The Great British Traveling Show

Day 1 Discovering Penzance

We set out early this morning for the first of two trains to Penzance in Cornwall. A bus was pulling away just as we arrived at the train station. The train was cancelled and a “replacement bus” took passengers to Bristol for their next train. Replacement buses are needed when problems with the tracks, equipment, or crew occur. Missing the bus by just 1 minute (again!) meant waiting another 50 min for the next “replacement bus” (again!).

While waiting we had a lengthy conversation with three train station gentlemen about the state of the world. One of the highlights of our trip has been talking to lots of British people about a whole range of topics. Everyone is eager to talk and share ideas. Once again it reminds us how similar we all are in this world.

Although we allowed ample time before our next train, our travel company had been unable to make seat reservations for us.  When the train arrived a huge crowd of people piled on; I quickly grabbed seats while Jim stowed luggage.  Nobody mentioned that only one car had unreserved seats.  Things were chaotic as folks were equally confused and desperately seeking seats.

Accidentally, I sat down in reserved seats not noticing the red light above them. We stayed put and watched as others were ousted by those holding reservations. The people who reserved our seats never appeared. Otherwise, we would have been standing. We enjoyed the lovely seats in the reserved section for the entire 4-hour ride!

We arrived in Penzance about 3:00 and walked from the train station across the street to our quaint pub hotel, the Longboat.

A bus took us on our first outing to St. Michael’s Mount, a castle on a tidal island dating from 1135, accessible only across a cobblestone path and only if the tide is low.

Since the tide was coming in, we strolled along the very busy beach, took photos of the castle, and walked through the seaside town of Marazion. Most stores were closed on Sunday, but stretching our legs was pleasant after a long travel day.

Penzance doesn’t have many restaurants with even fewer open for Sunday dinner. Our pub was fully booked so Jim went searching. Things were looking dim until he discovered a charming restaurant on a side street and booked us for 7:00. The Cork and Fork was outstanding—our first really fine dining meal since coming to Great Britain.

The menu featured wonderful Cornish wine (who knew they produced such fine wines?), amazing starters and main dishes, and affogato for dessert. Topping that, we were enticed to try Pedro Ximenez sherry (said to taste exactly like sticky toffee pudding) and it was wonderful ending to the night. A quiet, slow-paced meal was just what we needed in this lovely Cornish village.

Day 2 Fog or Sun on the Coastal Trail

Hiking along the Coastal Trail to see amazing Cornwall scenery was a major goal for the long trip to Land’s End. We hoped for an early start, but the entire town was enveloped in the heaviest fog locals had seen in recent memory. Thinking this might not be the best time for hiking, we opted for bus ride to St. Ives. St. Ives is an historic town first established in the 5th century by the Irish Saint Ives. The fog had not followed us up this far along the coast, so it was a perfect morning to stroll through town.

Famed for its beaches and its artist colony, it has a charming harbor and lovely old cottages and shops.

For centuries, St. Ives was a very busy center of commercial fishing and suffered when that ended in 1924. The rail line entered the town in 1877 which began its attraction to artists and the development of a now famous artist colony.

We purchased famous Cornish steak and Stilton pasties for lunch later in the day and caught a bus back to Penzance where the fog was still heavy!

We stopped in our room for rest before catching a bus to Sennen Cove. This ride took us through the countryside on many one-lane roads with high hedges on either side. When the bus would meet a car or two approaching us, we waited while the cars backed-up to a lay-by so the bus could pass. It was quite the game of chicken with the bus winning every time.

One time a gentleman in a car was very stubborn about moving and a shouting match ensued between him and the bus driver. Another time the bus crashed into an embankment in an effort to pass cars, and tree branches routinely smashed against the sides & top of our bus. The ride alone was quite the adventure!

The fog never reached Sennen Cove so we had a beautiful summer-like afternoon with lovely sandy beaches hosting a large “sea surfing” school. Several wet-suited surfers were sitting on their boards and hoping, hoping, hoping. But there wasn’t a wave in sight.

Finding the trail markers for the Coastal Trail, we set off for a 1.5 mil walk from Sennen Cove to Land’s End.

This entire trail extends for 630 miles all along the Cornish coast, is clearly marked, and well-maintained along a mostly flat path with fantastic views.

This was exactly how Jim had imagined it would be. We wished we could have hiked further along the trail, but we had to stay near bus routes which are less frequent this time of year in Cornwall.

Land’s End is the westernmost end of England and has been a tourist destination for over 300 years. The First and Last Inn was built in the 1800’s as a resting stop for visitors and their horses when Land’s End could only be reached by foot or horseback.

The earliest part of this house was damaged by the Luftwaffe when a plane returning from a raid on Cardiff jettisoned its remaining bombs, killing or injuring 53 fishermen. In the build-up to D-Day, American troops were billeted there leaving the hotel in a bad state. After the war the hotel was restored and the area turned back into a tourist area with a handful of small shops.

We enjoyed a refreshing lager on the hotel terrace overlooking the ocean. We felt so lucky to have seen Cornwall on such a gorgeous day. Being sure to catch the very last bus of the day back to Penzance, we sat at the stop in Land’s End for about 30 minutes. Again, we had a thrilling bus ride back through the narrow one-way country roads. If we had ever entertained the idea of driving around here, this ride quashed those thoughts.

We saw a stone circle from the bus and managed to photograph it at 40 MPH. The prehistoric Merry Maidens Stone Circle is the most complete and undisturbed Neolithic site in Cornwall.

To end our stay in Penzance we purchased kebabs from a local shop where we chatted with the owner the day before. The owner was delighted to have American customers return for take-away and expressed how grateful he and his Kurdish countrymen were to the United States for supporting them. He plied us with extras to accompany the lamb and chicken kabobs we carried back to the hotel. With a few more lagers, we had a delightful supper in an upstairs lounge looking out over the town. Cornwall was delightful and we would happily return!