The Rain in Cornwall Falls Mainly Everywhere

To celebrate the 'awesome' summer we have been experiencing the past couple of months, we decided to take a trip down to Cornwall to see what rain looks like in the south-western-most corner of the country. Despite having sufficient oppotunity to assess the precipitation situation, we also got a little sun, enough for a brief swim anyway, and got another dose of quaint villages and lane driving.

Sci Fi in Cornwall at the Eden Project, St Austell

Art meets science and education

The trip started off at the Eden Project, in St Austell, and home to the world's largest greenhouses. They are indeed big, but the overriding feeling (for Aimes anyways) was of anxiety and suspicion, at the over the top efficiency and cleanliness of it all - a little like the Globex Corporation on the Simpsons, we were expecting the domes to contain some complex weapons production system, so were slightly disappointed to find them only containing some very intense humidity, which was dangerous enough by itself - to think we spent a year living in the tropics!

Hobbes proudly donning his Eden Project badge

Scrabble in the pub is a perfect way to while away a rainy afternoon

A stones throw from our campsite. The view from the rocky shores of Treyarnon Bay

We were camping at a beautiful spot on the coast between Padstow and Newquay, with a few houses, a camp ground a 'Snak Attak' and not much else. So, as per usual it was back down the road to St Merryn for nice pub dinner and a few local ales. Only problem being that the nice pub dinner turned out to be the greasiest fish and chips we'd ever eaten - I can't believe I didn't eat the whole thing!

Boats in St Ives

More boats in St Ives

The mossy roof tops of St Ives from the Tate cafe

Anyways, after experiencing some pretty heavy rain during the night (and thus being thankful that Gerg had shelled out for a decent tent - thanks mate), we woke to a pretty wet morning and headed down the coast to Newquay for breakfast. After passing some beautiful villages nestled in small coves along the coast road, we arrived in Newquay - perhaps the most unimpressive town in the whole county (of what we saw anyways). If mega-sized Walkies, Belushis and clubs named Barracuda are your thing, then get down there, unfortunately being OLD it's not ours, so after a quick pasty (being in Cornwall and all) and passing the 20th group of hung-over men with black eyes and cut-up faces we decided to move on...

Porthmeor Beach

Sunset at Treyarnon Bay

From Newquay we headed further down the coast to St Ives, which from the first glimpses from the top of the hill as we appraoched the town was definitely more of what we were looking for.... old houses, quiet beaches and for some reason lots of art galleries. After a bit of walking in circles we checked out the Tate St Ives and the beaches before deciding we were wet enough and retreating to a pub for another pint and some Scrabble :)

St Michael's Mount

Publicious

More sunset

From St Ives it was back to the campsite via Marazion, hoping to check out St Michaels Mount, a monestary on an Island in the English Channel. The pints and Scrabble had obviously been too much fun as we missed the last boat and had to content ourselves with a glimpse of the island through the mist and rain.

Us in Padstow

Padstow Harbour

Having difficulty accepting being within 10m of the ocean and not swimming (refer Belgium post) I decided that a 5 minute break in the clouds was enough opportunity to go for a swim. While not the coldest water I have ever been in (not quite Lake Jindabyne in the middle of winter) it was nevertheless cool, and the absence of waves meant that it was a quick 5 minutes before I was out again...

Aimes in Padstow

Being close to Padstow, or perhaps more aptly known by the local terminology of Pad-stein, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for lunch at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant - afterall what is better than a non-working Monday than a non-working Monday with a seafood lunch and a bottle of good wine? Anyways, there is definitely a certain affluence to Padstow, unsurprisingly considering it's reputation as the culinary centre of Cornwall, although it should be noted that most of the restaurants (and most of the shops) are in some way related to the Stein-onopoly.

One final St Ives

Two final thoughts
1. Why are there so many places in Cornwall named after Saints?
2. I've said it before, but you have to respect the liberal use of the definite article on British motorway signs (this time, THE South-West).

One final Eden Project