Today we took our bikes and rode the Camel Trail, which follows the river Camel from
Wadebridge, to
Padstow. The only expense we incurred, other than getting there, was the £3.40 to park all day. We
didin't even pay for the sugar for our coffee. Dearly Beloved got some free vouchers from the paper (which he
freegans from the train) and gets coffee from Starbucks, we also gather tonnes of sugar, ketchup, salt, pepper from the occasional trip to
Mc Donalds or other huge companies who wouldn't miss them.
So, on arriving close to
Padstow, after the five mile bike ride; we stopped and enjoyed the incredible views. (Sorry about the face pulling, but I'm blowing on hot coffee).
We parked up the bikes and walked into
Padstow.
The tide was dropping all the time, revealing the sand banks and the wading birds.
When in Cornwall, try to have a Kelly's ice cream, they are still a major employer and have
hudreds of people in their factory in
Bodmin; we didn't succumb today.
It was another overcast day today, but
Padstow was as busy as ever. It was thick with tourists, typically the Phoebe and Quentin types, who didn't know what to do with
Tarquin and Tabatha now they'd given nanny the fortnight off! They had arms like stretch Armstrong, laden down with bags of surf clothes and the multitude of goodies sold by Ricky Stein!
In some streets,
Steiny boy had three shops next to each other selling: art, clothes and the cafe, in another street he had a pasty shop, several chippies and of course his three story, bar on the roof terrace restaurant. It might be over kill, but it brings tourists to
Padstein all year round and keeps people employed.
We on the other hand, just soaked up the ambiance, took our picnic and found a bench by the harbour and sat, ate our sandwiches and drank our coffee. We then snuggled up in the afternoon sun and listening to a folk musician busking and watched the tourists try to keep their children from falling in the harbour and spending all of their merchant banking city bonuses!
After snoozing together for a while, just generally being lazy and on holiday; we walked further from town and towards the beach. We've never done this before and I can recommend it. We walked through a field that led to the war memorial and we met with a line of benches at the top of the hill. The views of Rock and the estuary were wonderful.
After taking as much sun and lazing around as we could cope with, we headed back. The hedge rows were groaning with crab apples (
Malus Sylvestris) and by the time we got back to
Wadebridge, we managed to pick half a basket full. The blog about what I did with the crab apples will follow later!
Our journey by bikes was so slow as we stopped to watch the Canada geese and their aerobatic displays, to watch the wading birds and so often just to sit by the estuary and watch the world go by. We didn't go to a fancy restaurant, we didn't step foot inside any shops, not even for a coffee but we had a fantastic day because we had time and each other.
Today we took our bikes and rode the Camel Trail, which follows the river Camel from Wadebridge, to Padstow. The only expense we incurred, other than getting there, was the £3.40 to park all day. We didin't even pay for the sugar for our coffee. Dearly Beloved got some free vouchers from the paper (which he freegans from the train) and gets coffee from Starbucks, we also gather tonnes of sugar, ketchup, salt, pepper from the occasional trip to Mc Donalds or other huge companies who wouldn't miss them.
So, on arriving close to Padstow, after the five mile bike ride; we stopped and enjoyed the incredible views. (Sorry about the face pulling, but I'm blowing on hot coffee).
We parked up the bikes and walked into Padstow.
The tide was dropping all the time, revealing the sand banks and the wading birds.
When in Cornwall, try to have a Kelly's ice cream, they are still a major employer and have hudreds of people in their factory in Bodmin; we didn't succumb today.
It was another overcast day today, but Padstow was as busy as ever. It was thick with tourists, typically the Phoebe and Quentin types, who didn't know what to do with Tarquin and Tabatha now they'd given nanny the fortnight off! They had arms like stretch Armstrong, laden down with bags of surf clothes and the multitude of goodies sold by Ricky Stein!
In some streets, Steiny boy had three shops next to each other selling: art, clothes and the cafe, in another street he had a pasty shop, several chippies and of course his three story, bar on the roof terrace restaurant. It might be over kill, but it brings tourists to Padstein all year round and keeps people employed.
We on the other hand, just soaked up the ambiance, took our picnic and found a bench by the harbour and sat, ate our sandwiches and drank our coffee. We then snuggled up in the afternoon sun and listening to a folk musician busking and watched the tourists try to keep their children from falling in the harbour and spending all of their merchant banking city bonuses!
After snoozing together for a while, just generally being lazy and on holiday; we walked further from town and towards the beach. We've never done this before and I can recommend it. We walked through a field that led to the war memorial and we met with a line of benches at the top of the hill. The views of Rock and the estuary were wonderful.
After taking as much sun and lazing around as we could cope with, we headed back. The hedge rows were groaning with crab apples (Malus Sylvestris) and by the time we got back to Wadebridge, we managed to pick half a basket full. The blog about what I did with the crab apples will follow later!
Our journey by bikes was so slow as we stopped to watch the Canada geese and their aerobatic displays, to watch the wading birds and so often just to sit by the estuary and watch the world go by. We didn't go to a fancy restaurant, we didn't step foot inside any shops, not even for a coffee but we had a fantastic day because we had time and each other.
