Kilbirnie Hotel Newquay

... very dramatic in the cold November light. Tucking in to our pasties from the previous night and a take away coffe, The Tom Tom then took us falteringly (the cable connection was rather dodgy) to Port Isaac which lies on the western coast of England in northern Cornwall.and is probably more familiarly known as Port Wen in the TV show Doc Martin.<br>Although the weather turned cold and ...

Today we went on a day trip to Tintagel and Newquay.<br><br>Tintagel Castle (now the ruins of) is the legendary birthplace of King Arthur, and lies on an exposed headland on the north side of the Cornwall peninsula. There is a lot of history there; some findings suggest that it was occupied as long ago as 200-300AD! There is a small chapel (well, ruins of) which dates from around 1000AD, and the castle itself was established around 1233AD.<br>

It was a shopping and driving day today. We went for a bit of an impromptu tour around the Bodmin Moor area (didn't see the beast unfortunately) and then went to a big department store called Trago Mills where I bought a big road map for when I get a job driving around Europe.<br><br>Not much else to report for today, but we did see a cool scooter with thousands of mirrors and a tail!<br>

... to catch 4 or 5! The nimal lovers reading this will be pleased to know that they were all sent back to the river from whence they came...and looked quite funny as they scuttled away sideways too.<br><br>There was a few very old buildings in Looe, including one which originally built in 1430! (see the Smugglers Cott photo). It was a nice relaxing day and as always it was good fun exploring a new town.<br>

For my next trip I was off to Cornwall in the South West for a week with my Nan, aunties Jeanette and Marion and uncle Roland. We stayed at Lakeview Villas, about a 5 minute drive out of Liskeard.<br><br>Today we drove down from London, and aside from a bit of a holdup at Bath, it was a smooth drive down.<br>

... cheaper<br>we will leave that till tomorrow!<br> I had 2 long and enjoyable surfs the next day. Our hunch on the town laundry proved correct but not by much (£10.50) That evening we decided to have a wee drink in town for something different. The different part being we were not drinking in scooby we were drinking out in public. To my surprise Kim suggested we check out the ...

... different to the outside temperature which is a testiment to the great day we had.<br><br>The Tropical Biome was great, just like being in an Asian or Central American rainforest - hot and humid. Lots of familar plants here as we have spent alot of time in the tropics - it felt very authentic except for the lack of animals... I half expected an orangutan or howler monkey to appear in the trees. This really got us excited about our trip to Central America early next ...

... the housekeeper to do the honours by showing them around. Don't think this would happen these days...<br><br>The island is twined with Saint Mont Michel in Normandy in France. It is a similar island set up just off the coast which can be reached via a causeway at low tide. We are headed there very soon...<br><br>The castle gardens were nice but not breath taking by any means. However, they did offer fantastic views of the castle from ...

... YUM!!!<br><br>To work that off we took the long way back to our van via the coastal nature walk. Although still warm the clouds started to close in which seemed quite appropriate fo the scene.<br><br>We we got back to the van it started drizzling with rain. It continued off and on for the rest of the day.<br> <br>

... but a nice little harbour. Then went onto St Austell, and the Eden Project, which is a glorified garden centre. It has lots of tropical plants, in a tropical environment (looks like a alien dome..great photo opportunity) From there, we headed to Lizard Point, a headland which is the starting or finishing point to a lot of the yachting speed races. Another beautiful spot. We followed the coast around ...