ABC Tour – Cornwall, Coast, Cliff Railway

Time for me to do a bit of a catch up on our latest doings.

When we arrived in Cornwall I thought we might stay at Looe.  We have nothing booked and just play it by ear as we go along.  When we got there it was quite commercialised, so we just had a little wander around and kept on our way.

We ended up staying at St Austell, which is a a large town in a lovely B & B.  (Jenny, the owners have a blackbird bike.)  It was only a 15 minute walk to get to Charlestown, which had a tiny harbour and a great pub for dinner.

On Tuesday we had a bit of a tour of Cornwall.  Firstly, we visited the town of Mevagissy, which has a working harbour and lots of windy narrow streets full of cute shops.

It is actually a working harbour, one of not many left.

Of course, we had to get to Lands End.  We timed it well, as on Wednesday they announce that the Olympic torch will start its relay in England from Lands End and it would have been crawling with media.

Back at St Austell we found another little pub with a great meal.

Yesterday was our first wet day.  We had planned on visiting Tintagel Castle, but there was no point in that weather.  It wasn’t cold, just wet and foggy.

We generally travel about 100 miles a day, so I found a motorcycle friendly B & B on the internet about that distance away at a place called Lynton on the north Devon coast and just headed there to sit it out.

Fortunately, the rain cleared in the afternoon and we were dry by the time we arrived there.

It turns out that Lynton was a great place to visit.  It  is at the top of a cliff and Lynmouth is at the bottom.  They have been a tourist destination since the late 1900s and the area is known as “Little Switzerland”.

This is “Woodlands” from the road where we parked the bike.

To get to Lynton, you climb some steep steps at the back of the house and then walk along a gorgeous walkway.

At the end of the pathway you go down a hill that has a 25% grade.  We were not game to take the bike down here with the old brakes.

To get to Lynmouth, you then catch the Cliff Railway.  There are two cars and the railway works by filling up a tank under the top car with water.  The car at the bottom, lets out some water and the weight of the top car exceeding the weight of the bottom one drives it.  All too simple, when you think about it.

Today was a glorious blue day, the first we have had for a while, so we spent the day in the area, just wandering around Lynmouth in the morning.

The town was devastated in 1952 by a flood in which many homes were destroyed and lives lost.

We then went back up the railway to Lynton.

Next we walked to see the Valley of Stones.  Notice the beautiful little cricket ground down the bottom.

Mick had to play mountain goat.

While lazy me sat at the bottom of this rock formation, Mick climbed to the top.  There is a tiny spot showing at the top right of the picture – that is Mick.

We then followed the coastal path back to Lynton, which was much easier.

Back down at Lynmouth we explored the sea shore.

And also the shops.

Tonight our hosts showed us an English Badger that feeds in their garden, which was quite a treat.

Tomorrow we are on the move again.  Who knows where we will end up or what we will see.