Stonehenge – Devon – Cornwall

 

Photo 1: Us at Stonehenge. No rain but Sue's hair shows what the wind was like. Brr!
Photo 2: Land's End
Photo 3: St Ives, Cornwall. Note there is no-one in the water. The only people we saw swimming were in wet suits.

On Thursday we headed out of Brighton for Dartmoor and points west to Plymouth. The weather was still overcast but the rain cleared for our visit to Stonehenge.  How people of two to three thousand years ago ever managed to erect that structure is a mystery and a reminder that perhaps we underestimate our distant ancestors.

We travelled on to Dartmoor, home to a famous prison and numerous myths and legends about the moor itself. This is ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ country, and we had dinner at a pub whose owner regaled us with tales of witches and hauntings – all BS of course but hugely entertaining.

The next day the sun rose in clear spring skies and we suddenly understood why the song Jerusalem refers to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. The woods, fields and farms of Devon and Cornwall are lush, green and lovely. We drove along the coast to St Michael’s Mount, a small mountain rising out of the sea just off the Devon coast and topped by an old monastery.  It is adjacent to Penzance, so Sue and I being avid Gilbert and Sullivan sang songs from the ‘Pirates of Penzance’ as we took photos. Yes, as our children know we can be embarrassing to be around some times J.

On the way our tour guide pointed out an old mine site and told us that mines in this region were the first to use steam engines to pump water out of mines. The pumps used would remove 12 gallons of water with every 19 pump actions, which gave rise to the saying ’going 19 to the dozen’. Ian tells us lots of these little stories – and some of them might even be true!

Late in the morning we arrived at Land’s End and stared across the sea towards America. Yes Jim, Cheryl, Jamie and Gary, we thought of you guys. We then drove through the hills of central Cornwall to the north shore and the town of St Ives. We were given Cornish pasties for lunch – not much good for Phil but a taste of Cornwall nonetheless. So we decided that we had to try the local clotted cream vanilla ice cream (delicious!!) and a Cornish cream tea, which is the same as a Devonshire tea, i.e. scones with jam and clotted cream. Fortunately the tea shop had gluten free scones so Phil was able to put on an extra kilo or two.