I just came back from an awesome 10 day trip with my SO. We spent the Easter weekend with his family in Devon and then went on to explore Cornwall for the rest of the week. The weather served us great, it was better than we could've hoped for - sunny or dry for practically the whole trip, which made for some amazing views and photos.
Saturday before Easter we went to Newton Abbot for the horse races. I've never been at the races and I never placed a bet on a sport before now. I first won £7, then lost another £15 but it was still better than D who straight out lost £20 betting on three-legged rocking horses. The good thing was we didn't have to wear frilly hats or other Ladies Day "fashion", I just made sure I didn't have trainers on, but there were plenty of people who did. It was fun, although I felt bad about the horses having to run and being beaten while at it. The whole thing is quite barbaric. I like eating animals, including horses, but I don't like abusing them or making fools out of them.
Easter Sunday we hung out on the sofa at home alternating food and naps, which is the point of Easter Sundays anyway, and we extended it to Monday as well just because we could.
But finally on to our Cornwall adventure. We rented the car from Plymouth on a Tuesday morning and set the itinerary - Eden Project, Falmouth, The Lizard Point, Land's End, St. Ives and Newquay. It was the first time I'd seen my boyfriend drive in the 4 years we've known each other - we always just used to travel by train when I'm over. I knew he wasn't looking forward to it as he doesn't feel confident about his driving skills, he rarely gets a chance to practice so hasn't really driven in years. But I'm a fairly easy-going passenger, and wasn't fussed about it at all. And it turned out fine, of course. He is a little bit rusty but improved with time and overall it all went well. It definitely got his confidence back, which is the best. He'll probably be better than me in about 30 hours or so.
I even got the chance to try it out myself for bit, but on the parking lot only as I wasn't the insured driver. It's not that big of a deal, the change from right to left. The biggest thing was remembering the gear shift was on the other side as I kept flapping with my right hand. I might take it out on the road next time we do this
Anyway, on to the trip. On the first day we went to the Eden Project and then to Falmouth where we spent the night. Eden Project was fantastic - I prefer botanical gardens to zoos or those snotty galleries my SO seems to like so much. I loved the futuristic look of the biomes and especially enjoyed the Mediterranean one as it reminded me of home. Plus it's not just a collection of plants but a whole project about sustainability and eco-system, which was really interesting.
We then set off to Falmouth. I really enjoyed this town. It was lovely, just busy enough to feel alive but small enough to be relaxing - and the vistas were amazing. We checked in a small B&B with really friendly staff and delicious breakfast - it was definitely the best place we stayed at during the trip. We explored a bit of the town and had a really nice fish dinner. I like seafood and Cornwall was the perfect place to indulge in it.
The next day we headed out to Lizard Point, England's most southern point. It's a rough place with waves crashing against cliffs - very romantic in that Wuthering Heights kind of way. I even wailed "Heathcliiiifffff" and D thought I was going into some mental cover of Kate Bush because of course he hadn't read the book.
The photo would've looked even better with more dramatic clouds, but really I can't complain about the weather, and I didn't want to distort it with any Instagram filters.
After the Lizard we went to Land's End, England's most western point. It was gorgeous, especially with no cloud in the sky and the sea looking as blue as ever. I didn't think I could see the sea as blue anywhere in England, especially not the ocean which I've learnt is almost always kind of metallic grey, as opposed to my beloved Adriatic. But this was just beautiful.
In the afternoon we drove to St. Ives, which D was especially excited about. It's a gorgeous little town, the most beautiful we got to see, with a strong artist scene and history, which I knew appeals to him a lot. I could certainly appreciate the beauty of the town itself with its cottages and the amazing beaches and I understand how it stands out, but to be honest, I'd like it to feel a bit livelier than it did. I guess it didn't help that we came at just the start of the season when it was still a bit dead. There seemed to be a lot of old people around giving it that Florida feel. Not a fan of old people.
There's a Tate gallery in St. Ives which D was thrilled to take me to. Then we learnt it was closed until May and I did my best "oh no, what a shame!" face but secretly I was glad. It's not that I don't enjoy art, I really do, abstract more than classical, but I can't deal with artistic intellectualism about forms and shapes etc - I don't understand any of it. Certain pieces appeal to me and certain don't and that's about as far as I can go into it. And he loves to spend ages at galleries to stare at pieces and read about them. Anyway, he knows how I feel - we made a compromise to go to Tate but secretly I was relieved I didn't have to go through with it.
I was much more eager to see the beach, which was well worth going to:
We enjoyed the glass of wine at the rooftop terrace. Such a lovely evening.
The next day we went out to Newquay. It's a huge surf destination / party town although again as it was only the beginning of the season, it was unusually quiet. Plenty of wonderful beaches and chilled surfer dudes and dudettes walking around in Hawaiian shorts and diving suits. It really reminded me of California, but with pasty freckled gingers instead of tanned beefcakes and the weather, although amazing for English climate, had a long way to go to match Cali.
But the waves were great and we spent the afternoon watching them surf. It made me sort of maybe even want to try it one day, but then again, I'm not getting in that water unless it's at least 21C, meaning I can forget about it.
Even though Newquay was clearly more dynamic than St. Ives, it seemed a bit too seedy to consider spending more than a couple of days there. Of all the places we've seen Falmouth seemed the most multi-dimensional to me, with other two towns clearly having a niche they stuck to.
A great photo of the Tolcarne beach in Newquay:
Just as I said I wasn't keen on old people....
I did very much appreciate Cornish cream tea.
We went back to Plymouth on Friday morning and caught the train to London in the afternoon. Spent the reasonably dry Saturday trailing along Croydon trying to see a property that just came through, but we gave up after we realised that after 20 minute of walking from the station we still have another 20 to go and it was just too much. So we went into London and had KFC at Leicester Square, then went back home, cooked dinner and watched Rio, trying not to think too much about leaving.
I really enjoyed our time together and all the wonderful things we've seen and experienced. We got on fantastic even if we spent like 240 consecutive hours together and we're both used to a lot of alone time - but it was OK, practically a non issue. I think as time goes by he's getting choked up more and more about saying goodbyes while I'm growing to be the one to hold it together for us both.
Anyway, our primary goal now is to set the dates for the next visit, which we're both feeling antsy about because we're not used to not really know when we'll see each other next.
