More Penwith sites

Very little was planned for today, other than a bit of shopping. We started off in St Ives, and had a pleasant walk around the town as the shops were getting ready to open. A friend of ours' mother has a shop in the town, so after a coffee, and a fruit smoothee on the harbour, we popped in to say hello. Then it was across to Penzance, as Mikki wanted to visit the new crafting shop there.

Earlier in the week, I'd checked out the parking at Castallack, so we drove down and I visited the stone on the Carn there for the first time. This would be difficult, if not impossible to find in high summer, as it is not visible from the path, and I imagine the bracken would quickly obliterate the trodden path through the bluebells that I took. The danger is heightened by the fact that a disused quarry is in the next field, but cannot be seen due to the thick undergrowth. Be warned!

We then took a quick diversion into Kerris for some photos for the Geograph web site before heading for Hayle (stopping to take a photo of a cross at Cockwells) for a pasty lunch and to check the phone number for tonight's choice of Restaurant to book a table (Thai Chef). A quick visit to a farm shop finished the travelling for today.

Penwith in the rain

Today was a totally damp and miserable day, so it was obvious that today would be the busiest in terms of searching out the stones. We'd arranged to pick up Mikki's niece Kari to take her out to see the stones today, so we didn't have quite as early a start as normal, and I'd put together a very busy itinerary, but the weather meant some hard decisions had to be made - Bodrifty and Mulfra were cut immediately.

The first stop was a gentle introduction to Lanyon Quoit, and to check on the tadpoles I'd seen there yesterday. We then moved on to park up at the Men an Tol Studios. I've been wanting to visit the stone at Watch Croft for a while, and according to the maps, this was the best approach. It also allowed Kari to see the Men an Tol and Men Scryfa on the way.

The usual problem of cows in the field prevented a close up look at Men Scryfa, so as a consolation prize I pointed out the Four Parish stone before moving up towards Watch Croft. Unfortunately, the maps don't always give the full story, and the way was barred by barbed wire, and a fairly solid looking covering of gorse. So with the weather closing in, we returned to the car and moved on, out to the coast road, then in again to Woon Gumpus.

The walk up to Chun Quoit was uneventful apart from a cowing lowing loudly in an adjoining field, and we took a good look around Chun Castle at the summit. On the way back down, the noisy cow had moved into the field we had to cross, and we found out why she was so noisy. She was nudging a calf on the ground near the stile, and licking its face, but it was obviously sadly no longer with us. We'd not noticed the calf on the way up...

As the rain started again, we cut Tregeseal from the list, and headed into St Just for soup at the Cook Book, where I picked up a copy of The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I had downloaded the text from the Internet, but wanted a paper copy.

After lunch, a short drive took us first to Cape Cornwall (which was busy!), then down to Cot Valley and Porth Nanven. We then intended visiting Boscawen-Un, but the rain had set in quite hard, so we just took a tour round past Chapel Carn Brea, pointing out the stonehenge tribute at Treave, Tregiffian Barrow, Merry Maidens and the Pipers before dropping her back home at Carbis Bay.

A busy day, but not as many sites actually visited as planned.

Mainly shopping...

A bright sunny morning greeted us on a day planned for shopping, interspersed with some visits to sites.

Newlyn was the first stop, to get some fresh fish for tea, but we were actually too early, and they hadn't got the stock ready for selling when we arrived there! So it was back to Penzance Tesco's for a greasy spoon breakfast. Newlyn will wait for another day.

The first site visit was a recce to Castallack, to try to determine a parking place for my attempt at finding Castallack Carn later in the week. A couple of dodgy possibilities presented themselves, but it will be tight! Climbing up from Lamorna, the Merry Maidens wasn't too far away, so we stopped for some photos with Gun Rith in the background.

Continuing on, we headed up to St Buryan, taking in the Chyoone Cross. On the way back to Drift I spotted the Pridden Stone from the road, and stopped a bit further on to see the Trelew Stone before heading back to Penzance and a stop at the bookshop...

Porthleven was next on the list, for some crafting materials. We then headed north for Redruth, stopping briefly at Wendron Nine Maidens. I've still not yet seen the Hangman's Barrow in this area. Another day perhaps.

In Redruth we visited another craft shop, and filled up with petrol, then traveled north-east to visit Presingoll Barns, where we grabbed a bite to eat. Then it was time to head back, stopping briefly at Portreath, where the tide was in further than I've seen it there on previous visits.

A pleasant drive along the coast road, through 'scattered showers' led us back to Hayle, and we decided to try to visit St Ives and the Pooh Bear shop there. Sadly, the town was full, and the car parks had no available space, so we continued on.

The weather was bright and dry, but with a biting wind as I walked up to Kerrow Well to see the (recently?) carved stone there - the antiquity of this stone is disputed.

Finally, a short stretch down the coast road, through Porthmeor, before turning inland again to head for home, stopping only to say hello to Lanyon Quoit.

East Cornwall Run

As today was to be spent in East Cornwall, we made an early start to beat the Truro traffic on the A30. Task completed, we headed south toward St Austell then east again for St Blazey, before turning off for Tywardreath.

The recent BBC programme 'Its Not Easy Being Green' was filmed here, and we got as far as the gates to the Strawbridge's home, where we could see the water wheel that was featured early in the series. Of course, we also had to visit the village butcher, where we picked up some wonderful lamb leg steaks for tea later as well as some lamb and mint sausages.

Continuing east, the next stop was Castle Dore. I've tried several times to see this site, but have always been thwarted by the weather. Despite horizontal drizzle, I was not going to be beat again! The walk along the road from the layby is quite treacherous, as there is nowhere other than the road to walk on, and there's a dangerous bend to be negotiated. Once at the gate to the site though, the traffic is left behind and once inside the banks, all is relatively quiet. On the far side from the road, the outer bank is riddled with badger sets, and I was surprised to see a herd of cows were sheltering in the lee there.

Leaving Castle Dore, we had to head north to Lostwithiel, then south again having crossed the Fowey, to Looe. The intent was to get some fresh fish, but being Monday, there was none to be had. We stopped for a snack in a cafe, and I said a quick hello to Mark in the Tourist Office and got some tips on finding our next targets before hitting the road again.

North to Duloe, and the Cornish Orchard farm to pick up some apple juices then across to visit St Nun's Well for the first time. This is a very pleasant little well, set on the side of an extremely steep meadow. We parked just off the hairpin bend and I walked the 50 or so yards to the signposted entrance to the well enclosure.

A slightly longer drive north was next, back through Duloe, up past Dobwalls then passing King Doniert's Stone, Long Tom, and the Hurlers before parking up a short distance north of Henwood. A short walk up a track brought me to Bearah Common, a very enjoyable landscape, chock-a-block with stones and boulders of various sizes. I was looking for a 'gorse-choked long barrow', but found a collapsed burial chamber underneath a tree. A passing local farmer confirmed that this was the Bearah Common Chambered Cairn, my final target of the day. Despite the continuing horizontal drizzle, and very boggy ground underfoot, I was content with the day's work.

Slightly further north was the A30 again, but the drive back west was very slow with heavy traffic through the roadworks. One final stop at the Cornish Gold Centre to take a look at the shops there completed the trip, and we returned to the barn where we are staying for the week.

Wandering in the West

Awoke to a very grey and wet day. Heavy rain, but with what looked like fog a couple of fields away. We stocked up on petrol, then took a recce drive around Mulfra and up toward New Mill, then around St Ives and into the grounds at Tregenna Castle to scope out the hotel there and the prices!

After a short break at Lelant, to confirm lunch arrangements with Janice & Paul, we popped over to towards Helston and Sithney, for a cream tea at the Handy Shop.

We then took a slow drive back through Leedstown and Fraddam to Hayle for some shopping. All too soon, it was time for lunch so we headed across to Balnoon for a very pleasant carvery lunch.

Fully replete, we headed around the coast road, intending to recce some more sites, but sadly Mikki felt unwell, so after a short break at Trevean Cliff to see if she'd improve, we headed back to Kenegie so she could have a rest.

Another week in Cornwall

Drove down to Cornwall, via M3, A303, A30.

On arrival, found our accommodation, which was extremely spacious and with a wonderful un-overlooked view from the main bedroom. We unpacked, then took a short drive around W Penwith, stopping at Boscawen-Un and Creeg Tol. The third time for me at Creeg Tol, and I still get a strong feeling of unease there, a strong malevolent force such that I want to run away. Unexplainable.

Home from home...

As the family have joined us on holiday for the next couple of days, trips out are very limited. We did manage to get out to Lanyon Quoit and Madron Well today though, which made a nice break and contrast to Camborne which we visited earlier in the day...

Madron Chapel had also been the subject of a clean up recently: