Too much of Arrthur!

Boscastle, United Kingdom

A day of road tripping and coastal town popping. Coursed along the steep cliffs and headlands of Newquay and spied the wet-suit clad surfers awaiting the rolling swells and breaks. Couldn’t help thinking there was too much of Fawlty Towers of this place. At Padstow we had our first Cornish pastie and visited the Boots chemist that Dad worked in a few years back. The woman there finally recognised Dad and was quite taken aback that he was there in passing to say hello. Next stop was Port Isaac. A beautifully set fishing village and the filming location for Doc Martin. Lots of gratuitous use of this celluloid fame. Onward up the coast to Tinagel – the legendary location of King Arthur’s castle. Walked out to the ruins but didn’t pay the entry fee. Had lunch on the grass above the cliffs with a view across to the lauded castle ruins. Had an ale at a pub back up the top of the coastal pathway. Hard to find a place that didn’t have Arthur (of King Arthur) in its name. Final stop was Boscastle – the site of tremendous flash flood a few years ago. Again another sleepy village in a narrow valley between steep headlands. Headed back down the expressway down the middle of the Cornish land to meet Howard. He’d prepared the massive meat and gristle laden pasties and we headed onward to The Minack Theatre at Porthcurno. An awesome granite-hewn open-air amphitheatre, falling down the steep granite boulder cliffs. Whatever the play I imagined it would always be competing with the beauty of the sea and coastal scape beyond. We feasted on Betty Stoggs brews and the ginormous Cornish pasties. And as the play began and the air cooled more, we put on every piece of clothing we had and swaddled our legs in blankets. The play was The Tin Violin – both beautiful and farcical. The lead actress was vivacious and handsome.