We finally set off on our holiday today, nothing is ever straightforward is it....
Rewind back to late August.
We'd originally planned to take two weeks off for our house move which should've been September but due to building supply shortages it was put back to October. About 2 weeks later we heard that it had been put back to November so we decided to book a week off work to make the most of the late summer and then take a week when we move. Then catastrophe struck, on a summer evening walk, Charlie, our black lab, injured his paw very badly and to cut a very long story short was only allowed on 10 min walks, 3 times a day for 6 whole weeks!! 6 WHOLE WEEKS! (this was torture and a whole other story).
So we had to cancel our holiday and decided yet again to take the two weeks in November to move house after all. We were then delayed further with our house completion and this has now been put back to December! Seriously beginning to think this will never happen. So as soon as Charlie was signed off from the vet we decide to make the most of the unseasonably warm October weather and head down to Cornwall for a week. It's been a very stressful year but things could be a lot worse so it's not all bad.
Fast forward back to Friday...
We set off in the afternoon and expected to hit heavy traffic around M6/M5 Birmingham but surprisingly it was plain sailing all the way through and we arrived in Portishead ready to do a set of Adventure Labs and our overnight stop off.
SATURDAYUp early ready to continue our journey to Plymouth, stopping off in the stannary town of Ashburton for a set of Adventure Labs.
 |
| Ashburton |
Ashburton was one of four designated stannary towns. The others being Tavistock, Plympton and Chagford. Stannary towns were where tin mined on the moor was taken to be weighed, stamped and duty paid on it. With 40% of all the tin mined on the moor passing through Ashburton it quickly became a very prosperous town.
A lovely walk around this pretty town then onwards to Plymouth.
 |
| Views of The Sound from Plymouth Hoe |
It's been a few years since we were last in Plymouth, so it was nice to explore some areas we hadn't been to before.
 |
| Plymouth Hoe known locally as 'the Hoe' |
 |
| Smeaton's Tower |
Previously we've only seen Smeaton's Tower from a cross-channel ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff so it was nice to take a closer look today.
Smeaton's Tower is a memorial to civil engineer John Smeaton, designer of the third and most notable Eddystone Lighthouse. The lighthouse was originally built in 1759 on the Eddystone reef, 14km south of Rame Head in Cornwall, at a cost of £40,000 but was taken down in the early 1880s when it was discovered that the ledge was eroding beneath it. Approximately two thirds of the structure was moved stone by stone to its current position on the Hoe.
 |
| Not quite in Cornwall yet but couldn't resist a Cornish pasty |
 |
| Where has the sun one? |
 |
| Mayflower Steps |
The Mayflower Steps from which the Pilgrims are believed to have finally left England aboard the Mayflower, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to settle in North America on 6 September 1620.
Mayflower was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a gruelling 10 weeks at sea, 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reached America.
The actual steps the pilgrims left from no longer exist.
A few photos of impressive street art we saw as we were wandering around.
SUNDAY
We started the day with a walk around Plympton Saint Maurice for a set of Adventure Labs and a Church Micro before heading back into Plymouth for the day.
First stop, the
Royal William Yard to do an Earthcache for the International Earthcache day souvenir and also a stage of the Adventure Labs. The Royal William
Victualling Yard in Stonehouse, built between 1826 and 1835 was the major victualling depot of the Royal Navy. The yard was released from the MOD in 1992.
After this we hopped on the ferry across to Torpoint which is free for pedestrians. The
Torpoint Ferry forms a vital link across the Tamar (known at the ferry location as the Hamoaze) between the town of Torpoint in Cornwall and the city of Plymouth in Devon.
 |
| Charlie on the ferry |
An enjoyable walk around Torpoint to do the Adventure Labs and a few other caches.
 |
| Relaxing in the sun while we had our picnic |
MONDAY
Today we're heading towards Fowey, stopping off at various places along the way.
This was the view from
Fred Mudd a cache from 2003 - definitely worthy of a FP for the view alone!
 |
| Looe |
Enjoyed a wander around Looe doing the Adventure Labs.
 |
| Well we are in Cornwall |
We can highly recommend the scones from
Martins Dairy bakery - the biggest we've ever seen and so light!
We were about to head towards Lostwithiel when we spotted a set of Adventure Labs in Polperro so decided to detour there first and really glad we did, what a lovely place to visit.
You can't actually drive into Polperro itself and there's a pay and display car park on the outskirts which is £5 for the day but as we only wanted to pop in for a walk around the harbour we looked for a free place to park and found a spot
near here> and walked down into the village from there which was about a mile, easy going downhill but a bit of a slog in the heat going back up.
 |
| It's October! |
 |
| Polperro Harbour |
Then we continued on to Lostwithiel for a set of Adventure labs and Wherigo.
We spent the evening in Fowey doing a set of Adventure Labs.
We visited Fowey in 2013 whilst on a 30 mile walk in the rain and were really glad of a lovely hot Cornish pasty....
 |
| May 2013 |
..... we had only walked about 2 miles today but felt we'd still earnt a pasty 😊
 |
| October 2021 |
TUESDAY
Tuesday already, the week is going too fast.
It's been many years since we last visited Trelissik. In 2004 we visited on a family holiday.
 |
| My yoga mat goes everywhere |
Spot of yoga before continuing on to the next stop.
Enjoyable wander around Pendennis Castle.
WEDNESDAY
Today we're heading to Glendurgan. I'm so excited as it's been years since we last visited and it's one of my favourite National Trust gardens.
I got talking to the Visitor Assistant and explained that I'd visited years ago with my young family, I said in fact it was the year that the giant agave flowered - and she exclaimed 'wow so that was 2004!'. I remember it well as it was big news at the time as it hadn't flowered for nearly 30 years back then and apparently it hasn't flowered again since 2004. I've checked my archives and here's a photo of it in flower in 2004.
 |
2004
|
 |
| 2021 |
My favourite part of Glendurgan is the magnificent maze. You can read all about it
here>
It was fun getting lost in the maze again but not the same on my own, was much more fun with the children.
If you want to visit and you have a dog you need to be aware that dogs aren't allowed anywhere in Glendurgan Gardens.
After relaxing in the van and eating Welsh cakes, clotted cream and strawberries we headed to Treymayne woods for a walk down to the secluded and remote Quay.
The track leads down through the woods to Treymayne Quay which was built in 1847 by Sir Richard Vyvyan for the visit of Queen Victoria. Due to unforeseen circumstances the Queen's visit never took place although her great grandson, Edward, Duke of Windsor, landed at the quay during a visit in 1921. The wood and quay were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1978.
Back to the van and off to Porthleven where we have an overnight stay planned.
Fantastic evening walk along the coast path to the Giant's Quoit on the beach.
 |
| Giant's Quoit |
You can just about see Mark next to the Giant's Quoit on the photo above.
We got back to the harbour just in time to see the sunset.
 |
| The church on Porthleven Harbour |
 |
| Goodnight |
THURSDAY
We woke to dramatic skies in Porthleven. The forecast was for sunshine again so we decided to head to nearby
Penrose for a walk to Loe Pool which is Cornwall's largest lake.
 |
| The Loe through the trees |
Loe means 'pool' in Cornish so it's known locally as 'The Loe'.
You can read all about what's been done by Natural England, South West Water and Cornwall Wildlife Trust to improve the water quality at the lake.
click here>
 |
| Loe Bar Beach |
Loe Bar beach is a half mile shingle bank which separates the Loe from the sea.
 |
| Charlie was so happy to finally get a swim in the sea. |
We currently live not far from Lytham St Annes so regularly go there for dog walks on the beach but we haven't been for a couple of months due to Charlie's foot injury so you can imagine how excited he was racing about on the beach.
 |
| We've been so lucky with the weather this week! |
FRIDAY
Today we're visiting St Mawes and then on to Porthscatho, Mevagissey and Charlestown - wheesh!
 |
| St Mawes Castle |
 |
| St Mawes |
St Mawes is a small fishing village, opposite Falmouth, nestled at the end of the Roseland peninsula.
We enjoyed a walk along the harbour and up to the castle. We visited there with our children on a previous holiday to Cornwall many years ago.
We were about to head off to Mevagissey when we spotted a set of Adventure labs in Porthscatho, so we took a short detour to do those and really glad we did, what a quaint, peaceful village. There's a pay and display on the outskirts of Porthscatho, just a short walk from the village.
We were walking down into the village and passed 3 people coming out of one of the houses and I turned to Mark and said that was Michelle Fowler! (from 80s Eastenders). If I haven't mentioned it before then I will now - I NEVER forget a face, I have a strange ability to recognise people and drive Mark mad doing it. We'll be walking down the street and I'll say 'Oh Hi' and chat for ages and after Mark will say 'who was that again', he's always amazed how I never forget a face and calls me the 'super recogniser'. Anyway, we often say that we've seen famous people when we're on holiday, just as a joke, it came from when we saw Kurt Cobain in Penzanze, impossible of course as he sadly had been dead more than 10 years by then, but the strange thing is that he was about the age that he would've been had he still been alive! We've also seen Elvis in various places around the country. So on this occasion Mark wasn't sure if I was joking or using my super-recogniser skills haha .... are you following? Well anyway I knew it was Susan Tully as soon as I saw her and further down the road we had to stop and decide which road to take and she passed us and was deep in conversation and we could clearly hear the accent. So I'm sorry no photo as it would've felt really intrusive asking. We came back after a walk along the coast path about an hour later and she was sitting outside the pub so we took a photo further up the road - in the photo below she is she is sitting on the left of the picture in the brown cardigan.
Anyway, Porthscatho was a pretty little village to explore 😊
Next stop, Mevagissey another place we've visited previously, the last time was 2013 I think.
 |
| Mevagissey |
We enjoyed a pasty before doing the set of Adventure Labs.
On our last visit here the
marine aquarium was closed so we took the opportunity to go in and have a look today. It's housed in the former RNLI lifeboat launching building but has had many uses over the years. It's been an aquarium since the 1950s. It's free to enter but they appreciate donations. It was interesting seeing all the different species that live in the ocean around Mevagissey.
 |
| Looking down on the aquarium |
We had an enjoyable evening in Charlestown.
SATURDAY
This morning we walked from the old military road above Wiggle Cliff along the coast path to Rame Head.
 |
| Sea Mist |
The mist rolling in off the sea was very impressive and scenery stunning.
The headland has a prominent chapel, dedicated to St Michael.
We headed back into Plymouth after this via the Torpoint ferry (£2 for cars)
Then on to Plymbridge Woods for a walk.
SUNDAY
Up early as we're heading home today and want to make the most of the daylight.
A lovely autumnal walk around Ashclyst Forest before heading to Taunton for some Adventure Labs.
 |
| Taunton Rainbow Path |
 |
| Beautiful autumn colour |
We couldn't put it off any longer, it was time to head home.
 |
| Gorgeous sunset from Frankley Services |
Home again and we've had a fantastic 9 days in the South West. Hope you enjoyed reading.
