Having reached a crossroads in my life I am choosing to step off the treadmill that is my busy life and take time out to travel. On October 5th 2017 I set off with my Springer Poppy in our motorhome (subsequently swapped for a caravan) ‘freedombird’ initially to explore the remote beauty of the UK coastline and then – well let’s see……
Twas a wild night last night and the rain just kept coming, in the end I decided to put the roof down when we went to bed and that indeed was a good call. It has been very cold in the van during the last few nights after we have settled down and turned the heating off, so I was quite surprised at how the van retained its warmth with the roof closed – lesson learned!
The rain continued in earnest until about 2pm so we binge watched Shetland before heading off to St Mawes. The pause in the rain was brief and as we parked up the heavens opened again though this time it was short lived and was mostly dry as we wandered around St Mawes.
The first beach we encountered was the rather seaweed strewn Idle Rocks beach….
The small harbour has a small sandy beach….
Heading towards the castle we came upon Tavern Beach also very weedy….
The town itself is very well maintained and the seafront dominated by pretty fishermen’s cottages, a smattering of galleries and gift shops, several up market hotels and thriving pubs and of course countless holiday lets. The castle is very small and sits proudly on the headland looking out to Falmouth and the open sea…..
Just beyond the castle is Castle Cove by far the prettiest beach….
Beyond the Idle Rocks beach lies Summers Beach….
Less weedy so we went down for a play before the rain started again….
A pleasant wander and respite from an otherwise dull day – do you think the weather needs reminding that it is the 1st of May tomorrow?
Well yesterday’s illusive sunshine has clearly run for the hills as today has dripped on us all day. However, ever hopeful that the forecast might be wrong, we continued with our plans and made our first stop in Portscatho. Firstly walking away from the village to visit Porthcurnick Beach….
Then walking back on ourselves along the coastal path to Portscatho, a pretty fishing village which seems to cling on to the side of the cliffs like so many others here in Cornwall.
In the village there are two smallish sandy beaches – the town beach….
And the harbour beach….
Next stop was due to be Towan beach but as it was raining heavily we carried on past to take a look at St Anthony’s Head lighthouse….
Walking on beyond the lighthouse to take a look at the magnificent beach of Great Molunan with St Mawes just about visible in the rain across the Percull river estuary….
Looking back over the beach towards St Anthony’s Head lighthouse
The rain is not giving up anytime soon so we went for a damp walk along Towan Beach – having picked up a coffee and rather delicious BLT at the cafe there…..
We ventured along the coastal path, back towards St Anthony’s Head to encounter first Elwinick Cove….
I’m not sure that this beach is accessible and here we encountered the full force of the strong winds with the rain splatting us directly in the face so we only ventured a short way further on to see Porthbeor Beach in the murky distance….
Looking well worth a visit on a much nicer day…
Damp and somewhat bedraggled it is time to be blown back along the coastal path to our home on wheels and back to site to dry out and warm up.
Well it has been a while but with a fair wind and maybe a little bit of sunshine we shall soon be back on the road full time. For now we are just happy to be away in the van and ‘living the dream’. Easing ourselves in gently and making the most of a rare sunny day we revisited Porthluney Beach at Caerhays Castle for a bacon bap and mooch on the beach.
Tilly the Poo
Our next stop today was Portloe and a very pretty little fishing village perched high above a small cove…
On the way back to site we stopped at Carne beach to catch (just about) the last of the day’s sunshine….
Looking pretty stormy out to sea
Ending the day with a walk along the beach to Pendower….
Well the forecast did not disappoint – rain was forecast and rain we got…. After dropping the van back to the workshop we spent a very boring morning dodging the rain at a Retail Park just down the road from the workshop – it is days like this which make you realise how undogfriendly many shops and Costa Coffee are!! I did sneak Tilly into Costa’s just so that I could order a coffee and pastry but soon got told to wait outside!!
At midday we returned to the workshop and I was given a full run through of my upgrades and how to work everything. I must say they have done a first class job and I’m really impressed with their workmanship – Batteries and Solar Ltd, Plymouth. For those of you curious folk I have had a 200 watt solar panel fitted to the roof, a 1200w inverter linked into my current electrical system so that I can use my three pin plugs off the leisure battery and boil a kettle – whoop! The existing leisure battery has been replaced with a Lithium one and lastly a diesel heater fitted to replace the electric one I had which would only run when on electric hook up – so hey get me in my Wild Van – off grid here we come!!
It is still very miserable but we decided to visit Lantic Bay on our way to at least see one beach today. Parking in a good sized NT car park we take the footpath through some fields to join the coastal path….
We are soon rewarded with lovely, albeit misty views down to Lantic Bay….
Unfortunately it starts to rain in earnest so we do not take the steep path down for a closer look but instead head back to the warmth and shelter of the van and make our way south to our next site at Veryan.
Someone has nabbed the best seat in the van and is very determined to stay cozy on this somewhat wet and wild night…
A damp start, but by the time we had dropped the van off at Batteries and Solar Ltd and caught the bus into Plymouth, the sun had come out and kindly spent most of the rest of the day with us. Not a great fan of busy, urban places, we quickly made our way down to the sea front and after an egg bap and cup of coffee walked along the front…
There isn’t a beach in Plymouth but a lovely outdoor lido and safe wild swimming area looked almost appealing in the sun, with a few brave swimmers resting on the swimming platforms…
In the background we could see Mount Edgcumbe Estate (where we walked a couple of days ago) and just in front Drake’s Island which has been protecting Plymouth since it was first fortified in 1549.
Continuing eastwards into the Plym Estuary the city becomes very trendy with waterside bars and restaurants around the inner and outer Marinas….
After a wander around and another cup of coffee at Captain Jasper’s – only £1.30!! it is still only 11.30 and we are not due to pick the van up until 5 – what to do? After discounting a boat trip around Drake’s Island we happened across the ferry to Cawsand – well why not? at least we know there is a beach there…
The ferry, like the bus, was a first for Tilly and all was going smoothly until as we left the sheltered harbour and a rather large wave crashed across the bow where we were sat, giving us a good splattering so the rest of the half hour trip was spent huddled up inside. But worth it when we landed at Cawsand…
We pretty much had the beach to ourselves and spent a while just enjoying the serenity and sun before taking the coastal path south towards Rame Head….
The initial incline was up through woodland and then out onto the cliff tops looking back towards Plymouth….
And simply beautiful vistas out to sea….
All too soon it was time to about turn to catch the 3.30 ferry from Cawsand back to Plymouth…
Once back on dry land we made our way back into the hubbub of the city to catch a bus out to pick our home on wheels up from the workshop. The work was not quite completed and we also needed to stay close so that the silicone and glue used would have time to mature so we returned to Riverside Caravan Park for another peaceful night.
We are both pretty exhausted from all our walking today so an early night was very much in order.
Freedom Bird 