A Visit to Cornwall

[WI-Tom]

The European school year has a shorter summer break than the U.S. (6 weeks instead of 10), but a good number of shorter breaks spread out through the year that the U.S. doesn't typically include. On the latest of these, a one-week break in May, I got the chance to return to the UK (without the hassle of the pesky multi-hour jetlag-ridden trans-Atlantic flight).

I've been to the UK twice before (London in 2012, and backpacking in the Lake District in 2014), but this was my first chance to see what Cornwall was all about. Turns out that it's about the same latitude as Wrocłąw (50-ish N):

Overview.jpg

Despite its northerly location relative to North America (if Falmouth were moved to North America, it would be on the southern shores of Hudson Bay), the warm Gulf Stream actually creates an almost sub-tropical microclimate zone. Palm trees are pretty common, and some of the gardens host tropical plants that would never grow in the wild elsewhere in England.

A couple of short flights got us to London, where we hopped a train to Paddington Station. Then a groovy sleeper compartment on the 7-hour overnight train ride to Falmouth:

sleeper 1.jpg

I can't say enough about how cool traveling in a sleeper compartment is. Comfy. Long enough bunks even for me--must have been 6' 6" at least. Breakfast in the dining car. And you begin your first day on arrival well rested and ready to do stuff. Trains are cool. One of the things Europe does far smarter than the U.S.

[lupussonic]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Good time of year to go..

[FF]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Good idea, I was there a few weeks ago, to early for sailing, but very nice. Frank

[McMike]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Looks like fun!

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Here's a closer look at Falmouth:

overview 3.jpg

The hotel was about a 20-minute walk from the train station. My wife and I had a carry-on backpack each, so not too much luggage to manage. We dropped it off at our hotel, then walked due south to the coast (Swan Pool Beach) and followed the shoreline east from there to Pendennis Point.

Swan Pool Beach.jpg

About 3.5 miles or so along the shore down to Pendennis Point, following (I think) the South West Coast Path, which runs around the entire Cornwall Peninsula (total length 630 miles, making it England's longest official trail--I'd love to walk the entire distance in one push sometime).

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Thanks for the comments--yep, I loved it. I think I pretty much love all of England, though I've seen only bits of it so far.

Pendennis Castle guards the western side of the Falmouth Estuary, sporting a Henry VIII-era castle to make those pesky Spanish Armadas think twice about invading:

Pendennis.jpg

A modest admission fee lets you wander the grounds at will (a big area with several gun emplacements and outbuildings), including a climb all the way up to the castle's tallest lookout tower. Very neat, if you like castle-y kinds of places. I do.

[Scary Borg Craft]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Are you sure that is going to Falmouth and not Penzance?

I recently saw some footage of the old towns i used to know well, and things have not got any better over the last 20 years. I would not go out of your way to visit places like Redruth, Cambourne or Helston despite mining history.

Public transport was always crap, so not sure how you intend to get about. Gweek Quay is a nice spot, I lived there for almost a decade, and the yard where Luke Powell built most of his Pilot Cutters, I believe there are still projects going on. Nice pub. The Looe Lugger "Guide Me" is usually in the mud at the head of the creek. If you visit that way, may as well head down to Lizard point. Last time I was there, was a few basking sharks feeding off the point.

Penzance, St Ives, Newlyn and Mousehole can all be done in a day. The coast road from St Ives-St Just to Sennen is worth a drive on the way round. Lands End is hardly worth the effort, unless you really want a photo of yourself under the sign pointing to New York.

There was a good pasty shop opposite Trago Mills at the end of the high st in Falmouth. I believe they have "gentrified" (or tried) both Penryn and Hayle, building millionaire flats, when the locals are still on potatoe and daffodil picker wages. Security access to most boat yards and marinas in Falmouth have pretty much ended the casual "looking at boats".

Hope the weather holds out......i remember one particulary bad winter where it rained every day for 3 months.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

One of the old barracks buildings used to house a youth hostel, where my wife stayed way back in her college study-abroad days, when she spent a term in London and toured around Cornwall on a break. She arrived at this hostel late at night, not really knowing what it was like, and woke up with a view of the castle from her room's window. The hostel is gone, but the building is now part of the castle tour:

hostel.jpg

After spending a good part of the day exploring the castle, we took a ferry across the estuary to St. Mawse:

overview 3.jpg

Which has its own Henry VIII-era castle:

St. Mawse.jpg

And another few miles on a public footpath along the eastern shore of the esturary before we caught the last ferry back to Falmouth for a fish and chips dinner.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

Are you sure that is going to Falmouth and not Penzance?

Pretty sure (I assume you mean the beach shot?) that's Swan Pool Beach at Falmouth, on the walk down to Pendennis Point.

I recently saw some footage of the old towns i used to know well, and things have not got any better over the last 20 years.
...
Public transport was always crap, so not sure how you intend to get about.

I think it's probably true that many places ain't as good as they used to be. But it still seemed pretty great to me. As for public transport being "crap," you have apparently not lived in the U.S.

We lucked out and had only one rainy day, and even that wasn't too bad. Didn't make it to Gweek, or all the way down to the Lizard. But yes, we visited Penzance, Newlyn, and Mousehole all in one day (on foot). Penzance, too, by bus. But that's getting ahead of myself!

[lupussonic]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

There used to be a chain hauled up between Pendennis and St Mawse by horses to stop the Spanish entering.

Falmouth is only 350 years old, Penryn well over 1000. Falmouth was built to defend the estuary.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

This beauty was moored off of St. Mawse, on the eastern side of the estuary:

boat 1.jpg

[Scary Borg Craft]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

I see this is a retrospective thread. My bad. Yeah I know where that is, I worked at Pendennis Shipyard. That was my view every lunch break.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

There used to be a chain hauled up between Pendennis and St Mawse by horses to stop the Spanish entering.

Falmouth is only 350 years old, Penryn well over 1000. Falmouth was built to defend the estuary.

Hmm... Pendennis castle was built 1539. I suppose the town came later?

Chains seem to be a popular tactic for that kind of thing. They had a similar chain blocking entrance to the Golden Horn on the north side of Istanbul. Some of the chain's links (from the 15th century) were still there on shore. Big.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

The next day we hopped on a bus (about an hour?) down to Marazion, which is famous mostly for the monastery/castle/manor at St. Michael's Mount. I thought I knew what to expect--and largely, I did--but it turned out that what I was really thinking of was Normandy's Mont St. Michel, not Cornwall's.

This is an island connected to the mainland by a stone causeway at low tide:


St. Michaels Mount.jpg

And by wading at slightly higher tides (not recommended, I'd guess):

wading.jpg


We walked over and stayed dry.

[WI-Tom]

Re: A Visit to Cornwall

The house/castle is way up on a big hill at the top of the island, with a little harbor and tiny village below. A neat place.

castle.jpg


Some of the towers seem to hang right out over the sea:


balcony tower.jpg

Good for a long visit, wandering through the castle (parts are closed as it's still a lived-in home) and the grounds. There are an amazing set of terraced gardens on the cliffs below the castle, with a surprising array of tropical and subtropical plants (radiant heat from the stone walls and cliffs creates a friendly microclimate for all that).

We missed getting back to the causeway before the tide had covered it, so we spent $4 each for a motorboat ride back to a dock at a big rock halfway down the causeway--I suppose at high tide they take you all the way back to the beach, but there wasn't enough water for that.

boat.jpg