Yvan Seth's Hole in the Internet

I started writing a detailed account of our trip to Cornwall a couple of weeks ago. But since then I've broken the LCD on my poor little abused Asus Eee, I've lost my train-commute writing time for the moment. So, instead, here's a link to my photo gallery from the trip:

* http://yvan.seth.id.au/Gallery/v/Holidays/CornwallLongWeekend/

In brief then, as brief as I can get anyway. The Cornish coast lives up to all the hype, just stay away from anywhere you've heard of (unless you regularly read things like the National Trust guide book, like I do.) For example, Land's End and Penzance are lowlights. But Lizard (the amusingly named southernmost point of England) and Gwithian are breathtaking. But then again, I speak from the perspective of a South-Western Australian who's been thoroughly deprived of decent coastline for a decade! My personal highlights for the trip revolve around National Trust land, the trust owns a vast amount of coastline in the region.

Mouth of Boscastle Harbour

To keep costs low we took our camping gear with us for our overnights in the south. The first was my ideal for a campsite, a field out the back of a good real ale pub. Namely the North Inn in Trewellard, near Land's End, they do the most excellent soups ever! Can't complain at 4 quid per head for camping, including hot showers.

From Boscastle Harbour (including the nearby Tintagel), down the coast to Hell's Mouth and Gwithian (seals!), then avoiding Newquay to get down near Land's End via St. Ives — to our camp-pub. That's Friday, we started the day at 07:00 on the M4 just east of Bristol (M5 down towards Exeter, then A30 east above Dartmoor.)

Hell's Mouth

We were up very early on Saturday and took in Land's End, it felt a bit post-apocalyptic really. A cross between a London-fringe shopping mall and a theme park, but with the ring of an empty wasteland at the deserted time of 07:30. Not impressed we moved on along the southernmost coast, enjoying various random stops along the way. Via Penzance we got to Lizard, and some of the real jewels of the Cornish coast. Lizard and Kynance Cove are beautiful spots. We spent most of the rest of the day in this area, and Yaël and myself took our first swims (dips really) in the Atlantic, that leaves only the Arctic Ocean (depending on which model of the oceans you adhere to) for the both of us — who'll complete the 5 first?

Taking a dip at Kynance Cove

At the end of the day we made a lunge northwards, so I could reduce my driving time to get home on Sunday. This took us up into the south of Dartmoor via Tavistock (I must get back to have a closer look at this town), to reach the Langstone Manor campsite. This one was comparatively pricey at nearly 20 quid for the 3 of us (one pitch, two tents, and a car), but it was a good campsite. The best part of the campsite being the bar, alas it wasn't good on proper ale but they had some OK cider and excellent hearty food (lamb pudding!) I really want to come back here, it'd be a great base for some crisp winter moor hiking. All the better if you have a warm fire-warmed bar to come home to.

On Sunday we bisected Dartmoor on the B3357 then B3212, enjoying a short walk through moorland forest up to a small tor. Once out of Dartmoor we visited the National Trust's excellent Killerton Estate, including the house and garden as well as the mill down the road. I picked up 500g of English flour ground at the mill, which I intend to use to make a loaf of bread sometime soon (oh no, carbs!)

Dartmoor

Then it was the long slog home, M5, M4, M25, and finally the A1(M) – punctuated with the usual abysmal coffees at "services" along the way. It seems most journeys require a long slog of bad coffee… perhaps I should buy one of those vans with an espresso machine in the back, good way to get around?