Cornwall, England 2005

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Five days in the South Western English county of Cornwall

After 5 hours+ in the car, we finally arrived in Perrenporth, picked up the key to our accommodation and dumped our bags. Perrenporth is a small seaside town on the north coast of Cornwall close to Newquay with a beach area, rocky cliffs, surfing and the other usual seaside
pleasures. Unlike other coastal towns, it's small size and lack of fame makes it less crowded. However, a car is needed if you are going to visit the other famous sites in Cornwall.

Our first evening was spent taking a walk around the town, seeing the sundial (set at Cornish time) and eating traditional fish and chips, nothing can beat fresh cod caught the same morning! After a much needed night's sleep, it was back in the car to visit Land's End.

Land's End

Land's End is the most western tip of the English mainland. As a result, visitors flock to this site to have their photo taken in front of the famous sign showing the shortest distance between England and New York and John O'Groats (the northern most point of the mainland Britain).

Next on the agenda was the famous Eden Project.

The Eden Project

It's amazing how living in a city in the developed world, you take for granted that fruits and vegetables from all around the world are just there at the grocers or supermarket all round the year and how I hadn't seen many of them growing in their natural state.

Entering the famous “Biomes” as they are called is like stepping into another country. When I visited, there were two Biomes (one more covered area was under construction), the Tropics Biome with plants from rainforests and other tropical countries and the temperate Biome with plants from countries with Mediterranean climates. Within a few seconds of entering the Tropical Biome, everyone had stripped off their jackets/sweat shirts as the humidity hit them. As I walked through the Biomes, I stepped from one country to another, as I saw rice crops of
China before rounding a corner to see Indian coconuts.

Newquay

The last full day in Cornwall was spent in the nearby town of Newquay fishing from the pier, watching wild seals beg for fish from the tourist boats and collecting (and cooking) muscles and sea snails from the rocks.

Cornish Ice Cream

This really does deserve a special mention in my blog. One of the things I make sure I do when visiting continental Europe is to have ice cream in one of the many street cafés. Ice cream in Britain just wasn't the same, or so I thought until I tried Cornish ice cream, which in my opinion with its fuller creamier texture ranks above them all. It's a shame that because of the weather I didn't get to try more of it.

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Photos

Droskyn Sundial, Perrenporth
The Droskyn Sundial sits at the top of the cliff the overlooks Perren Bay. The sundial shows Cornish times, 20 minutes behind GMT.

Moorland, Cornwall
The rocky landscape is littered with shrubs. The absence of trees is really noticable.

Land's End, Cornwall
This point marks the shortest distance between the UK and the US.

Wild flowers, The Eden Project
Beautiful British wild flowers

The Eden Project
The Eden Project's Biomes

Pineapple in The Eden Project
So this is how pineapples grow!