Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Posted by
Sille Bliss
And before I start, it's funny how people don't get it when you say things like, "It was cold and so windy out today" or "the temperatures were freezing tonight". I know it's hard to understand but coming from me, I am by no means complaining, I'm merely describing the weather. I'm happy to finally be in a place where I do get actual seasons... and I love them all equally. And when I say that I'm happy to finally be in a place where I get actual seasons, I am in no way dissing my hometown of Houston where it is constant heat, though I don't agree with the weather there, I do love my home of the Lonestar State <3
A view of the Jurassic Coast, heading west.
Anyway, and with that we were on the road on our way back to Cornwall. We were just here the week before, but not here!
We were staying over and our hotel was in Breage, very close to the harbour town of Porthleven and I wanted to visit it really badly. The only time we would have to see it would be before getting to the hotel that evening so I was hoping we would beat the sun, but we didn't, it was much faster than we were. We still went and it was so peaceful and beautiful... I only wish my pictures would of been able to catch exactly what I saw. I wasn't able to get much.
Porthleven Harbour, Cornwall. 2016.02.19
After our short visit to Porthleven we headed to our hotel for the night. It was only a few miles away so not far at all but after driving for 4+ hours w/traffic and stops we were ready to eat and get to bed. We checked into our cozy pub hotel called The Queens Arms.
It was so cute with only 3 rooms with the entrance to them from around the back of the pub. Our room was right on top of the bar area. You could barely hear mumbles downstairs but the place closed its doors by 11pm so that wasn't a big deal. I thought it was pretty cool actually. The pub was located just across from a church with a pretty large cemetery on the grounds and across the street and our bedroom view was directly across it, it was perfect and alluringly dark ;)
After being shown our room we went straight down for some grub and drink! Not before we had a little walk outside in the cemetery, of course!
It wasn't your typical pub but more sort of a posh type. I like typical pub but this was cool too. Usually when I don't find anything I do not care for on the menu I get the fish and chips. In America it would be a burger and fries. They have that here too usually but I always stick with the traditional, you can never go wrong with fish and chips. When I drink now I always get cider, I don't drink beer really anymore ever. I have come to love cider and this one that I had was a weird one... it was a cloudy cider, kind of like a cloudy lemonade. It was OK but I prefer my regular or fruity cider.
After dinner it was time to hit the sack. We slept with the window a bit open and you could hear the church bells ringing every hour.. I though this would go on throughout the night, thank goodness it stopped at midnight.
Rise and shine. Church view at sunrise.
Morning view of the church... so pretty. Even with it being a small old little church rather than a huge new cathedral makes it just as beautiful, if not more.
So we headed down early for breakfast before going to the first appointment. Breakfast was just as yummy as dinner and we were the only ones down so we had the whole dining room to ourselves. The breakfast was also presented with it's cute little jar theme going. Everything tasted so fresh and usually I really don't care for the sausages but these were sooo damn good!
This was such a great hotel. Not only was the room comfy and cute, the food was delicious and the owners and servers were so freaking nice and helpful, with everything. I didn't find anything wrong with this little place. This somewhere to definitely stay at when you are down south in this area of Cornwall. It's only about 7 minutes away from Portleven but also 30 minutes from The Lizard and Kynance Cove. Not to mention all the other beautiful coastal areas around there.
So I didn't think we'd have time to visit the Lizard Point which was my highlight coming down here. We were only 12 miles away and it would of been a shame if we were this close and this far down and not be able to see it.
The Lizard village. Just before getting to Lizard Point you drive through this little village. You can park here and walk down and people do this. I don't see the point when there is plenty of parking closer nearby unless you are here by train or local bus then I can understand.
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The Lizard Point is a National Trust site so it is well taken care of. There is a cafe here that was closed at this time of the year (open Mar-Oct). The car park is free if you are a NT member, if not it's a small fee.
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| The road down to The Lizard |
Once arriving, it was really breathtaking. All the places you see from the cliff tops are beautiful, but there are only a few that do take your breath away. I can only describe it as a moving picture. As soon as I see it, it's like I'm walking into another world. This place was one of these places.
Once we parked the car and walked down a bit from the parking lot to the cliff side the wind hits you. It's weird how suddenly it becomes so windy when you are near places like this. At times you felt you could literally be pushed.
It was so cold up here my hands were freezing. It felt like I was going to get frost bite, plus it was a bit drizzling. The rest of our bodies were bundled up and covered really good. My body was well warm, and my hands would of been too but I had to take pictures and videos first!
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| Steve's glasses were almost flying off his face :P |
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| Danger Cliff Edge |
I was so sure we'd be the only ones here the whole time. Steve said there would be lots of people. I was reading that in the summer time this place gets so full of tourist. We were practically the only ones here at first, we got here around 10:30 a.m. and there were maybe a couple people here. But once we were walking back to the car to leave you could see surprisingly more and more people coming. I say surprisingly because of the time of the year but Steve was right, there would be lots of people here anyway no matter what the time of the year or how miserable the weather was. I'm still glad it was this time of the year that we came and I'd love to see it in the summer too sometime.
Then from one end of England to as far up as you can get in Devon we go....
Part Two: Exmoor National Park
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| More people arriving as we are leaving. |
Part Two: Exmoor National Park
Posted by
Sille Bliss
It's January 2016!!
It's the new year and I'm ready for more!!
Already I have a new interest in darts, who knew? I don't like to play them but I love watching it. This is even more unusual since I would think playing them would be more fun than watching... for me it's not. Babz is into his darts and watching it on the sports channel here and I hadn't really been that much interested in it. But then this world championship came on and I was only watching because he was and so I needed to know how the scoring worked so he explained that to me. Sounded pretty simple, and there I am suddenly waiting for the next competition and had my favorite players I was rooting for. So yeah, darts.... my new thing. :P
I've also started watching Downton Abbey. OH-MY-GOD! What have I been missing!?? I am loving this show! I am binge watching it and I can't stop but I know I have to or else it will finish too fast and I don't want it to. I am so glad I didn't watch it when everyone else was because having to wait a whole week for shit is just too much for me. I die when this happens for me with Game of Thrones and Walking Dead.
Babz and I saw our first movie of 2016 as well already.... The Hateful Eight. I don't consider myself a Tarantino fan at all, yet I've seen all his movies and like most of them too, a lot. But still, I don't feel like I'm a fan. Anyway, Jennifer Jason Leigh killed it. She kicked ass in this role! So there ya go.
Anyway, so we go back on the road for the new year and we are in Cornwall. Oh how I love Cornwall! I never really thought about how lucky I was to go there as often as I do until recently. Most people who live in Britain only get to visit there once a year on their summer holiday. Expats like me probably only ever visit once or a couple of times ever. And the weird thing about it is that it isn't even that far. About 2 1/2 to 3 hours from me, it's about 4 hours from London. Nothing is really too far here. Let's not forget that England fits into Texas about three times! So why everyone thinks places like this are far, I have no idea.
If you don't already know, Cornwall is a county in England. It's not the kind of counties we have in America. You can think of them more like mini states. They have their border lines and even their own flag.
We live in Dorset, literally 10 minutes outside of Bournemouth. And well, you see where Cornwall is. It's such a beautiful county. So many coves and beaches, dramatic cliffs, never ending moors, breathtaking forests... the list is never ending. There is so much to see and do there. We've probably been about a dozen times since I've been in England and we've still haven't seen and visited all the places I would like to yet.
Once we left Lostwithiel, we headed to a couple of other towns that Steve had appointments in and then we finally settled our heads after a long long day.
It's the new year and I'm ready for more!!
Already I have a new interest in darts, who knew? I don't like to play them but I love watching it. This is even more unusual since I would think playing them would be more fun than watching... for me it's not. Babz is into his darts and watching it on the sports channel here and I hadn't really been that much interested in it. But then this world championship came on and I was only watching because he was and so I needed to know how the scoring worked so he explained that to me. Sounded pretty simple, and there I am suddenly waiting for the next competition and had my favorite players I was rooting for. So yeah, darts.... my new thing. :P
I've also started watching Downton Abbey. OH-MY-GOD! What have I been missing!?? I am loving this show! I am binge watching it and I can't stop but I know I have to or else it will finish too fast and I don't want it to. I am so glad I didn't watch it when everyone else was because having to wait a whole week for shit is just too much for me. I die when this happens for me with Game of Thrones and Walking Dead.
Babz and I saw our first movie of 2016 as well already.... The Hateful Eight. I don't consider myself a Tarantino fan at all, yet I've seen all his movies and like most of them too, a lot. But still, I don't feel like I'm a fan. Anyway, Jennifer Jason Leigh killed it. She kicked ass in this role! So there ya go.
Anyway, so we go back on the road for the new year and we are in Cornwall. Oh how I love Cornwall! I never really thought about how lucky I was to go there as often as I do until recently. Most people who live in Britain only get to visit there once a year on their summer holiday. Expats like me probably only ever visit once or a couple of times ever. And the weird thing about it is that it isn't even that far. About 2 1/2 to 3 hours from me, it's about 4 hours from London. Nothing is really too far here. Let's not forget that England fits into Texas about three times! So why everyone thinks places like this are far, I have no idea.
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| England. |
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| Southwest England County Map |
We live in Dorset, literally 10 minutes outside of Bournemouth. And well, you see where Cornwall is. It's such a beautiful county. So many coves and beaches, dramatic cliffs, never ending moors, breathtaking forests... the list is never ending. There is so much to see and do there. We've probably been about a dozen times since I've been in England and we've still haven't seen and visited all the places I would like to yet.
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| Our route from Poole to Lostwithiel. Roughly 2hours/50mins. |
So we're headed out back there for a couple of days. We weren't going as far out as we had in the past but it's always a long drive especially for the time we have to leave in the morning. Thank god for the gorgeous scenery along the way!
Of course every time we go we are up and out on the road before the sun is even out. Usually we are driving for a whole hour before you start to see the sun peeking outta the sky. It didn't help that it was cold, it was very cold... even icy in some parts! But I was bundled and prepared.
Our first stop would be Lostwithiel. We came down this gorgeous little road to get into the town, I don't even know the name of it but it was about 1-2 miles of peaceful serenity!
The last time I was here was 2 years ago (blog post here) and when I came, I only visited the castle while Steve was in an appointment in the town. This time I would be in the town as well. I walked to the church that wasn't far away from where we parked. I tried to go inside but it was surprisingly locked, unless I just didn't pull the handle correctly.
I made my way to the river that was nearby I wanted to see the town's historic bridge. It was definitely old. According to the sign on the bridge the River Fowey was first bridged by the Normans, who founded Lostwithiel. "The Great Bridge of Lostwithiel" first documented in 1280, had nine arches. The foundations of the four most westerly arches are said to be under the street. The Bridge has undergone changes over the centuries and was rebuilt in the 15th century. It narrowly escaped being blown up by the Parliamentarian Army in 1644 during the English Civil War. Over time the river has changed course and the four easterly arches were added in the 18th century. Until the bypass was opened in 1939 this bridge was the main road between St Austell and Liskeard. Today it still plays a major role in the life of Lostwithiel as a central part of town activities and celebrations.
It was pretty cold out so I took a few more photos and vids and decided to head back to the warm heated seats of the car. :)
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| Somewhere near Bodmin. Cornwall, England. 2016.01.13 |
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| Cornwall Sunrise. Somewhere near Bodmin. |
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| Rise and Shine. Somewhere near Bodmin. |
Our first stop would be Lostwithiel. We came down this gorgeous little road to get into the town, I don't even know the name of it but it was about 1-2 miles of peaceful serenity!
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| Road to Lostwithiel. Cornwall, England. 2016.01.13 |
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| St Bartholomew Church. Lostwithiel. 2016.01.13 |
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| St Bartholomew Church grounds |
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| The River Fowey. Lostwithiel, Cornwall. England |
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| Lostwithiel Bridge. Cornwall, England. |
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| Lostwithiel. Cornwall, England 2016.01.13 |
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| Me ifo the River Fowey and Lostwithiel Bridge. (using this cool app I discovered) |
Once we left Lostwithiel, we headed to a couple of other towns that Steve had appointments in and then we finally settled our heads after a long long day.
