Cornish Christmas 6: The Journey Home

An account of my return journey from Cornwall to Norfolk, with a photo gallery.

This is my final post about my Christmas in Cornwall, and details the return journey.

A JOURNEY OF MANY PARTS

I was travelling on a Sunday, something I normally try to avoid because it can be problematic. I was booked on the 14:15 from Plymouth, and had various subsequent connections to make. We left Fort Picklecombe at 12:45, and arrived at Plymouth station a little over an hour after that. As I was booked in coach A I had to get to the far end of the platform to be able to get to my booked seat. The train ran a little bit late, but not enough to disarrange my subsequent plans (incidentally GWR have already paid compensation for the problems with my outbound journey). Because I was right at the front of the train I would have had to walk the entire length of the platform at Paddington to get to the bridge that gives access to the Hammersmith and City line platforms, which was never a practical proposition. I therefore went through the ticket gates onto the concourse at my end of the platform, and boarded a circle line train at the Praed Street platforms, changing trains at Edgware Road as required. At King’s Cross I found my way to my next train, a non-stop service to Royston from where I would catch a replacement bus to Cambridge North and then board a train for the last stage of the journey to King’s Lynn. Everything on this stage of the journey went smoothly, and I arrived into King’s Lynn station exactly on schedule at 20:48. It remained only to walk home, a journey of about 20 minutes, and then unpack.

PHOTOGRAPHS

It was of course dark for much of the time I was travelling, but not for the really scenic part of the journey before Exeter, though I was on the wrong side of the train to get the full benefit of that.

The first two pictures in this gallery were taken through the car window on the journey to Plymouth.

A Cornish Christmas 5: Walking and Games

An account of the final full day of my Christmas holiday in Cornwall, and a photo gallery.

On the Saturday, my last full day in Cornwall, we decided to make an early afternoon walk to the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, and call in at a pub for a drink.

THE WALK

The walk from Fort Picklecombe to the villages starts by exiting the apartments via a covered walkway from the third floor which brings you out on the road out of the fort just by the officer’s mess. Once the fort has been left behind there is an opportunity, of which we availed ourselves, to leave the road and walk along a path that is part of the Mount Edgcumbe estate. Shortly after rejoining the road at the end of this section of path one leaves it again on to a section of the coast path, which takes one right to the edge of the villages. Because of their location, perched on a slope at the edge of a bay, most of the roads in the villages are too steep and/or narrow to permit motor traffic, making them less dangerous for pedestrians. There are two pubs, and we selected the second, the Halfway Inn. The drinks were excellent. It was a beautiful sunny day, and provided some fine pictures.

THE GAMES

One of the games at the apartment was a ‘where is it’? game with multiple difficulty levels available. After one trial using a political map and small placement markers we played the remaining games using the satellite map and the larger placement markers. By the time the last game I had finished, on this Saturday evening, all of us had one at least one game. I had almost won the opener on the Tuesday, but although I was first over the finish line I then got done by two successive sudden death questions. This Saturday evening I was again across the finish line first, after a number of right answers of which only some could be called guesses, and on this occasion I got a fairly easy sudden death question to seal the win.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The name ‘Jail Ale’ relates to a famous prison on Dartmoor – it gets a mention in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

A Cornish Christmas 4: Golitha and the Doniert Stone

A look back at the Boxing Day activities of my Christmas in Cornwall, with a video and lots of photographs.

On Boxing Day we went out walking. Our original plan was to do a circular walk beginning with the Golitha falls Nature Reserve and continuing with a circular walk. This was later modified.

GOLITHA FALLS

Golitha falls are actually more a series of rapids on the river Fowey than falls as such. The nature reserve is very beautiful and has some interesting historic connections – the town of Fowey, at the estuary of the river Fowey used to be important in the pottery trade, and the clay from which the china was made passed through this region. In the course of our explorations we saw details of a pipeline that had once carried liquid kaolin.

THE DONIERT STONE

Doniert was the last recorded King of Cornwall back in the ninth century. His stone and an accompanying half stone sit in a semicircular enclosure just off a road. Although our original walk plan had to be abandoned to a stretch that was too muddy to be passed – I had a shoe sucked off before we abandoned our original plan – we were able to find an alternative route to the Doniert Stone and see this very interesting historical relic.

VIDEO

Here is a video…

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my pictures from this excursion…

A Cornish Christmas 3: Cotehele and Calstock

An account of a visit to Cotehele House and a scenic walk thereafter.

I begin this third post in my series about my holiday in Cornwall with an apology. The photo gallery is incomplete due to a mishap in the course of this walk. I lost my tote bag, which contained among other things spare batteries for my camera, which meant that when the battery I was using ran out part way through I could not replace it. Fortunately someone had handed it in at reception at Cotehele House and I was able to retrieve it.

A STATELY HOME AND A SCENIC WALK

On Christmas Eve we visited Cotehele House, for six centuries home to the Edgecumbe family, until the then Earl of Edgecumbe passed it to the National Trust in 1965, and then went for a scenic walk, which began with a wander through the hills and ended with a walk back along the Tamar Valley. We passed Calstock Church, quite separate from Calstock itself (I got no pictures of the church as my camera was out of battery by then), got some glorious views of the Calstock Viaduct, which carries the Tamar Valley line over the river of the same name (I managed to capture some before my camera ran out), and visited a pub on the way back along the Tamar Valley. Surprisingly for a pub on a popular walking route in a scenic location the prices were not by British standards extortionate – I produced a £20 note to purchase three drinks, fully expecting only shrapnel back by way of change, and my change included a £5 note as well as a few coins. We got back to the fort just as darkness was falling.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is my incomplete but hopefully still impressive photo gallery from this day…

The Cotehele/ Calstock pictures begin here.

A Cornish Christmas 2: A Quiet Tuesday

Continuing my account of my Christmas in Cornwall with a brief post about Tuesday’s activities.

In the last post on this site I detailed my journey from Norfolk to Cornwall. Here I pick up the story with a brief account of the first full day of the holiday.

A WALK TO GET INTO THE SWING OF THINGS

The only thing I did of note on the Tuesday was to walk to and from Kingsand, which provided some photos. The walk is a pleasant one, featuring a stretch of the coast path, with some splendid views. There was some more serious walking to follow, as you will read.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My gallery in naturally dominated by the pictures I took while walking…

The walk pictures start here (this ius a covered walkway from the third floor of the apartment bit of the castle up the road out, near the officer’s mess.

Cornish Winter Break 17: National Maritime Museum Cornwall Ground Floor

Starting my coverage of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my latest post about my Cornish Winter Break. In my last post in this series I paved the way for a series of posts about the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. I now commence with the ground floor.

BOATS THROUGH THE AGES

The ground floor of this museum contained a wide variety of boats, with accompanying detail about their history.

Cornish Winter Break 16: Falmouth – Getting There and Setting the Scene

The first of several posts in my Cornish Winter Break series relating to Falmouth.

INTRODUCTION

I continue my series about my Cornish Winter Break. Today’s is the first of what will be quite a few posts dealing with the last trip that I made as part of that holiday. This trip was unique in two ways among those I made during this holiday:

It was my idea
It featured a train journey

GETTING THERE

My mother and I got on the train at St Germans at 10:36, changed at Truro for the shuttle service to Falmouth Docks, and arrived at Falmouth just after 12:00. Falmouth was a planned port, first built in the late 16th century to provide an extra starting point for the export of china (it was intended to augment the existing port of Fowey, not challenge it – the person who planned it was actually a native of Fowey). It is a magnificent setting (my camera battery ran out before the end of the trip, but not before I had taken some fine pictures). After a pause to orient ourselves we headed for the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, which will get several posts of its own. The museum occupied as for quite some time, and then we had a brief look at the rest of the town, but I was getting tired by then, and we headed back not very long after finishing at the museum. I intend to revisit both the town and the museum.

PHOTOGRAPHS

P1300529 (2) — There are a number of these old train carriages in the grounds of St Germans – I am considering staying in one of them when I am in Cornwall in August.

P1300607 (2) — A superb mosaic at Falmouth Docks

Cornish Winter Break 15: Signature Dish

An account of cooking my signature dish to serve six, plus a mention of a new book about autism.

INTRODUCTION

This one will be somewhat different from the other posts in my Cornish Winter Break series – it is about the supper I cooked for six people near the end of my stay. I accompany it with pictures that don’t belong to any of the places I give specific posts to. Before getting into the main body of the post I have a small matter to attend to:

A NEW BOOK ABOUT AUTISM

“Not Weird, Just Limited Edition: Inside the Autistic Mind” is now available in kindle and paperback. It is by Faye Flint, who happens to be the niece of NAS West Norfolk chair Karan McKerrow. I am looking forward to reading it, and you may be sure that when I have done so I will give it a full blog post. If you wish to join me in ordering a copy click here – the kindle version is the third item down and the paperback is the sixth.

THE MEAL

I was cooking my signature dish – my own version of Lemony Chicken and Coriander (the original recipe is by Madhur Jaffrey, but I have made so many changes that I now claim this as entirely my own. For a description of the cooking process when I do it for myself visit this post. This version differed from my usual in several ways – I was cooking twice as much (it reheats superbly, so cooking three meals worth at once works well), my mother was cooking rice tog with it whereas I do pasta, and there was also going to be broccoli. Additionally, rather than having fresh lemons to squeeze I was using a bottle of lemon juice. The meal came together beautifully, the bottled lemon juice worked pretty much as well as the real thing, and the final product was excellent – a view evidenced by the fact that hardly a molecule of it was left at the end of the meal. I am aware that different cultures have different opinions on this matter, but as far I am concerned a total lack of leftovers is a sign of success in this situation.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

P1290808 (2) — The building in which my parent’s apartment is located.

P1300528 (2) — This bumper sticker was on a car parked near St Germans station.

Cornish Winter Break 14: The Shipwreck Museum at Charlestown

An account of my visit to the shipwreck museum at Charlestown, mainly told by way of photographs.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in series about my winter holiday in Cornwall. Following on from my last post about Charlestown, our focus today is the Shipwreck Museum there.

SHIPWRECKS ACROSS THE MILLENNIA

This museum features salvage from wrecks that span over 18 centuries. It is an interesting museum and I enjoyed my visit. The story of my visit is best told in…

PICTURES

Cornish Winter Break 13: Charlestown

An overview of the visit to Charlestown during my Cornish winter break, and a warning – this place is overhyped.

INTRODUCTION

For one reason or another it has been eleven days since I last found time to put up a blog post, but now it is time to continue with my series about my Cornish Winter Break. In my previous post I brought the curtain down on a remarkable day in which we visited Tintagel and then the Jamaica Inn. This post, the first of two about Charlestown, is somewhat different in nature.

A JOURNEY UNDER FALSE PRETENSES

The trip to Charlestown, a preserved Georgian port, was planned with high expectations due to a claim on its behalf that it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Actually it is under consideration for that status, and based on my visit has little chance of being awarded it. It has an attractive harbour, and a few other points of interest, notably a shipwreck museum that will form the subject of my next post, but it did not come close to living up the hype. Do not put Charlestown down as an absolute must visit – if you are staying very close then it may be worth your while, but it is not somewhere to attempt to make a day of.

PHOTOGRAPHS

As usual I finish with some pictures…

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