Next day I made a beeline for St Michaels Mount, which is just off the coast of Marazion. I’d read that ferry boats would take you over when the tide was in, but hadn’t looked into it any further. At what I assumed was the correct bus stop, I asked the bus driver where to go and he said just over the road and down to the beach. I and three others headed off but were just about knocked off our feet at the first corner with the smell; think it must have been seaweed, it really was rank.
Heading to St. Michaels Mount
Anyhow, the causeway was covered and we couldn’t t see any ferries near where we were so we all just stood there for about five minutes like stranded shags on a rock. Then we spotted a tiny boat heading over to the castle from a big rocky outcrop just down the way so I headed off down the beach and found that the water was halfway up the outcrop on the other side and that’s where the ferry was taking people from. They operate from three or four different spots depending on the weather. So £2 and five minutes later I was inside the harbour of St. Michaels Mount.
It amazes me (and I love), how free the English are with allowing access to some places that in Australia would be either cordoned off or have viewing platforms built around them. Inside the castle there are a couple of areas cordoned off and you can’t just wander anywhere but mostly it’s very open and there are bits and pieces on display all over the place and it feels very lived in and homely. There’s a cafe and restaurant down at the harbour so I found a place in the sun out of the wind and had a bite to eat, a red wine and an hour or so drawing to cap off a great visit. It felt really weird to walk out of the harbour where we’d come in on the boat a few hours earlier. The walls are quite high and all the ferries were lying on the sand, high and dry; the sand didn’t even really feel wet, you don’t sink at all, very strange! I walked back on the sand for a way then headed over to the causeway for the last part, because I didn’t want to not have walked on the causeway.
My last big outing was to Lands End, and I had another completely fabulous day. I caught the open top loop bus this time and who should I see when I got on but two of the people I’d met the day before in Marazion. Turns out they were from Western Australia and boy have they travelled, I find it fascinating hearing about other people’s travels and only wish I could remember all the places everyone tells me to put on my list.
The famous sign at Lands End
I have no idea why, and it’s not my normal style, but I have been heading to Lands End since I arrived in England. I had no idea what was there and didn’t have any expectations, I just figured it was the most westerly point of England, so I’d go see it! I certainly wasn’t disappointed, although there really isn’t much there to see. I walked down to the “first and last” house in England, had a truly terrible coffee and scone at the restaurant, ambled across to the farm and craft centre where I talked with a couple of the artist for a while and walked further along the clifftop path – oh, and took another thousand photos.
I sat on the top deck of the bus, with a few other idiots for the rest of the loop, took more photos and just about froze to death by the time we reached St. Ives, after that I gave in and went downstairs from there back to Penzance.
Diane and Norman recommended a Thai restaurant just down the road for dinner, Thai Moon. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I started eating, although I probably should say inhaling, my food; it was seriously good Thai though.
I haven’t been buying souvenirs as such, but I came across a little old art shop in Chapel St and bought a new travel brush today – and it’s small enough that I don’t have to ditch something to fit it in!
MidLife Traveller 