Boog's Blog

Side trip to st. Austal. Beer making city nearby.

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From Gorran Haven to Mevagissey. Shorter walk over lovely hills and dales. After a number of ascents and descents the final downhill into town.

Another perfect Cornish cove!

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First a ferry to St. Mawes. Walked to the castle (Henry Vlll), but did not enter. Then walked a riverside footpath to St. Just in Roseland, a church from 1261. Roman arches and a wooden ceiling.

The church and it's surrounding extensive churchyard and gardens was one of two balls of string. The second was a parade in town to celebrate the Oyster Festival. School children, costumes and a wonderfully constructed oyster fisherman.

Fairly cost effective round trip ferry ride with significant price negotiation by KB. Probably the Brits just want him to go away.

Hotel had two cocktails for 10£ – a special. After a pint of Tribute QB had a Mojito-tini. QB cannot add a section to this post at this time. No happy hour here,discounted drinks and sponsor drinks.

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Ball of string today. Falmouth Oyster Festival. Opening day for hand-dredging oysters from the bay. KB tried some at 5£ for four, supposedly a bargain. Not as good as the big plump ones commercially raised. Not plump and not as much.

Festival held in tents near the main quay. Demonstration, trivia, contest, all related to pasty making. Tin miners, arsenic, rats, crimping, filling, pastry and more. Lots of smoked mackerel, all flavors; crafts, foods, fudge.

Had fish stew and fidúia. As to spicing we might as well have been in Kansas, certainly not Barcelona. Good local Irish fiddle and banjo band in the background (The Tinners), Cornish of course, had a good ballad singer as well as a fine fiddle, banjo and guitar.

This is not your mother's England. I ordered mussels for dinner, no cream please. Server returned and said that the chef thought they would be dry and………. Suggested a tomatoes and chorizo sauce! It was excellent. Also pretty good mushroom soup, but it may have had a dash of cream.

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To Falmouth

Ran into cliff jumpers who were being filmed for a New Roxy brand commercial. Dressed in wetsuits and walking barefoot on the rocky path. Apparently a ten meter jump from a nearby cliff.

Lovely Beach at Swanpool where shortly afterwards the coast path is paved as it approaches Falmouth.

Cornish Rarebit in an 18th century coffee and tea house. Leeks, chutney and cheddar on brown bread from a local baker.

Greenbank, an old hotel of Victorian era, with excellent service, nice room, awesome view of part of the harbor, marginal Wi-Fi (as usual). Noticed illustrations from Wind in the Willows on the walls. Turns out Graham Green wrote from this hotel to his son the first two letters that later turned into the book.

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Coverack to Helford

Boat across Gillan Creek. At low tide one can walk over but we would have had to wait hours. One pens a box painted orange inside and hopes the ferryman sees it. Then the walk to Helford. Nothing there except a nice cafe with a good vegetable soup and some insanely perfect thatched buildings.

Diversity of paths today. Some cliffs, coves, woodlands. A number of quite slippery slopes as well as leaf covered mud and roots in the woodlands.

QB finally got to try Cornish hevva or heavy cake. An old recipe (allegedly) full of raisins and, possibly, lard. Maybe originally made with suet. Kind of thing.

Tian of local crab, hand picked. No mayo. Not nearly as flavorful as our local beloved dungeness crab but enjoyable. A light dish. No large pieces, mostly small threads. Taste closer to blue crab but not as clean.

Wildlife Sighting: many squawking birds (crows?) In Monterey Pines.

Confit duck leg. Perfect

Hotel very old style Brit. Room fairly nice. At least clean. Staff nice but just at the point of tiny creepyness. As for guests, we are spring free- range chickens, relatively speaking. Much discussion of weather. Order your dinner at breakfast time, book for dinner, order drinks in the lounge before dinner. After dessert, have coffee in the lounge.

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Cadgewith to Coverlick by way of the Lizard.

Discussed H and Tre with a Cornish speaker and reader. H is of. Tre is house (someone else told us "tre" means farm in Cornish).

At Lizard Point lighthouse we learned that back in the day the locals did not want a lighthouse and did much to stop its construction. Their livelihood depended on luring ships to wreck on the rocks in the coves and grabbing the shipwreck cargo, particularly coal and timber.

Entering Coverack we saw a field of sculptures, picture of one such.

Many coves today. Each lovely and each with ascents and descents.

Tea and scones at the runner up Cornish cafe of the year. Served with damson, a UK plum, homemade jam. There seems to be a lot of "Best of" contests in the area.

Wildlife Sightings: two bird beaches and one mammal butt.

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On the Lizard peninsula, southernmost point in UK.

http://www.visitlizardcornwall.co.uk

Church in town. Bell ringing drew us to the sung Eucharist. Picture of Lord's Prayer in Cornish. Spoke with the bell ringers, only four, they have six bells but not enough people want to learn ringing. Asked me if I was a ringer. I was tempted.

Found Huntley and Palmers chocolate Oliver's for only 7£

Soay sheep and local ponies keep the national trust address of the lizard green and full of flowers.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soay_sheep

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Porthleven to Mullion Cove.

Passed the Loe, largest freshwater lake dammed by the Loe Bar 800 years ago. Did not see the migratory flocks that allegedly hang out at the lake. Might have seen a duck.

Stopped for a drink. Skinner's Heligan Honey beer. 3.7 Boogs

One of the best walks of the trip to date. Several, many, ups and downs but the path quality was good to excellent. Great views with water at its blue and sparkling best.

Marconi had a wireless station here. Sent the first transatlantic Morse code, letter S, to Newfoundland. Tower commemorates the location.

Hotel restaurant dinner not possible as KB does not have a jacket. Bar it was. Perfectly acceptable fare when finally delivered correctly. A bit like upscale Fawlty towers.

Good hotel at spectacular location right on the path. View from our hotel window is stunning!

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