giant and traditional bar the top crimping!

Fuelled by the hearty lunch, we spent the afternoon in Tintagel castle ground.  By the time we were done, the car parks and the town was nearly empty!

Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 2

Our grand tour officially starts with a little South Devon tour.  I avoided A38 by going across tiny roads on Dartmoor.  It was hard work.  By the time we got to Buckfast, it was lunch time.  Buckfast has been rebuilt in the 19th century.  I could not make up my mind about what to eat, so I went for a pasty.  It was meant to be a chicken pasty, but it turned out to be a beef pasty.  It has more beef than the two Cornish pasties I had.  They do still sell Buckfast tonic wine here.

Dartmouth Castle was nice.  Sarah went on a bonus walk to see Sugary Cove.

Then we went deep into the South Devon AONB to Avon Mill for a top rated afternoon tea,  Sarah has given it a thumbs up.

On the way back, we stopped at Totnes Castle for another Motte and Bailey castle!