May 5–7: Cornwall, England

After my adventure back from Arica, I found the ‘icing on the cake’, if you will, when I opened my suitcase at the hostel in Newquay once we arrived in Cornwall… Remember the peanuts I was given as a gift from the office staff at Plan Senegal? Yeah, about a pound of peanuts had exploded all over my suitcase during my journey. Seriously. Luckily no one was allergic because I was digging those things out of my clothes the whole weekend and smelled like a giant peanut most of the time. Was it karma for having snuck them through UK customs? Perhaps.

Day 1 of Cornwall was a free day with a few options for activities. Most of the group chose to go to the Eden Project, which includes two giant biomes erected in a hillside about an hour from Newquay. It’s been open since 2001 and attracts visitors to view the perfect tropical rainforest and Mediterranean-esque temperate landscapes developed within the biomes. It promotes environmental awareness, with sophisticated recycling programs and educational material. Our group, Tina (also works ADP at Plan, see blog link on the right), Carolyn (Tina’s friend, also from Accenture), Anna (Aussie from Paddywagon), Tammy (Anna’s Aussie friend), Penny (Aussie from Paddywagon) and I had a great time exploring. By the time we came out of the tropical biome we had shed all but our inner-most layer of clothing and were drenched in sweat.

The coolest thing in the tropical biome by far was this ‘sensitive plant’, which closed up its leaves if you stroked the underside of the stem. See this video clip with my lovely modeling hand:

In the tropical dome, we also had fun posing with the creepy (and random) wooden slats with faces painted on them.

After the Eden project, we had to wait a while for our bus to take us back to Newquay, then it made a detour on the way into what we called the ‘bus graveyard’ – the storage place for city buses and also apparently where drivers switch off when a shift ends, as we learned when our driver did just that.

Finally arriving late in the afternoon back in Newquay, we feasted on Cornish pasties like every good tourist should do and walked around, poking into little tourist shops along the way. Tina, Anna and I came dangerously close to purchasing big red ‘I ♥ Newquay’ sweatshirts, but then decided that 20 quid wasn’t worth it.

That night was supposed to be the big tour group outing to the Walkabout, but the bouncers were carding anyone who looked to be under 25. Apparently no one in my group does (not even me, I know, shocking), but many others from our bus tour were sent away as no one in Europe is in the habit of bringing ID with them to bars. Our group still had a fantastic time out and danced the night away. I finally got my ‘Mr Brightside’ played, without any prompting from me, by the live cover band and so I got a bit excited. Tina and I both tried to facilitate a hook-up between Tammy and our tour guide, John-o, but to no avail unfortunately.

Day 2 of the Cornwall bus tour involved a drive out to St. Ives first thing in the morning where we strolled around the charming little town and got (of course) Cornish pasties for lunch. We guarded our lunches closely sitting on a bench facing the beach, as the seagulls down there are notoriously vicious and aggressive when they see food in unsuspecting tourists’ hands. We watched one girl from the bus tour hold up an empty ice cream cone as an offering to them, and sure enough, from 15 yards away, a seagull swooped down and snatched the entire cone from her hand, shoved it down its throat to protect if from the other seagulls, then coughed it back up once back on the ground to break it apart and eat it in a matter of seconds. We saw a similar episode with someone’s unfinished pasty.

The next stop was St. Michael’s Mount, a monastery build up on a hill in the sea that becomes an island when the tide comes in. Many of you may think, as I did, that this is just like Mont Saint Michel in France on the border of Normandy and Brittany. In fact, it is quite the same concept, except the English switched around the name, and this Mount is a far less spectacular version of the Mont in France. It still makes for a nice picture of the skyline.

Next on deck was a trip to the Minack Theatre, which is an elaborate outdoor theatre carved into the Cliffside overlooking the sea. It started with Rowenda Cade who permitted local performances of plays in her garden. Gradually the theatre became this incredible place for concerts and plays to be performed, as weather permits. We were fortunate enough to see a male singing group perform, and even got to chime in during the last number for the final verse of ‘Oh When the Saints Go Marching In’.

The final stop on this whirlwind bus tour of Cornwall was Land’s End. Yes, I know all these stops sound like bath and beauty products (St. Ives, Land’s End) but the places actually exist! Land’s End is the southwestern-most point in England and it is terribly windy out there. It reminded me of all the coastal and blustery visits our tour made in Ireland. It was a bit overcast at this point, and we were getting pretty cold, but the views were worth it.

That night we had dinner with our tour guides, fondly known as ‘Ginger’ or ‘Ranger’ (Aussie terms for red-heads – even though his hair wasn’t even that red) and John-o at a Thai restaurant, then went out (again) to the Walkabout for some more dancing.

Day 3 we packed and loaded our bags onto the bus and drove out to Tintagel Castle, which allegedly had something to do with King Arthur. Many places in England hold this claim, and this castle likely cannot substantiate it because it was built long after King Arthur died. But it still afforded a fun and beautiful site for us to visit. My weather luck had definitely run out at this point, as it was freezing cold, windy, and raining when we arrived. We then had to climb up some dramatically steep and slippery stairs and then descend down some even more treacherous stairs, only to ascend once again out on an island of sorts carved out by the mighty waves where the castle ruins could be seen. The views from the top were beautiful, but we were grateful to finish our tour and make our way back into town for some hot jacket potatoes before the bus left.

Then it was back to London where we all parted ways. I don’t know if I’ll get to see Carolyn or Tammy again, or any of the others on the tour who we met. John-o generously gave me a RoadTrip t-shirt on the busride back, and so I have a great souvenir from the trip, even better than the red ‘I ♥ Newquay’ sweatshirt.