Blogs from Padstow, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We decided to break with the tradition of the last few years and stay in England for the long summer break. (That’s if you don’t count the week we snatched in Egypt back in May) Our trusty trailer tent was feeling a bit neglected so with us both having six weeks off work now was to time to bring it out of mothballs! After waiting, without success, for 3 weeks for a good spell of weather we decided to just pack our bags and head south anyway. Padstow, Cornwall to be exact. Well sure enough we did leave the rain behind but sadly not the wind that seemed even stronger and colder than it had been back home. We turned up at a campsite we’d been to before and were relieved to find they had vacant ... read more

During the last four years, at intervals that came around less and less often, this place has become more like home than any other. The warm chaos of the kithen, reminence of last nights dinner accompanying the counter tops. envelopes and bills stacked high in their plenty, keeping warm the head of the microwave in a hat like impressionism. Clothes dancing from the laundry room into the dinning room air, in a hand to shoulder congo fit for a king. aquiring intrests along the way. Too many times i have sat amongst your company of forget me nots and remained obliviouse to your protection. your humility too many times i have tiptoed upon your psychedelic steps in a drunken bliss, diverting praise of the present in which you present me with at the end of my ... read more

Monday 14 June Padstow, Bedruthan Steps, Trerice, St Mawes, St Just-in-Roseland Today, we visited Padstow. Rick Stein wasn't anywhere to be seen. His pub, patisserie, shop, café-cum-bed and breakfast, restaurant, delicatessen, and fish and chip shop certainly were, however! Padstow isn't everyone's cup of tea. It's pretty in parts, disappointing in parts, and full of emmets, of which we were just two. In Devon, we'd have been called 'grockles'. The town still has a small working harbour and fish or seafood seem to be the things to eat - at least, judging by menus outside the cafés, restaurants and pubs that were on every corner. We couldn't leave without being able to say we'd eaten at Rick Stein's, so queued with dozens of others of like... read more

And so the days have turned into weeks, the weeks into months. Three in their totality and i have finally found my home once more. In a liberation of the sorts, pertaining to the heart and soul, i have left everything behind. condensing my life of books and memories, clothes to keep me warm, into one suitcase. And now i sit in the garden indulging in the evening sun, all that i have lost resurfaces to my thoughts. Perhaps in one last attempt to be remembered in their absence. For i never knew that love could be so cruel, yet strangely beautiful at the same time. I feel i have given everything to it, and the outcome has still left me dizzy and dissilusioned. i lost my dearest friend through all my sacrafice to a cause ... read more

Today we left Penzance to head east back towards the centre of England. We went up the main A30 and then went north to Padstow, a wonderful fishing village on the northern coast of Cornwall. Our plan here was to have a meal or fish in chips in one of Rick Stein’s restaurants or cafe. We really had no preference and on a whim decided to try The Seafood Restaurant. As this establishment is very popular, we didn’t expect to get a seat but on this day we were very lucky. We turned up on a day that was maybe a bit slower and were able to get a table for lunch, no problems at all. We had a choice of a la carte or they have a 3 course lunch menu which is only £35.00 ... read more

Alex has just returned from a week in Cornwall with our friends Lynda and David. They rented a caravan near Padstow, and visited lots of interesting places. He took some good photos, and here are some. ... read more