Lowenva 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.
Although the weather turned cold and ...

... chapel (well, ruins of) which dates from around 1000AD, and the castle itself was established around 1233AD. After a walk around the windy headland, we headed for Newquay, which is a popular town/beach for surfing. My favourite part of Newquay was definitely the house on top of the tor with it's own suspension bridge!

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.

Not much else to report for today, but we did see a cool scooter with thousands of mirrors and a tail!

... 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.

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.

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.

Today we drove down from London, and aside from a bit of a holdup at Bath, it was a smooth drive down.

I had done alot of driving over the past few days and needed a chance to stop and recharge... we were still close to the surf beaches of Newquay and ofcourse I was keen for another surf so we headed there for the night and have a surf in the morning. It was also time to fill up the water tank in the van so that meant a real camp ground.
I was too buggered to go to the ...

... arrive. It was a gorgeous day with the morning mist clearing to reveal clear blue skys... were we really still in the UK? The project is made of us 3 biomes (Mediteranian, Tropical Rainforest and outside gardens) and the Core which is really an education centre.
The Med Biome gave us an insight into the types of plants (both food and wild) we would be encountering over the next few months in Italy, Spain, Morroco and Portugal. The temperature in this biome was not ...

... castle was spectacular, built on the island site just off the coast in the 11th century. Painting and drawings through the castle showed the long history. It also housed some unusual gifts like a 2000bc mumified egyptian cat and a Samuri suit of armour.

The Island is also a pilgramage site and still has a church at the top of the castle. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited once unannounced and the family were not home ...

We spent the morning wandering around St Ives.

It is a beautiful village full of art gallaries and narrow streets.

All the walking around made us hungry.

How could I pass up the opportunity for a hearty Beef and Stilton Pasty.

Kim equally splurged on Cornish Cream Scones and coffee ...

... surf shops per km that anywhere else Ive been ever! The town isnt that attractive, but the surrounds are beautiful. On our way home, we stopped off at Bath, an old town (filled with roman baths), and very pretty.. Mat scamed our way into the Bath pools for free (cost was GBP11!!) everythings so expensive!!, then made our was to Avebury to see the stone circle - one of the biggest in Europe. Interesting stuff!