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Cornwall with Suzi Q

Yes we went to Cornwall. Yes, with Suzi Q. But Suzi Q is not who you think…

We’ve always wanted to visit Cornwall. We’d heard so many great things about that area of the UK. The only real thing stopping us was the distance.  I know this country isn’t that big, but some places are harder to get to than others.  Cornwall is one of them.  The motorways stop at about Exeter, so the rest of the drive (some 80 miles to Newquay) would take about 2 hours.

Friday

So… we took the train to Newquay on the northern Cornish coast. This spot is quite famous as a surf destination. We must have been there on an off weekend…

At the Newquay train station we were met by Dave and James from Cornish campers along with Suzi Q.

SUZI Q

The guys proceeded to take us to our camp site at Porth Beach Tourist Park where we set up Suzi Q and got the run down on her equipment. She’s an original 1970 VW camper. The rear seat folds down to make a double bed, there’s also a bunk in the roof when her lid is up! She has also been fitted with the mod cons of a two burner gas stove and a little fridge. There was plenty of storage space under seats and in compartments around her. She’s got a power board which you can connect up to mains supply to run a heater, lights and charge your phone or other gadgets (important for those of us who never leave home without the internet).

Parking in the tourist park, Suzi Q was overwhelmed by the Goliath’s that formed the “Midlands Caravan Club”.  It did strike us as odd how these people had left home to park in a tourist park with all the conveniences of home (Plasma tv’s – with satellite dishes,  microwaves, showers and toilets). We were quite happy to not have those items cramping our holiday. But I suppose since we don’t have a TV anyway, we don’t miss it!

SUZI VERSUS THE GOLIATHS

This tourist park was the winner of  “Toilet block of the year”! and we could understand why… We dined in the local pub, (The Mermaid Inn) which was only a two minute walk from Suzi. It was a great feed and a great sunset to start our holiday. We were a little disturbed by the mermaid painting in the pub which was a dead ringer for Nicole Kidman!

SUN SET AT PORTH BEACH

Saturday

Rising after a sleep that was way more comfortable than you could get from a therm-a-rest on the ground, we packed up and headed for Padstow.

Along the way we stopped at Watergate bay which was the location of a stunning beach and also the location of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall. After a walk along the beach surrounded by imposing cliffs we headed onto Padstow.

The route to Padstow was amazing, coastal roads reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Only difference – these roads are narrower. I managed to have only once “incident” where I failed to change gear from second to first going up a steep hill. All worked out though, a stop, a search and destroy mission for a gear, and a handbrake start and we were off (without too much disruption to local traffic!)  Need I mention, the Kombi camper will never be the fastest vehicle on the road, well, maybe faster than the tractors… BUT you at least get the respect from other drivers who wish they were doing what you are! That is one thing about Suzi Q, she was a looker, and attracted many looks and nods from people who enjoyed seeing her “dak-dak” along (if you don’t know what I mean by “dak-dak” listen to the next WV combi you see and you’ll understand).

Padstow was the lovely port village that we expected. A tourist hub for obvious reasons. Rick Stein the English seafood Chef started his Seafood Restaurant in Padstow 35 years ago. Since then, the restaurant and Rick have gained quite a reputation. He now has a few restaurants and eateries in Padstow (including a fish and chip shop) which dish out excellent food and a variety of other food related things. Since the popularity of Padstow increased, so did the other catering outlets. You must remember, the humble Cornish pasty is a local.  It is not surprising to see this sort of sight then…

CORNISH PASTIE ANYONE?

After some time wandering around Padstow and wandering along the coast, we headed off. Next stop was to see a man heading to St Ives…

Buzzing back along the largest road in Cornwall, we got to St Ives in short time. We booked into a caravan park with the best view we’ve ever seen, The Ayr Holiday park. Lovely views over the beach at St Ives and only about 15 minutes walk into St Ives, a bit expensive though at £25/night (double the price of any other touring park we’ve ever stayed in).

VIEWS FROM ST IVES CARAVAN PARK

We wandered into St Ives and were captivated by this lovely town. It is no surprised that artists flocked here to live and work. There is a Tate Gallery here along with the many many private galleries selling amazing works of art.

Sunday

After spending the best part of the day wandering St Ives, we picked up Suzi Q and headed towards the end of the Earth. Well, the end of Britain- Lands end. We found a touring park just a few miles from Lands End, and settled in with Suzi Q and a lovely home-cooked meal and yet another lovely sunset.

Monday

Packing up Suzi Q, Kate dreamt of what it would be like to cruise along in Suzi… but as she wasn’t able to drive (for many reasons) so it remained only a dream…

KATE TRIES SUZI Q

We drove to Lands End, the furthest westerly point of Britain. Here there was many tacky displays and tourist themed rides. Who’d have guessed… For some reason, Lands End has a special spot on the BBC show ”Dr Who”, but the touristy stuff didn’t stop there…

THE TARDIS AT LANDS END

We just wanted to see the end. We also checked out the little farm near-by. Kate managed to get the geese all riled up, which resulted in a lot of honking (from the geese) and Kate being nibbled on.

KATE AND THE GEESE

Deciding that we should move on before we upset other avian life forms, we got back in Suzi Q, brewed some tea then headed off. Our aim was to make for Penzance for the evening. On our way we found some stones. Standing stones. Photo stop!

STANDING STONES

Cornwall has many ancient sites, so this wasn’t so surprising, but we did enjoy this mini Stonehenge.

Thanks to a tip from the travel guide, we stopped into Mousehole, a lovely historic fishing village.  We stopped into “2 Fore Street” restaurant for lunch and were very pleasantly surprised. Being a fishing village, we ate seafood – of course! After a wander around this the village, we decided to move on. We headed off taking in the amazing coastal views.

The aim to stop in Penzance was vetoed by a need to find a tourist park to rest Suzi’s tired wheels but ended up in a tourist park in Marazoin, which happened to be the access point to St Michael’s Mount. This was a little dejavu like, as we had previously visited Mont St Michel in France, and the two seemed to be based on the same idea. Build a castle and a Benedictine monastery on an island off the coast that is only accessible by either foot at low tide, or boat at other times.

We settled Suzi Q into Dove Meadows tourist park which was run by a welcoming Cornish family. They gave us some great information on local things to do. We wandered into the village to see what sort of supplies we could get for dinner but found Ben’s Cornish Kitchen and decided that another sea food meal was called for. Ben’s is a recently opened restaurant, but I’m sure they will succeed, the food was amazing, excellent combinations of fresh local ingredients. A great find and a great last supper in Cornwall.

Tuesday

Today was our last day. We packed up Suzi Q and left her in the care of the lovely folk at the tourist park while we made our trip out to St Michael’s Mount. It was high tide, so we paid the reasonable sum of £2 each to be ferried to the island. Originally a monastery, the mount was captured by the parliamentarians during the civil war. Purchased Colonel John St Aubyn after he served there as the Governor, the castle is still owned and lived in by the St Aubyn family. Most of the island (which the family don’t live in) is managed by the National Trust who manage the day-to-day visitors. Climbing the hill to the castle was amazing, as was the entire site. After our wander around, we stopped for a traditional Cornish cream tea with clotted cream. It was a meal in itself. Needing to walk off that cream, we were able to take the footpath back to the mainland. This was a lovely stroll across a formed stone path.

FOOTPATH TO THE MOUNT

Having spent the most of the day at the Mount, we grabbed Suzi Q and headed for our train home departing from Newquay. Dave and James came to meet us and pick up Suzi Q. It was sad to see her go, we both agree, ’tis an amazing way to see a lovely part of the country. Especially if you are blessed with the 4 days of sunshine we got! This is a holiday that is a must do English experience. I’m sure we’ll head back to Cornwall, we only touched the surface.

The train ride home was lovely and relaxing, it sure beat having to drive that distance! It also gave me a chance to sit back and have a couple of beers…

More photos…